Eiluned Davies (1913 – 1999) was a British concert pianist and composer.
Early life Born in Walthamstow, London, the daughter of Welsh bard Owen Davies of Llanarth, Davies won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music at the age of 15 (1929-1933) where her teachers included Gordon Jacob, C H Kitson and Kathleen Long. She also took private piano lessons with Frida Kindler (1879–1964), a pupil of Busoni and the wife of composer Bernard van Dieren.
Career Davies' first London piano recital took place in June 1936 at the Aeolian Hall,'New Welsh Pianist's Criticism', in The Western Mail, 25 June 1936, p.6Radio Times, Issue 948, 30 November 1941, p. 10 and her first radio broadcast followed in April 1937.Radio Times, Issue 760, 24 April 1938, p. 36
During the war Davies performed at the National Gallery concerts organized by Myra Hess,Hellaby, Julian. The Mid-Twentieth-Century Concert Pianist: An English Experience (2018) at which she gave the first performance in England of Shostakovich's Piano Sonata, Op. 12 (on 31 May 1943).'London Concerts', in The Musical Times, Vol. 84, No. 1204 (June 1943), p. 191 She also taught at the City Literary Institute (from 1945), the Mary Ward Centre (from 1956) and the Stanhope Institute, before retiring from teaching in 1979.
Davies' compositions include choral, song and piano works, such as the Sociable Pieces for piano six hands,publisher Cwmni Cyhoeddi Gwynn Three European Folk Dances for piano,Recorded by Zoe Smith on Welsh Impressions TCR025 (2019) a Requiem (1972, performed in Winchester, revised 1991) and the song cycle Glimpses (1993) for female vocal quartet.'Eiluned Davies', Contemporary Music Review, 1994, Vol 11, Parts 1 & 2, pp. 77-80 All her pre-war compositions were withdrawn and destroyed.Philip Scowcroft. 'Some British Women Composers' at MusicWeb International
Davies' repertoire included Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Busoni and Bernard Stevens. Davies recorded the complete solo piano works of Bernard van Dieren for the British Music Society in the 1980s. She also championed Welsh composers, naming 'Y Pump Cymreig' (The Welsh Five) as Denis ApIvor, Daniel Jones, Mervyn Roberts, Grace Williams and David Wynne.'Mervyn Roberts (1906-1990)', Tŷ CerddGrace Williams: Sarabande for Eiluned, Oriana PublicationsEiluned Davies 'The piano music of Mervyn Roberts', in Cerddoriaeth Cymru Journal, 1973, Vol. 4, No. 3 She premiered ApIvor's Piano Concerto, op. 13 in 1948 and Wynne's Piano Sonata No 2 in 1957.Notes to Lyrita SRCD 284 (2008)
In the 1950s Davies' London address was Flat 2, 23 Coram Street, WC1.'Back Matter', in The Musical Times, Vol. 97, No. 1356 (February 1956), p. 102 She later moved to 40, The Limes Avenue, New Southgate. Her archive is held at the National Library of Wales.'Eiluned Davies', at The National Archives
References
External links Three Traditional European Folk Dances: No. 3, 'Tropanka', performed by Zoe Smith