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CHAN 10324M
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CHAN 10324
(multiple CD Set)
The Piano Music of Billy Mayerl

Mayerl: The Piano Music of Billy Mayerl

Released Date:
01 Jun 2005

Originally recorded in 2004
Artists:

Eric Parkin



Venue:

Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead, London



Producer:

Tim Oldham


Christopher Palmer



Engineer:

Ralph Couzens


Richard Lee


Trygg Tryggvason


Philip Couzens

(Assistant)

Peter Newble

(Assistant)

Record Label
Chandos Classics

Genre:

Piano




Total Time - 162:43
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The Piano Music of Billy Mayerl

   
Select Complete Single Disc for
 

BILLY MAYERL

(1902-1959)
   
  Piano Impressions  
   
 

The Legends of King Arthur (1929)

 14:49  
  Six Impressions  
1 I Prelude 2:55
2 II Merlin the Wizard 1:42
3 III The Sword Excalibur 2:35
4 IV Lady of the Lake 1:41
5 V Guinevere 2:12
6 VI The Passing of Arthur 3:36
   
 

Three Japanese Pictures (1930)

 7:13  
7 I Almond Blossom 2:11
8 II A Temple in Kyoto 2:18
9 III The Cherry Dance 2:42
   
10 

April's Fool (1945)

 2:42
   
11 

Harp of the Winds (1939)

 3:02
  Aeolian Harp  
12 

Marigold (1927)

 2:41
  a Syncopated Impression  
13 

Railroad Rhythm (1938)

 3:04
  an Impression  
14 

Shallow Waters (1936)

 3:02
  an Interlude  
15 

From a Spanish Lattice (1938)

 3:51
  a Southern Tone-Picture  
16 

Song of the Fir Tree (1938)

 2:22
  a Swedish Impression  
17 

Nimble-Fingered Gentleman (1934)

 3:20
  a Syncopation  
18 

Evening Primrose (1945)

 3:16
   
 

Four Aces (1933)

 9:15  
  Suite for Piano  
19 I Ace of Clubs 2:21
20 II Ace of Diamonds 1:01
21 III Ace of Hearts 2:43
22 IV Ace of Spades 3:04
   
23 

The Joker (1934)

 2:28
  a Further Contribution to Four Aces  
24 

Mistletoe (1935)

 2:34
  a Syncopated Impression  
25 

Autumn Crocus (1932)

 2:32
  an Idyll  
26 

Hollyhock (1927)

 1:36
  a Syncopated Impression  
27 

White Heather (1932)

 2:33
   
 

Three Dances in Syncopation (1930)

 6:36  
28 I English Dance 1:44
29 II Cricket Dance 1:47
30 III Harmonica Dance 3:00
   
31 

Bats in the Belfry (1935)

 1:53
  (On a Theme by Austen Croom-Johnson)  
32 

Green Tulips (1935)

 3:17
  a Syncopated Impression  
  (On a Theme by Austen Croom-Johnson)  
33 

Sweet William (1938)

 2:30
  a Syncopated Impression  
34 

Parade of the Sandwich-Board Men (1938)

 2:27
  a Novelty in Syncopation  
 

From 'Stepping Tones' (1934)

  
35 II Hop-o'-My-Thumb 2:37
  Syncopation in Moderation  
36 

Jill All Alone (1955)

 3:08
   
 

Aquarium Suite (1937)

 11:44  
37 I Willow Moss 3:25
38 II Moorish Idol 3:11
39 III Fantail 2:39
40 IV Whirligig 2:20
   
41 

Filigree (1955)

 3:22
   
 

Three Miniatures in Syncopation (1928)

 6:31  
42 I Cobweb 3:00
43 II Muffin Man 1:38
44 III Clockwork 1:50
   
45 

Siberian Lament (1934)

 3:39
   
 

In My Garden: Summertime (1947)

 6:50  
46 I Meadowsweet 2:44
47 II Japonica 1:59
48 III Alpine Bluebell 2:02
   
49 

Beguine Impromptu (1952)

 3:14
   
 

The Big Top (1948)

 11:01  
  Five Circus Sketches  
50 I The Ringmaster 2:51
51 II Clowning 1:47
52 III Entrance of the Trick Cyclists 1:49
53 IV Dancing Horse 2:15
54 V Trapeze 2:10
   
55 

Hony-Tonk (1928)

 3:01
  a Rhythmical Absurdity  
 

In My Garden: Autumntime (1946)

 5:17  
56 I Misty Lawn 1:33
57 II Amber Leaves 2:17
58 III Hollyberry 1:17
   
59 

Romanesque (1947)

 2:48
   
 

Insect Oddities

 8:42  
60 I Wedding of an Ant (1941) 1:55
61 II Laydbird Lullaby (1940) 2:50
62 III Praying Mantis (1941) 2:40
63 IV Beetle in the Bottle (1940) 1:11
   
64 

Leprechaun's Leap (1940)

 4:49
   
 Eric Parkin
  4-7 June 1987; St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London: 23 & 24 November 1989 and 19 & 20 November 1991  
Billy Mayerl was one of the most brilliant figures in British musical life between the two World Wars – a kind of English Scott Joplin of the novelty rag, a King of Syncopation as composer, pianist, educator and celebrity. His compositions include novelties deriving from ragtime as well as more lyrical pieces which place him in the English tradition of Edward German or Eric Coates, but also of Cyril Scott, John Ireland or early Frank Bridge. In the decades after his death, his reputation went into a decline. The 1990s saw a revival of interest in his work. His centenary was marked with a spate of recordings, largely from Eric Parkin, and Mayerl was a Radio 3 Composer of the Week in December 2002.

These immensely popular recordings are available now at mid-price.


Mayerl’s playing reached a vast audience in solo spots during broadcasts by the Savoy Havana Band in the early twenties and it was so popular that there were demands from both amateurs and professionals for instruction in fashionable modern syncopation. In 1926, therefore, Mayerl left the Savoy and opened the Billy Mayerl School of Music which flourished until the Second World War. His recordings are now classics, astonishing as live performances in the days when 78s did not allow for the editing assumed today. But Eric Parkin comes as close as anyone to the style, and his experience as a performer of both classical and popular music goes back to the time when Mayerl was still alive.

Mayerl was swept up in an endless round of touring shows, music halls and broadcasts, which never gave him time to record more than a small proportion of his output which totalled some 300 separate pieces apart from eighteen studies and over 120 transcriptions. Almost half of the latter were done for teaching purposes and appeared in the Billy Mayerl Club Magazine, which clocked up more than 2000 member subscribers between 1934 and 1939. They are ingenious recreations of popular songs in Mayerl’s own personal piano style. Mayerl also wrote scores for several frothy West End musical comedies in the 1930s, including many successful songs. There are also orchestral pieces, not all scored by Mayerl, which confirm his place somewhere between the English pastoral tradition and the Ealing studio film music of the period. During his lifetime there were distinctions between dance music, jazz, light music and the classical scene, which his work confusingly overlapped. Now crossover is legitimate; Mayerl has been taken up by a variety of pianists, usually classical, not all of whom can cope with this technical demands; and at last his delightful music is recognised and accepted on its own terms.
Three disc of music by the so-called English Scott Joplin may seem too much of a good thing. Yet Parkin effects the maximum variety throughout these delightful miniatures, with spontaneity and sheer joie-de-vivre always present.
BBC Music Magazine



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