# Kenneth Leighton



## Scarpia

I've just discovered this composer via one of the installments in what seems to be an ongoing series from Chandos. Symphony No 1 and Piano Concerto No 3 are on the release. Both works make a similar impression (on me). Both seem to depict striving against great difficulty (perhaps akin to the 'Fate' of Beethoven's fifth symphony). Both seem to reach an affirmative conclusion, following much tense but beautiful music. 

Perhaps the piano concerto make the most immediate impression. An alternating note motif seems to pervade the work, usually appearing in stark, staccato rhythms, but transformed into a sublime legato by the time the work ends.

I'm intent on listening to more of Leighton in the near future. Any other fans here?


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## GoneBaroque

Not yet. He is a new name to me but I will look into him.


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## mmsbls

I do not know Leighton well, but I did pick up his Cello Concerto because it accompanied the Finzi Concerto.










I would say the Cello Concerto could be described in a similar way to how you described both the symphony and Piano Concerto. I did listen to both the symphony and Piano Concerto No. 3 on the Chandos recording (from the Naxos website). There are nice passages in all three works, but for me the 2nd movement of the Piano Concerto stood out the most.


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## Scarpia

I've recently received that Leighton cello concerto recording in a different release, but haven't listened yet. Clearly Leighton is not a major composer, and there is nothing particularly radical in his works. But they seem to resonate with me. Just enough dissonance, but not to much. Structures a bit rhapsodic, but not so that I get lost. I feel that I 'get it.'


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## Art Rock

I would agree he is not a top notch composer, even in the internationally neglected British plethora of composers, but he is well worth checking out. I particularly like his cello concerto.


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## Scarpia

Just listened to the cello concerto. A very attractive work, with forceful writing for cello and surprisingly inventive use of the orchestra (particularly brass). I am noticing a pattern in Leighton's works. They seem to convey a similar mood of a lone figure striving against a hostile universe.


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## Scarpia

After another listen to the cello concerto, my impression that Leighton's compositional 'voice' is very similar to that of Shostakovich.
I wish he had written more music for orchestra. (Only one of his three symphonies is purely instrumental, the other two are cluttered with voices.)


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