The Godowsky-Rachmaninoff Liverpool connection
CONCERT PERFORMANCES and REVIEWS
The following are some of Miller’s appearances and reviews, from extant programmes and press notices, indicating that opportunities for performance were not lacking in Liverpool in that period of intense musical activity in the city and its suburbs.
The chief arts critic and literary editor of the Liverpool Daily Post was, for forty years from 1920, A K Holland - a discerning and knowledgeable musician and author. “Holland’s trenchant journalistic style, sound musical taste and determination to let no shoddiness or inefficiency go unrebuked in the performances he reviewed brought a new outlook into local music criticism rivalling that of Ernest Newman in Manchester, contributing much to the great improvement in musical standards throughout Merseyside”. (Stainton de B Taylor writing in “Two centuries of Music in Liverpool” –out of print)
March 1909 Miller gives recital – Beethoven Waldstein Sonata, Grieg Ballade, Chopin Fantaisie-Impromptu, and “examples of his compositions which were also favourably received, including a clever ‘Romance’ for left hand alone, and several songs…”
[October 1909 Rachmaninoff’s Concerto no 2 “which is hardly to be accounted a great work” (Musical Times) was played for the first time in Liverpool by an obscure female pianist]
October 1910 Miller gives the second Liverpool performance of Rachmaninoff Concerto No 2 “very cleverly played” (Musical Times) at the Societa Armonica. Programme included Kalinnikov Second Symphony
Circa 1910/1911 he plays the new Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 3 at St George's Hall with organ (he had already played it for Godowsky in Berlin); repeated at St Agnes’s Church, Ullet Road, again with organ. These may have been either rehearsals or for an invited group. A performance with the Bournemouth Municipal Orch was cancelled, the composer having withheld the band parts
1912 performs ‘Variations & Fugue on a theme of Beethoven” Op 86 by Reger, with Herbert Brandon (two pianos) also pieces by Reger and René-Baton
1913 performs the Rimsky-Korsakov Concerto Op 30 at Philharmonic Hall
January 1914 performs Rachmaninoff Concerto no 2 in Liverpool
March 1914 plays Beethoven Bb Pf Trio Op 11 - Miller, John Sheridan (pupil of Otakar Ševčik d 1934, celebrated violinist & teacher) and Walter Hatton d1939 (principal cello, Halle Orch)
November 1920 performs the Ravel Piano Trio (six years after its publication) at Liverpool Parish Church with John Sheridan & Walter Hatton
1922 plays his Piano Concerto No 1, conducted by Adrian Boult on BBC
Jan 1922 recital in the Rushworth Concert Hall
1924 plays his Piano Concerto No 1, broadcast on the Liverpool Station of BBC
1926 Recital including Beethoven Sonata Op 53
1929 plays his Concerto no 1 with Adrian Boult at Royal College of Music, London
20/3/1929 Beethoven Sonata Op31/3, Chopin, Granados, Weber-Godowsky, Miller ‘Alla Marcia’
March 1930 Bach Concerto for three klaviers– Miller, Frank Bertrand [Miller’s teacher, then aged 59] & Miss Marguerite ?Helliwell
January 1932 performs the complete ‘Goyescas’ by Granados in Rushworth Concert Hall
“The performance was introduced by an account of the highly elaborate technique of the composer. Mr Miller’s absorption of its technically intricate idiom is complete, and his own blend of the introspective and rhapsodic styles is ideally suited to the decorative style of Granados. Under such conditions he is heard absolutely at his best and the half shades and twilight tones of his performance in the love music, as well as the rhythmic vigour of the more realistic sections were altogether admirable. He prefaced the recital with some account on the composer’s work illustrated by two player piano rolls made by the composer himself in New York just prior to his fatal voyage in 1916”. Review by A K Holland
November 1933 radio broadcast from St George’s Hall with Merseyside Chamber Orch cond Louis Cohen
1934 first performance of his ballet “Mary, Mary”, scored for two pianos
May 1935 piano recital in Liverpool: Beethoven ‘Waldstein’ Sonata; Medtner ‘Sonata Tragica’ Op 45 and ‘Hymn in Praise of Toil’; McDowell Sonata
February 1935 radio broadcast of works by Miller, Norman Peterkin & Nicholls
Dec 1935 plays Rachmaninoff Pf Concerto no 2
January 1936 orchestral ballet score for the Liverpool Ballet Club entitled “Esron”
A K Holland review “An idealistic subject and Mr Miller’s music clothed it with a vivid and picturesque fantasy. He makes integral use of a piano part that is in itself arresting. The score as a whole is conceived in bold and convincing terms and quite apart from the subject would probably take a larger and independent canvas”
Also presented - Norman Suckling (1904-1994) “In the beginning” and works by Tom Pitfield (1903-1999), Raie da Costa (1915-1934) and A Gordon Browne. Orchestra conducted by Louis Cohen.
December 1936 plays the Scriabin Pf Concerto
January 1937 New ballets for the Ballet Club were Miller’s “Glenaa” and Pitfield’s “Maid of Hearts”. Conductor Louis Cohen. A K Holland wrote “Glenaa” is a legendary ballet out of Irish folklore. Miller’s music is a well wrought symphonic poem not lacking in local colouring. It is worth its own weight as a score".
March 1937 at Liverpool Music Guild in the Sandon Room, Bluecoat Hall – Douglas Miller with Walter Hatton (cello) performing Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata
April 1937 Miller & Norman Suckling play Rachmaninoff Suite Op 17 for two pfs
Dec 1937 plays John Field Concerto no 4 at Walker Art Gallery - Civic Chamber Concert with Merseyside Chamber Orch
1939 performs Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No 1 Op 25 at St George’s Hall
April 1940 plays Beethoven Concerto no 2 with Liverpool Philharmonic Orch cond Louis Cohen in Philharmonic Hall
August 1942 gives premiere of his Piano Concerto No 2, dedicated to Stephen Wearing, at Philharmonic Hall
A K Holland’s assessment “Mr Miller has conceived his concerto, as would be natural seeing that he is first of all a pianist, very largely as a work in which the piano plays the deciding role. The prototype of works of this sort is the Weber ‘Konzertstück’. This is not in the least to say that the approach is that of pure virtuosity, for the solo part abounds in technical problems. The approach is in fact strictly musical and indeed in the formal scheme the work is dominated by a main theme which however is not subjected to obvious transformations in the manner of Liszt but remains as a cardinal idea recurring at the the three pivotal points of the work. The Concerto is formal…the chief thing about it is a careful balance of the key scheme which falls into an ABBA sequence with minor-major alternations. It is formal too in its use of technical devices and yet the whole effect is delightfully rhapsodic. From the listeners’ point of view one would describe it as an entirely acceptable work at a very first hearing. The style and harmony are broadly romantic and above all its themes are at once striking, memorable and emphatically displayed. The themes are inter-related and inter-woven, though more by emotional affinity than by direct transformation. The basic ideas are always perfectly plain and the logic of the music never obscure. In other words Miller has written a fine popular concert piece and one which ought to receive a warm welcome.”
September 1942 plays recital in Liverpool
1943 performs the complete ‘Goyescas’ by Granados
“This work demands a special kind of technique. The pure virtuoso might tear it to ribbons, and it needs Mr Miller’s intimate and creative gifts to do it justice. It is difficult to conceive of a performance which could come nearer to the heart of the work or one which could do so much justice to its musical substance…the whole work is magnificently sustained and it was sustained by the player with great imagination from start to finish. As a single experience it was one of the most memorable and haunting we have had for a long time, a really fine effort. Piano recitals do not often give us so much satisfaction” Press review.
June 1943 plays Beethoven Sonata Op 31/3; Grieg Ballade; works by Rachmaninoff & Liadoff
“Mr Miller’s lunchtime recital once more revealed his faculty of getting to the heart of a work and enabling us to share with him its full beaty and significance. This was particularly true of his interpretation of the Beethoven Sonata Op 31 no 3 to which he brought a thoughtful, unassuming and most accomplished musicianship in keeping with the scale and feeling of the work. It was a splendidly coordinated performance which saw the work as a complete whole. One was deeply impressed by the spiritual quality as well as the clarity and dignity of Mr Miller’s treatment of the opening movement; the ‘singing’ tone and graceful ease of the minuetto and the sparkling fluency of the finale. The sureness and range of Miller’s artistry found further scope in Grieg’s ‘Ballade’….” Press review
March 1944 performs his Piano Concerto No 2 with BBC Northern Orch conductor Louis Cohen on BBC radio
May 1944 at the Crane Theatre: Mozart Fantasie K457; Chopin Andante Spianato e Grande Polonaise; works by Field & Liapunov
July 1944 plays Mendelssohn Pf Concerto no 1, Op 25
August 1944 plays his Concerto no 2 with Liverpool Philharmonic Orch cond Malcolm Sargent
April 1945 Miller, Stephen Wearing, Joseph Greene & Gordon Green playing items from the piano repertoire in schools
December 1947 plays premiere of his Piano Concerto No 3 with Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Ian Whyte, at Philharmonic Hall
January 1947 performs the complete ‘Goyescas’ by Granados at the Music Guild
May 1949 Lunchtime Concert, Liverpool Parish Church
1951 recital including Beethoven Sonata Op 26
10 August 1951 plays premiere of his new 'Concertino for Piano and Strings' with the Boyd Neel Orchestra, in the Liverpool 1951 Festival, at the Walker Art Gallery
26 January 1953 Stephen Wearing (dedicatee) plays the revised version of Concerto no 2 at Philharmonic Hall
July 1955 Miller with three other pianists – Bach’s Two Piano & Four Piano Concertos
1957 on the centenary of John Field’s death plays Concerto No 4 (he reconstituted the score from existing orchestral parts)
July 1971 Miller (his last public performance) plays piano in Stravinsky ‘Second Suite for small orchestra’ conducted by his 16 year old pupil Simon Rattle
