Malcolm Binns (born 29 January 1936) was for half a century one of the UK's most significant pianists. He retired aged 80, but let's not forget his hugely eclectic career which ranged from giving the UK premiere of Prokofiev's 4th Piano Concerto in 1961 (and UK broadcast premiere, included here) to being the first pianist to record the complete Beethoven piano sonatas on original instruments. For this celebration we focus on his early career with several uniquely preserved BBC concerto recordings from the pianist's own collection, including a Proms performance featuring two concertos with Sir Malcolm Sargent, a rare LP on the Concert Artist label featuring works by Rubinstein and Alkan which were premiere recordings at the time, and, from much later, two of his most acclaimed recordings from the no longer active Pearl label.
