Ian
Lace is correct in suggesting that Christopher Palmer’s Delius - Portrait of
a Cosmopolitan (Duckworth, 1976) is one of the most important books written about the
composer. This volume examines Delius’ achievements
through the lens of manifold influences, including landscape and cultural. This reflects music inspired by American,
Norwegian, German, French and English stimuli.
A glance at Delius’ catalogue reveals the apparent source for a number
of his works in the title– Paris: Song of
a Great City, Florida, and North Country Sketches. Others allude to
topographical locations such as På
Vidderne and Sleigh Ride.
I do not propose giving a detailed list of what consists of Delius’ ‘English
works’ – some are obvious, some contentious. For example, I cannot listen to Summer Night on the River, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring or
Summer Evening without imagining a
Home Counties landscape. Clearly, Brigg
Fair is wholly English; we know that Song
of Summer was inspired by Delius’ reflection on his younger days on
Flamborough Head in Yorkshire and the Tennyson setting ‘Maud’ clearly owes its
genesis to English poetry. For me, In a
summer Garden is also particularly English in its mood – I have a special
garden in mind when I hear this work – Stockton-on-the-Forest by York. But it
is most likely Grez-sur-Loing that provided the stimulation to the composer...
The present CD considers what Danacord regard as ‘the English
masterworks.’
I have to admit that the gorgeous, sumptuous Songs of Sunset is not one of my favourite Delius works. I guess
that I find this music just a little bit too intense for my taste. I feel the
same way about Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder
or Richard Strauss’ ‘Four Last Songs’ much as I recognise their genius. The
music seems over-bearing and physically hurts.
Songs of Sunset was largely
completed in 1907; however the premiere was not until 16 June 1911 when Thomas
Beecham and the Beecham Symphony Orchestra gave the work at the Queen’s Hall.
The soloists were Julia Culp and Thorpe Bates supported by the Edward Mason
Choir. Three years later it was performed by the Elberfeld Choir, the work's
dedicatee on March 7 1914 in Elberfeld, Germany: this was only a handful of
months before the outbreak of the Great War. Ironically, Ernest Dowson’s poems
major on ‘lost love’, ‘the emotions involved in separation and parting, in the
loss of youth and the long shadows cast by death.’ These are all sentiments that would be intensified
in the coming four years of war.
The forces on this CD give a fine performance that explores the depth,
the subtlety and the heartache.
Frederick Delius was a prolific song-writer however it fair to say that
his selection of English texts is somewhat sparse. It makes up a mere eleven
items in Delius’ song catalogue –not including the Maud settings and A Late Lark. The ‘Three Songs’ with words by Shelley
(1891) have been described by Trevor Hold as having been composed in ‘in the only English
tradition that he was aware of, the drawing room ballad.’ These are amongst the
composer’s earliest published works. I concede that that they are ‘hackneyed’
and probably belong to the salon; nevertheless I have a soft spot for them. The
orchestration by Bo Holten is wholly characteristic and lends charm to these
better-than-average examples of the ballad genre. I found Henriette Bonde-Hansen had a little
too much ‘Victorian quavering’ in her voice – but typically these are
attractive realisations of early Delius.
I
have long considered the North Country Sketches
as one of my favourite pieces of Delius. It is a work that has suffered from
relative neglect in the recording studio. An examination of the Arkiv catalogue
currently lists 10 versions of this work, four of which are re-issues of
Beecham. (One or other of his three recordings) This compares to 17 for Sleigh Ride, 31 for the Irmelin
Prelude, 36 for both Summer Night on
the River and A Walk to the Paradise
Garden and finally a huge 60 for the ‘Cuckoo’.
North Country
Sketches
is presented in four descriptive movements – ‘Autumn: The Wind soughs in the
trees,’ ‘Winter Landscape’, ‘Dance’ and finally ‘The March of Spring: Woodlands
Meadow and Silent Moor’. No work can be more English than this is, in spite of
the possible French influences in the musical language (Delius’s ‘La Mer’). The
work is largely descriptive of the Yorkshire Moors as explored by Delius as a
boy living in Bradford. It is a common-place to point out that in this work the
composer is moving away from the ‘voluptuous’ to the ‘more austere.’ However there is something of the ‘hedonistic’
in the final ‘March of Spring’. It is given a wonderfully atmospheric
performance by Bo Holten. This does not eclipse Beecham but it is certainly ‘up
there’. Add to this the superb sound quality of this CD, and it becomes my
preferred version of the modern ‘takes’.
North Country
Sketches
were composed just prior to the Great War in 1913/14. It received its premiere under Thomas Beecham
at the Queen’s Hall.
‘A
Late Lark’ was first conceived in 1924 and was completed in 1929 with the help
of Delius’ amanuensis, Eric Fenby. It is a setting of W.E. Henley’s
heart-achingly beautiful meditation on life, and more poignantly death. Musically, this short work is one of the most
‘pastoral’ that Delius composed: this is exemplified by the opening oboe melody
and the musical representation of birdsong. Delius does not overplay this mood:
there is nothing of the ‘cow-pat’ school here. Lionel Carley sums up the disposition
of this piece well: it is ‘in some senses a further life-affirmation by Delius,
coupled with a stoic acceptance of an approaching ending’. Delius must have
appreciated the line ‘My task accomplished and the long day done/My wages
taken/Some late lark singing.’
If
I was pushed, I would say that A Late
Lark works better with a tenor: my favourite version is that by Anthony
Rolfe Johnson with the R.P.O. conducted by Eric Fenby. Nonetheless Henriette
Bonde-Hansen gives a bewitching account of this beautiful work.
The
first performance was given by the tenor Heddle Nash with Sir Thomas Beecham
conducting a ‘small orchestra’ at the Aeolian Hall.
I have mentioned the excellent sound quality in connection with the North Country Sketches: this applies to
the whole CD. The liner notes are outstanding, provided in English only and are
written by that doyen of Delius scholars Lionel Carley. There are good
thumbnail sketches of the soloists Henriette Bonde-Hansen and Johan Reuter,
the conductor Bo Holten and the Aarhus choirs and orchestra. The texts of all
the poems set are included.
The
programme is excellent, with Danacord cramming in 75 minutes of music. I could
argue that Song of Summer ought to
have been included, but what would they have omitted? Possibly the Shelley
Songs? Conversely one must not be churlish. This is an excellent selection of
Fred. Delius’ ‘English’ works with three of the four being definite
‘masterworks.’
Track Listing:
Frederick DELIUS (1862-1934)
‘Songs
of Sunset’ (Ernest Dowson) (1906/08)
Three
Songs (Percy Bysshe Shelley) orchestrated by Bo Holten (1891)
North Country
Sketches
(1913/14)
‘A
Late Lark’ (William E. Henley) (1925)
Henriette
Bonde-Hansen (soprano) Johan Reuter (baritone)
Aarhus
Cathedral Choir and Aarhus Symphony Orchestra Choir, Aarhus Symphony
Orchestra/Bo Holten
rec.
Symfonisk Sal, Aarhus, Denmark October 10-14 & December 20-21 2011
DANACORD DACOCD721
With
thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.
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