CHARLES VILLIERS STANFORD (1852-1924): Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 126, Concert Variations on "Down among the Dead Men" in C Minor, Op. 71.

Description: Hearing this 1911 concerto again, in its second recording of the digital era, makes you think that Stanford should have been called "the English Rachmaninov" with its delicate polyphony within its accompanimental figurations, low, melancholy orchestral timbres and a gift for the "big" tune. The concert variations of 1898, at almost 27 minutes, are longer than many of the works in Hyperion's "Romantic Piano Concerto" series; now, in its second recording, we finally find out that the "dead men" are empty beer and wine bottles on the floor under the tables of the pub in which men sing this 18th century drinking song. Finghin Collins (piano), RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra; Kenneth Montgomery.