Moura Lympany has been active on the concert platform for nearly 60 years and on August 18th last she celebrated her 70th birthday. Hers is an impressive pedigree: she was a pupil of the renowned teacher Tobias Matthay and she was also taught by Mathilde Verne, herself a pupil of Clara Schumann. From the 1940s to the 1960s Lympany was a regular visitor to the recording studios and a sizeable list of Decca and HMV recordings from those years well celebrates her art.
The original mono HMV coupling of these two concertos received a highly enthusiastic review in our September 1957 issue, as did the stereo release listed above a year and a half later. What seems to me to be so remarkable about these performances is that they are totally unidiosyncratic and yet full of personality and wit. Lympany has a formidable technique but she never uses it for self-conscious display—it is always purely at the service of the music. The early D flat Concerto in one movement is played simply and straightforwardly but it emerges as a strong and youthfully ebullient piece. The later C major Concerto is sometimes made to seem hard and flashy in performance, but not here: there is plenty of virtuosity and excitement, especially during the climax which ends the work, but there is a feeling of warmth too. Susskind and the Philharmonia in its vintage period make admirable partners for Lympany, and the early stereo recording sounds pleasing and natural, with excellent piano tone.'