I had never heard the name of Evlyn Howard-Jones until I stumbled across some YouTube uploads of a few Bach Preludes and Fugues that were played with extraordinary beauty. It turns out that this British pianist recorded eight of these works in what was ostensibly to be the first recording of the complete Well-Tempered Clavier, shared by several pianists: the Columbia label had recorded Harriet Cohen playing the first nine Preludes and Fugues on October 11-12, 1928, and then Howard-Jones recorded the next eight on February 19, 1930. It is believed that Harold Samuel was intended to record the remainder of Book 1, but the project folded when HMV merged with Columbia.

These performances have to my knowledge received no LP transfer and it was only a single Biddulph CD released in 1995 (LHW 023, long out of print) in transfers by David Lennick that featured both Cohen’s and Howard-Jones’ landmark recordings. Previous uploads have only included Preludes and Fugues 10 through 16 as the online source for No.17 had some technical glitches, but I fortunately located a copy of the full set and am therefore making Howard-Jones’ complete contribution to the project available in a single upload.

(Fortunately Howard-Jones’ complete discography is now available complete – click here.)

The playing here is utterly remarkable, which makes it is curious to see read the December 7, 1930 New York Times review of Harriet Cohen’s contribution to the set (listen here), which also mentions Howard-Jones’s discs: “Her touch is essentially sympathetic, and where Mr Howard-Jones’s manner is at all times too scholarly, in places almost mechanical, Miss Cohen brings out the melodious, romantic nature of her material.” If they thought Howard-Jones’s playing is too scholarly and almost mechanical, one wonders what they’d think of what passes for most Bach playing today. I know that amongst critics today I am not alone in finding his tone to be at all times warm, pedal technique magnificently refined in creating atmosphere without loss of clarity, voicing transparent, and lines beautifully burnished.

It’s most unfortunate that Evlyn Howard-Jones is so forgotten and that his recordings have until APR’s groundbreaking 2021 release been so hard to come by, as the playing on all of the discs is absolutely magnificent: always a beautifully polished sonority, marvellous use of the pedal, clear voicing, fluid legato phrasing, and subtle dynamic shadings.

In addition to the Bach, he recorded the Delius Five Pieces that were dedicated to him, as well as a number of other works by various composers, all of which are regrettably hard to find. Here is a recording of him in Three Preludes by Delius:

And here is his May 20, 1926 recording of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata. Note that the records were set to 80rpm and not what the would-be standard of 78rpm. This Columbia recording pianist playing, as always, with a gorgeous singing tone, masterful pedal technique, beautiful terracing of voices, and rhythmic vitality. Many thanks to Jan Henrik Amberg for having provided the raw transfers of the 78rpm discs, which I then spliced together.

Fortunately, after decades of obscurity, all of the recordings by this neglected pianist are available for collectors – he was truly an extraordinary artist! He was a popular teacher as well as conductor, highly praised by students and colleagues alike, yet today he is so obscure that locating a single photograph was surprisingly difficult (now there are three known ones!). Let us hope that this fine musician will once again be known to lovers of great piano playing!