Charles Lynch

Charles Edgeworth Cagney Lynch (22 October 1906 – 15 September 1984) was an Irish pianist who premiered works by several important 20th-century composers.

Background and early life Charles Lynch was born in Parkgariff, County Cork. His father was a British army colonel and his mother came from a well-known Cork business dynasty, the Suttons. Novelist Maria Edgeworth was a direct ancestor. While Lynch was still a young boy, the family moved to Greenock in western Scotland and it was there, at the Tontine Hotel, that the young pianist gave his first public recital at the age of nine. When he was fifteen, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he studied under York Bowen and, later, Egon Petri. Lynch also performed in the world première of English composer Ernest John Moeran's Cello Sonata in A minor, given in Dublin in May 1947. He was joined by the composer's wife, cellist Peers Coetmore.

In February 1971 at Trinity College, Dublin, he played the entire set of Liszt's transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies over four successive Saturday evenings. The Irish Times critic, Charles Acton, paid tribute to Lynch's achievement: "It is doubtful if Liszt himself ever played them as a series. Since his day, individual virtuosi have played individual symphonies but it is possible that Charles Lynch is the first person who has played all of them as a public series - and all in four weeks. On that score we may be in the presence of a historical event. We are certainly in the presence of a quite tremendous physical, mental, emotional, and intellectual feat."

Lynch continued to give public recitals throughout Ireland until shortly before his death at the age of 77. He also lectured in music at University College, Cork and gave masterclasses at the Cork School of Music. He died in Cork at St. Finbarr's Hospital and was buried near Sir Arnold Bax in St. Finbarr's Cemetery, Glasheen Road, Cork.

Recordings Moeran: Sonata for violin and piano in E minor (with Geraldine O'Grady, violin), EMI Classics 5851542 Bax: Sonata for violin and piano no. 3 (with May Harrison, violin), Symposium 1075 Piano Vol. 1 (features Fleischmann: Sreath do Phiano, Victory: Prelude and Toccata), New Irish Recording Company NIR001, 1971 Sixty years of Music (features Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, and pieces by Scarlatti, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky), Sound News Productions SM 55 (promoted by the Cork Dance Company), 1975