A native of London, York Bowen enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of only fourteen as a student of composition and pianoforte, winning distinction in both. Long ago recognised as one of the most brilliant pianists of our time, he is a composer of quite original gifts. His own instrument has naturally been generously treated with three concertos and many smaller pieces, but he had done notable work for the orchestra, too. A Symphonic Fantasia of his was given by Hans Richter both in London and in Manchester before the War; and his Symphony in E Minor, as well as a brilliantly effective Violin Concerto, was warmly received in the Queen's Hall.
But, thoroughly at home as he is in the largo and more serious forms, he is no less happy in dealing with light-hearted themes like the Fragment8 from Hans Andersen. York Bowen has composed numerous short pianoforte pieces, of which Mood Fancies is an admirable specimen of his gifts in this direction.