Piggott, Patrick - Eight Preludes & A Postlude

This is the third set of eight preludes by Patrick Piggott and is more advanced in style than the earlier two. Piggott considered these to be best; he wrote "Most people find No.6 quite easy to understand (not to play), and this is the one they tend to see pictures in or hear the wind and so on." "No.8 is one of the best things I have done! Free at last of anything that once hindered me. If the eighth Prelude expresses anything other than music, it might be the battle with death (sounds over-dramatic) which I was fighting through most of last year . . . " He completed the set with a Postlude, a cortege-like reflection and resolution of earlier conflicts whilst revealing a mood of doubt or apprehension.
Duration 19 minutes

Patrick Piggott (1915-1990)
Born in Dover and educated at Dover College, Patrick Piggott then studied at the Royal Acaademy of Music under Harold Craxton for piano and Benjamin Dale for composition. After the Academy, he continued his composition studies with Nadia Boulanger and his piano studies with Emile Bosquet in Brussels and then Julius Isserlis in London. Most of his early compositions were performed and broadcast though none now exists either in print or in recorded form. He became busy as a pianist and indeed was resident pianist at Cardiff University for many years. In 1965 he was appointed BBC Head of Music, Midland Region, a post which he held for four years before devoting himself to composition.