Piers Lane
Pianist Piers Lane possesses a vast repertory of solo, chamber, and concertante works, which he has performed in more than 40 countries and on over 50 recordings. While he plays many standards by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and Rachmaninov, he is unafraid to perform works by little-known composers.
Lane was born in London on January 8, 1958, and was raised in Brisbane, Australia. His parents were both pianists and young Piers showed rare talent early on. At age 12, he gave a broadcast recital over Australia's ABC Radio. Lane studied piano at the Brisbane Conservatorium with Nancy Weir. In 1977, he entered the Sydney International Piano Competition, and while he did not finish among the top prize-winners, he was named Best Australian Pianist. He later studied with Bela Siki at the University of Washington and at London's Royal College of Music, where his teachers included Yonty Solomon and Kendall Taylor. While making London his home, Lane steadily built his career in the 1980s. The Royal Overseas League named him Outstanding Musician of the Year in 1982. He made an acclaimed tour of Latin America in 1989, and that same year became professor of piano at London's prestigious Royal Academy of Music.
Lane's tendency to take risks has spilled over even into major concert appearances: at his 1991 Wigmore Hall recital, he performed two Schnittke works, Variations on a Chord and Improvisations and Fugue, and at his 2006 appearance at Lincoln Center with the American Symphony Orchestra, Lane played the lengthy and rarely heard piano concerto of Arthur Bliss. In the chamber realm, Lane has regularly collaborated with violinist Tasmin Little, cellist Alexander Baillie, and clarinetist Michael Collins. Lane has made numerous major concert tours since the 1990s as his recordings were also drawing notice, like the complete Scriabin etudes (1993) and the complete Saint-Saëns etudes (1998), both on Hyperion. Lane made over 100 appearances on BBC Radio 3, most notably as the presenter and writer of the ambitious 54-part broadcast series The Piano.
Lane has made numerous recordings in the Romantic Concerto Series for the Hyperion label, performing concertos by the likes of Stanford, Parry, Sinding, Alexander Dreyschock, and other neglected composers. Besides Hyperion, Lane has recorded for EMI, Danacord, Chandos, and other major labels. In the new century, Lane has continued apace with successful major debuts and recordings. His 2004 debut at Lincoln Center led to his acclaimed return concert in 2006 with the Bliss concerto. In 2007, Lane accepted the post of artistic director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, holding this position until 2017. He served in the same capacity for the Myra Hess Day celebrations at London's National Gallery from 2006 until 2013. At the 2009 events, he performed music by Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, and other composers as actress Patricia Routledge portrayed Hess in a theater work devised by Hess' great-nephew, Nigel Hess. The event was so successful that further performances by Lane and Routledge were given throughout England and Europe. Lane was named the artistic director of the Sydney International Piano Competition in 2016. In 2020, he released several albums, including Hyperion's 81st volume of the Romantic Concerto Series, and he accompanied Little on Chandos' third volume in the British Violin Sonatas Series. Lane returned in 2023 on Hyperion with the album Piers Lane Goes to Town Again, a sequel to 2013's Piers Lane Goes to Town; both albums featured short encore-type pieces, some of them influenced by or coming from the realm of popular music. By that time, Lane's recording catalog comprised some 60 items.
© TiVo Staff /TiVo
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Russian Variations
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Apr 5, 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Alfred Hill & George Boyle: Piano Concertos (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 69)
Piers Lane, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Johannes Fritzsch
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Oct 28, 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Piers Lane Goes to Town Again: Aspects of the Dance
Classical - Released by Hyperion on May 5, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ries: Piano Concertos Nos. 8 & 9 (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 75)
Piers Lane, The Orchestra Now, Leon Botstein
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Apr 27, 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Piers Lane Goes to Town: Encores & Party-Pieces for Piano
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Sep 2, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rubbra & Bliss: Piano Concertos (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 81)
Piers Lane, The Orchestra Now, Leon Botstein
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Jun 26, 2020
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
British Violin Sonatas, Vol. 2
Classical - Released by Chandos on May 1, 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruch: Piano Quintet; String Quartet No. 1; Swedish Dances
Goldner String Quartet, Piers Lane
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Malcolm Williamson: The Complete Piano Concertos
Piers Lane, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Howard Shelley
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Mar 3, 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: String Quartet No. 2 & Piano Quintet – Goldstein: Cello Sonata
Goldner String Quartet, Piers Lane
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Mar 3, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Arensky & Taneyev: Piano Quintets
Piers Lane, Goldner String Quartet
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Sep 29, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Piano Transcriptions, Vol. 8 – Eugen d'Albert
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Mar 9, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bloch: Piano Quintets Nos. 1 & 2 etc.
Goldner String Quartet, Piers Lane
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Nov 1, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Parry & Stanford: Piano Concertos (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 12)
Piers Lane, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Nov 21, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns: The Complete Etudes for Piano
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Nov 1, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók & Korngold: Piano Quintets
Piers Lane, Goldner String Quartet
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Jan 3, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Dunhill & Erlanger: Piano Quintets
Piers Lane, Goldner String Quartet
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Aug 28, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Virtuoso Violin
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Mar 3, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moszkowski & Paderewski: Piano Concertos (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 1)
Piers Lane, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Jerzy Maksymiuk
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Oct 1, 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24, K. 491
Concertos - Released by ABC Classic on Oct 18, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Virtuoso Clarinet, Vol. 1
Chamber Music - Released by Chandos on Oct 1, 2010
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo