Donald Tovey (1875-1940) is mostly known as a musicologist (he published advisable editions of The Art of the Fugue and Preludes and Fugues, among others), an essayist (he has authored numerous musical articles in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica), a pianist (he performed many concerts with Joseph Joachim, Hans Richter, Henry Wood, Pablo Casals…), and a conductor (he founded a great orchestra in Edinburgh). And yet, he also composed numerous works that, while staying away from the surrounding modernism and pursuing post-romantic language, possess an extremely rich and original contrapuntal style of writing. Thus his 1911 Variations on a theme by Gluck for flute and string quartet, created by famous Louis Fleury – for whom Debussy wrote Syrinx –, start effortlessly, in simple fashion, and grow into a striking array of thematic and harmonic ideas. You’ll also enjoy the 1900 Piano Quintet, which of course owes a lot to Brahms, but is filled with solemnity, and gives English music its true flavour. No doubt, Tovey truly is a composer worth rediscovering! © SM/Qobuz