Britten Piano Concerto; Diversions

Steven Osborne (pf) BBC Scottish SO / Ilan Volkov

Hyperion CDA67625

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Steven Osborne is a pianist who until recently has been somewhat in the shadow of more famous contemporaries. Yet 2009 has seemed to mark an especial breakthrough in Osborne’s career, with a superb disc of Rachmaninov’s Preludes and this marvellous selection of Britten rarities. The latter disc prompted Gramophone critic Arnold Whittall to write: “Steven Osborne yields nothing to the great Sviatoslav Richter in the punchiness and fine-tuned filigree of his playing…Osborne and his colleagues make the best possible case for pieces which have tended to be placed on the outer fringes of the Britten canon.” For existing Osborne fans this is a must; it’s bound to create many more.