I recently reviewed this new Chandos recording of Cyril Scott’s chamber music, including the two Trios. Most of the works on this CD are premiere recordings. They allow the Scott more opportunity to study the music of this great, but often undervalued composer.
I began my review by setting the scene:-
Listeners fall into three groups. Firstly there are those who candidly admit to having never heard of Cyril Scott. Secondly, there are a fair few who know his Lotus Land - and possibly one or two other piano pieces. And then, lastly, there are the Scott enthusiasts - people who have heard all his music currently available and constantly look out for the next CD release featuring his music. I confess to falling into this last category. I first heard Scott's Piano Concerto No. 1 on an old Lyrita record: I have been hooked ever since. In fact, along with Frank Bridge and York Bowen he is one of that select band from whom I have never heard a work that I positively dislike. For all the three groups above, the best place to start with this new Chandos CD is to read the major essay by the redoubtable Lewis Foreman. The first part of this seven page 'introduction' provides an excellent and sympathetic overview of the composer's life, times and music. The remainder is devoted to an in-depth study of each work. Then, I would advise beginning with the long forgotten Cornish Boat Song. And after this, it is on to the Internet ...
After reviewing each of the pieces on this CD I concluded by suggesting that ...”this is an extremely important addition to the corpus of Cyril Scott’s recorded music. For one thing, four out of the five works are premiere recordings. Secondly, the playing by the Gould Piano Trio and the clarinet soloist Robert Plane is both convincing and sympathetic. Scott’s music covers a wide range of styles and musical language – and each works needs a different approach. This awareness of the composer’s ‘periods’ has been well attended to”.
Listeners fall into three groups. Firstly there are those who candidly admit to having never heard of Cyril Scott. Secondly, there are a fair few who know his Lotus Land - and possibly one or two other piano pieces. And then, lastly, there are the Scott enthusiasts - people who have heard all his music currently available and constantly look out for the next CD release featuring his music. I confess to falling into this last category. I first heard Scott's Piano Concerto No. 1 on an old Lyrita record: I have been hooked ever since. In fact, along with Frank Bridge and York Bowen he is one of that select band from whom I have never heard a work that I positively dislike. For all the three groups above, the best place to start with this new Chandos CD is to read the major essay by the redoubtable Lewis Foreman. The first part of this seven page 'introduction' provides an excellent and sympathetic overview of the composer's life, times and music. The remainder is devoted to an in-depth study of each work. Then, I would advise beginning with the long forgotten Cornish Boat Song. And after this, it is on to the Internet ...
After reviewing each of the pieces on this CD I concluded by suggesting that ...”this is an extremely important addition to the corpus of Cyril Scott’s recorded music. For one thing, four out of the five works are premiere recordings. Secondly, the playing by the Gould Piano Trio and the clarinet soloist Robert Plane is both convincing and sympathetic. Scott’s music covers a wide range of styles and musical language – and each works needs a different approach. This awareness of the composer’s ‘periods’ has been well attended to”.
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