Christopher Brown (b1943) is known best for his choral music, and as having been a regular conductor of the Huntingdonshire Philharmonic Orchestra (one of the many sponsors of this handsome three-disc set) and New Cambridge Singers. His output includes piano trios, string quartets and orchestral music (including a Symphony, an Organ Concerto and a 1978 Feeney Trust commission, Aubade).

As he writes in his booklet notes, Brown set himself the task of writing 24 Preludes and Fugues in 2011, ideally to complete the set by his 70th birthday in 2013. It proved far harder, the 24th and last completed only in 2019. Bach and, to a lesser extent, Shostakovich were his guides, but instead of working up from C major to arrive at B minor (Bach) or following a circle of fifths (Shostakovich), Brown cast his set in four books of six preludes and fugues, the tonalities of each book’s opening and closing pair successively spelling out Bach’s name: so Book 1 with B flat (B in German notation), Book 2 with A, to Book 4 with B (H in German notation). The remaining keys are covered in between these framing pairs, giving each book its own particular character.

Book 2 goes further down the Bachian road, with each Prelude cast deliberately in a Baroque dance form; in 2023, Brown collated these as a delightful stand-alone dance suite, Baroquery, played by Nathan Williamson as a coda to this epic set. Each Prelude and Fugue was commissioned by a different friend or colleague, many of whom suggested elements – from folk tunes and hymns by Poston and Stainer to quotes from his own extensive output – Brown then included.

Taken as a whole, this is a remarkably assured set, one that in whole or in part deserves the widest currency. This is a tribute, too, to Nathan Williamson’s fine, informed advocacy; he draws out the varied character of each and makes the most of even the more ponderous pieces in the fourth book. Williamson moulds the flow beautifully throughout and No 24 builds to an impressive and fitting climax to the set. Recorded in quietly splendid sound, this is a real surprise, the discovery of which is precisely why I love reviewing.

This review originally appeared in the Spring 2024 issue of International Piano. Never miss an issue – subscribe today