What do people make of the 24 preludes op. 102? I just had a bash through some of them in the last hour.
I think they are very instructive for composers who are writing for piano and looking for raw material to 'digest', but as pieces, I think I'd rather listen to Duke Ellington and can't quite get how this YB stuff is its own, distinctive thing beyond the concatenation of some (admittedly rather sophisticated) sundry jazz influences.
I'm just putting that out there without judging YB's output as a whole. Are the op. 102 pieces considered among his strongest work?
In the 1940s Sorabji wrote of them as "the finest English piano music written in our time", but the he would, wouldn't he? They were dedicated to him.
[Edit: In fairness, I believe they were dedicated to Sorabji after he wrote his flattering words] My favourite York Bowen works tend to be the rather meatier sonatas, whether for piano or solo instrument with piano, and the chamber music. But then there's much I haven't heard. The shorter piano pieces are perhaps less impressive, but this set wins on sheer variety as one might expect from a set of 24. For an English listener they do have a rather homespun quality and, unusually, a definite Russian orientation rather than anything very much of the Germanic. The homespun element seems most noticeable in those pieces where the harmony is the chief focus - no. 16 in G minor being a memorable example. I find that one pretty magical, but would be quite understanding if a Central European, say, would not be attracted, so "English" does it sound, at least to me.
I'm a bit puzzled by your mention of jazz influences, Turfers. I wonder where you find them. At times he gets into Billy Mayerl territory (eg., no.14 in G major), but I certainly don't regard Mayerl as jazz. I'll post again - there are a couple of things to look up.