Cyril Scott: Symphony No. 1 & Cello Concerto

Tonight I am going down Oxford Street in search of the latest Cyril Scott release from Chandos. As I understand it this is the last of a four CD survey of his orchestral and concerted music. And I am very excited about it –nearly as much as the days when I used to queue up for the latest Beatles disc!

I first came across Cyril Scott way back in the mid nineteen seventies when Lyrita issued his Second Piano Concerto and the attractive Early One Morning. Since then the availability of his music has been somewhat spasmodic. It is only in the past few years that things have really begun to improve. Dutton are issuing a complete edition if his piano music. Already Leslie De’Ath has recorded some four CDs. The same record company have produced a number of chamber works. Of course there have been a number of other releases over the years – but mostly as part of multi-composer compilations.

The CD I am in search of tonight -though I wonder if it will be in HMV yet – is a recording of the First Symphony and the Cello Concerto. I have never heard either work – and I doubt many people alive will have. In fact, both works are receiving their world premieres!

The First Symphony is dedicated to the poet Stefan George and comes from a period of Scott’s life when he was massively influenced by German artistic philosophy. It would appear to be a work that explores “a modern rhapsodic style.” Fortunately for Cyril Scott enthusiasts the score was preserved by the eccentric Percy Grainger.

The Cello Concerto promises to show the influence of Debussy and Ravel. This later work is a “virtuosic and extravagant work full of mysticism and haunting melodies."

The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Martyn Brabbins and Paul Watkins is the ‘cello soloist.