Alec Rowley

As a composer, Rowley produced a large body of works, many of which were educational pieces or were designed for children or amateur adult performers. Through this means, points out Robert Matthew-Walker, his music became "an integral part of the repertoires of aspiring pianists". In his compositions he generally avoided modernity, although on occasion he was not afraid to experiment with more modern harmonic forms. Like his contemporary John Ireland, his keyboard works sometimes show the influence of French music. His orchestral and concertante works include three piano concertos, an Oboe Concerto, and a Rhapsody for viola and orchestra. He was the soloist in the first performance of his Second Piano Concerto at the wartime Proms in September 1940 with the London Symphony Orchestra under Henry Wood. His Three Idylls for piano and orchestra (1942) and Burlesque Quadrilles (1943) were also premiered at The Proms, and his English Suite and Boyhood of Christ, both for strings, were performed by the Hallé Orchestra at the Cheltenham Festival in 1949 and 1954 respectively. Rowley wrote a large number of songs and choral pieces, both sacred and secular; these include a Nativity play On Bethlehem Hill (1958). Central to his output are around 250 solo piano pieces. These range from suites of descriptive character pieces - Flower Suite (1915), Outward Bound (1922), Seven Stencils (1926), From My Sketchbook (1932) - to more structurally formal or theory-focused works such as Seven Preludes on all the intervals (1930), Tonality Studies (1937), Polyrhythms (1939) and Five Miniature Preludes and Fugues (1946). Among his numerous educational piano works for various levels of pianistic ability is the short piece The Rambling Sailor, which was chosen as one of ten test pieces for the Daily Express national piano playing competition in 1928, and recorded as a demonstration by William Murdoch. There are also more extended works such as the Five Nocturnes (two from 1932, three from 1947) and the two piano sonatas (1939, 1949). The Nocturne No 1 in B minor, says Robert Matthew-Walker, "requires the attention of a master pianist. It is a very fine work indeed, and its relative neglect is unconscionable". His organ works include Five Choral Preludes based on Famous Hymn Tunes (1952, Boosey & Hawkes / Edwin Ashdowne. Ltd., the Soliloquy (1946), and two organ symphonies (1954 and 1959). Rowley wrote or contributed to a number of books, mainly of an educational nature, such as Four Hands, One Piano (1940); Practical Musicianship (1941); and Extemporisation: a Treatise for Organists (1955). He also acted as musical adviser and reader to a number of publishing houses.

Recordings are available of a few of Rowley's works: • Music for piano (including Piano Sonatas No 1 and 2, Nocturnes No 1 and 2 and Seven Preludes on all the intervals. Dutton Epoch CDLX7401 (2022) • Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Major for Piano, Strings and Percussion, Naxos 8557290 • Down Channel (a 'Nautical Overture'), The Golden Age of Light Music: Non-Stop to Nowhere, Guild GLCD5206 • Organ solos – Soliloquy (on Priory PRCD1083), Festival March (Priory PRCD661), Benedictus (Delphian DCD34064) • Nocturne No. 5 in F for piano (Quartz QTZ2128) • Music for viola and piano: Reverie, Aubade, Farandole Guild 7275 • Shepherd's Delight, for strings (1929) (MPR CWSO01) • The Rambling Sailor (1928), William Murdoch, piano APR 6029 • A Flower Suite, op 10 (1915), Jeffrey Wagner, piano • Three Quiet Preludes for organ (1937), Robert James Stove, Ars Organi AOR004 (2022)