The BBC Midland Orchestra
Leader, Alfred Cave
Conducted by Leslie Heward
Norman Fraser
Norman Fraser was born in Valparaiso in 1904, of Scottish and Spanish parents. He began to study the piano at an early age, and at twelve appeared as soloist at the Winter Gardens, Bournemouth. He' then entered the Royal Academy of Music to study under Albanesi, and finally he went to Switzerland and Paris. It was in Paris that his first compositions were published at the age of eighteen. He then returned to London and studied under
Tobias Matthay for three years. A few years in Vienna followed, and he embarked on his career as a concert pianist. After touring Europe he came to settle permanently in London, where he chiefly occupies himself with teaching and composing.
William Yeates Hurlstone
In 1906 Hurlstone died at the age of thirty. He had already proved himself a highly gifted composer and one of the most promising of the younger British school. Hurlstone's first work was a set of ' Five Valses ' for piano, which were published when he was only nine years of age. At eighteen he won a scholarship at the Royal College of Music and studied composition under Stanford for several years.