Dave Smith, John Tilbury

Dave Smith's First Piano Concert collects the first twelve sonatas of a cycle that Dave Smith wrote in 1985 and 1986, played by John Tilbury. Smith, born in 1949, was a member of the Scratch Orchestra in the 1970s and worked alongside Cornelius Cardew, Gavin Bryars and John White. Each short sonata takes its cue from a different genre, as the titles show: Charleston, Maxixe, Dub, Mambo, Bossa Nova, Tango and one called Thelonious.

Smith's catalogue draws on contemporary composition, Javanese classical music and Albanian folk music, and many of his piano works have been encouraged and performed by Tilbury, the pianist most closely associated with this circle. The full cycle is listed as 24 sonatas in all the keys; this disc, printed as part one on its face, holds sonatas 1 to 12. Ramble works on themes from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. None of the pieces runs much past four and a half minutes, and the twelve together last about forty minutes. Tilbury recorded them in London in April 1988, with support from the Arts Council.

Released by Matchless Recordings in 1988 as MR 14, on CD, mastered by Nimbus, with cover artwork by Tom Phillips.