Although I have searched the Internet,
I have not come up with a definitive opinion as to whether this CD presents
five previously unrecorded chamber works. Normally CD companies would trumpet
this fact, but no mention is made in the booklet, the track listing or the
advertising blurb. My working assumption is that they are premier recordings but
look forward to being proved wrong on this point.
A little problem occurs with the
opening work, the beautiful Piano Trio No.1 in G major (c.1889) by Rosalind
Ellicott. The track-listing on the CD cover insists that this is written in the
key of F major, the imbedded information in the CD concurs. Grove’s declares
that it is in G major, as does the score and the programme notes. So, G major
it is.
The Trio is presented in three
movements with the slow ‘adagio’ conventionally placed second. The opening ‘allegro
con grazia’ is a delight. Written in 6/8 time, Ellicott has taken to the
crotchet-quaver melodic line, which propels this music along. The second
movement, by contrast, is quite introverted: the liner notes suggest ‘funereal’.
This ternary movement has a gorgeous romantic tune in A major. This, for me is
the emotional highlight of the entire work. The finale is dynamic. This
‘allegro brillante’ does what is says ‘on the tin. Back in the home key, it is
full of energy and vigour propelling the movement to a powerful close, with
several loud reiterated G major/C major chords.
What does the work sound like? I
guess that Brahms springs to mind. Mendelssohn and William Sterndale Bennett
(her teacher) also lie close to the surface. But this is not fair. Rosalind
Ellicott has written a minor masterpiece. It holds it own against much that
went before and came after it. And I would swap many works for the elegant tune
in the slow movement!
In 1891 Ellicott was to produce
her Piano Trio No,2 in D minor. This has been recorded by the Summerhayes Trio
on Meridian CDE84478.
The problem with Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor’s Trio in E minor is that it too short. The entire work lasts
for less than nine minutes. Additionally, I felt there was an imbalance between
movements in this work. The first is longer than the other two combined. But
that is not all. The powerful opening gesture seems to me to be destined for a
much longer and more expansive work. Furthermore, there seems little contrast
between the ‘moderato’ and the ‘allegro’ sections of this movement. The liner
notes suggest that this is a little rondo, yet I felt the episodes lacked
distinction. The second movement is a
vivacious ‘scherzo’ lasting for less than two minutes. Again, there is little distinction
between the minuet and the trio parts. The finale brings little respite to this
‘fast’ work. There is terrific energy in this ‘con furiant’ movement that just
seems out of scale with such a short work.
Another issue with this Trio is the lack of slow movement as such. Even
the episodes and contrasting themes in each movement fail to present anything
approaching repose. On the other hand, there is much superb writing for the
Trio here. Melodic material seems to tumble from the composer’s pen. Despite my criticisms, I did enjoy this work
and hope that as a result of this premiere recording it will gain traction with
concert promoters, ensembles and listeners.
I have always wanted to hear
Rutland Boughton’s Celtic Prelude: The Land of Heart’s Desire. I recall
I came across the score of the work in the Royal Academy of Music Library many
years ago and the title took my fancy, as well as what I could hear in my
mind’s ear. The Prelude was composed in 1921, the year before Boughton began
his best-known work, the opera The Immortal Hour. The liner notes
suggest that it may well be a preparatory sketch for that opera. Michael Hurd
in his book-length study of the composer, explains that Boughton wrote the
incidental music for Yeats’s play The Land of Heart’s Desire, which was
performed at Glastonbury on 24 January 1917. He later worked up this score into
the present Trio. The rhapsodic formal structure would seem to be
through-composed, with a plethora of tunes, fast and slow, tumbling over each
other. Somehow, all these various melodies seem to be hewn from the same
material. The robust opening theme is reprised near the end of the Trio, before
the mood changes to a lively jig. Hurd was not over impressed with this short
Prelude. He concedes that it is ‘tuneful and unpretentious’ but it is a ‘slight
work – its modal melodies, episodic formal structure, and unsurprising harmonic
content creating an impression that it is pleasant rather than powerful.’ I
think it is these things that give the piece its sense of innocence and wonder.
I have waited many years to hear
a performance of this piece: I think that the wait has been worthwhile. This is
a delightful work that is full of Celtic melancholy and lively-ish dance, but
never descends into Tartanry or Irishry. I hope that several piano trio
ensembles will take this work up. It deserves to be popular.
I have not come across the
composer James Cliffe Forrester before. Googling did not really help. Most
‘hits’ were associated with the present CD.
The liner notes give the briefest of notices of his life and works. Born
in 1860, (not 1960 as printed on the CD rear cover track listing) Forrester
attended the National Training School (the forerunner of the Royal College of
Music). After completing his studies, he held posts as organist and choirmaster
at St John’s Church, West Ealing, and as music master at Princess Helena
College in Hertfordshire. Remarkably, he was at this college for more than five
decades. I searched the British Library Catalogue and found no references. The
liner notes refer to some song settings of texts by Longfellow, Shelley and
Browning. WorldCat reveals a couple of piano pieces: In Springtime and Rosalind,
a minuet for piano. Which makes the situation very puzzling indeed? Based on
the remarkable Trio: Folk Song Fantasy heard on this disc, he would seem to be
a composer with considerable gifts. There must be some more information out
there somewhere…
Turning to the Trio, we are told
that is was written for the 5th Cobbett Chamber Music Competition
held in 1917. The rules of this competition were that the work be around
quarter of an hour, relatively easy to perform and must derive its melodic
material from folksong, from the country of the composer’s birth or residence. Betsi Hodges in her admirable thesis about the
Cobbett Competitions lists the winners of the 1917 competition. The trio
section was won by Forrester’s Trio with the second place going to Arnold
Trowell’s Trio on Ancient Irish Folk Tunes.
Forrester’s work was duly
published by Novello. Walter Willson
Cobbett, in his Cobbett’s Cyclopaedic Survey of Chamber Music, vol. 1, A-H,
described the work as ‘a musicianly work of melodious charm.’ That’s it.
The Trio is written in the usual
arch form, with the slow middle section. The programme notes identify the main
theme as the Sussex folk tune ‘Rosebud in June’. This is presented in several
guises with contrasting, but typically melancholy, moods. The final section
utilises as brisk tune called ‘Twanky Dillo’, which is an anthem for a blacksmith.
This was sourced from a volume compiled in 1791 entitled Pills to Purge
Melancholy.
This splendid Trio makes an ideal
entry point for someone wishing to enter the world of British Chamber music of
the first half of the 20th century. There is nothing challenging
here. It is not avant-garde and does not ramble as so many folk song inspired
works are liable to do. Witness the irruption of the final theme in the middle of
the slow section – a masterstroke. This is a moving, exciting, well-constructed
and thoroughly enjoyable work. It just cries out to be in the repertoire of all
Trio ensembles.
The last work on this imaginative
CD is Harry Waldo Warner’s Trio for piano, violin and violoncello, op. 22. The
work is dedicated to the American pianist, patron of music and socialite, Mrs
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. In fact, it won the Coolidge Prize for 1921 and was
duly published by Ricordi. Apparently, there were some 64 competitors from ten
nations, so it was a wide field and (presumably) a well-deserved win.
The first movement is something
of a ‘fantasy.’ After an opening flourish the composer presents three discrete sections
that seem melodically related to each other but presenting various moods. The
second section is much lighter in tone than the surrounding music which is
typically turbulent and restless. The piano part here adds so much to the
success of this movement.
The ‘scherzo’ is light-footed
with some wonderfully will o’ the wisp piano interjections. There is much of
the Orient about this music with lots of bare ‘fourth’ (e.g. C-F) chords. The
‘trio’ section is a little more romantic in tone, with a well-poised melody. There
is a reference here to the first movement before the ‘scherzo’ theme brings the
work to a close. This entire movement
would make a wonderful encore to any recital. (However, I do not usually
advocate lifting movements out of context!!)
The finale is complex in design.
It begins with a slow, melancholic introduction played on strings with piano
interruptions articulating the main theme of the opening movement. Very soon
the main theme of this ‘sonata rondo’ is presented. Here there are constant changes of metre
creating a deliberate sense of instability. This is a melody that presents
drama and just a hint of aggression. The ‘second subject’ or ‘episode’ is a
reflective tune that brings some peace into what this typically turbulent
music. The movement progresses through several twists and turns before heading
for the massive ‘climactic, affirmative close.’ The entire trio is characterised by chromatic
writing, especially in the piano part.
Even a superficial hearing of
Waldo Warner’s Trio will explain why this work won first prize in the Coolidge
Competition. Everything about this work suggests genius. It is a masterpiece
(an overused word, I concede). Listening to this music makes it hard to believe
that it has been ignored largely for a century. There is so many good things in
this three-movement work.
The playing by the Trio Anima
Mundi (a profound name, the ‘World Soul’!) is magnificent throughout. I managed
to ‘follow’ three of these works (Ellicott, Boughton and Waldo Warner) with the
score and was continually amazed at the brilliant interpretation of this music.
Despite the drop-offs noted above, the liner notes and packaging are excellent.
Divine Art, as usual, give an outstanding recorded sound to this CD. I cannot
fault it.
If these are all ‘premiere
performances’ this new release will give chamber music enthusiasts plenty to
think about. Each one of these five ‘trios’ are special and deserve our
attention. I look forward to many more releases by this ensemble, with their
continuing enthusiasm for ‘musical archaeology’.
Track Listing:
Rosalind ELLICOTT (1857-1924) Piano Trio no.1 in G
(not F) major (1889)
Samuel COLERIDGE-TAYLOR (1875-1912) Trio in E minor
for piano, violin and violoncello (1893)
Rutland BOUGHTON (1878-1960) Celtic Prelude: ‘The Land
of Heart’s Desire’ (1921)
James Cliffe FORRESTER (1860-1940) Trio: Folk Song
Fantasy (1917)
Harry Waldo WARNER (1874-1945) Trio for piano, violin
and violoncello, op.22 (1921)
Trio Anima Mundi, Dr Kenji Fujimura (piano), Rochelle
Ughetti (violin), Noella Yan (cello)
Rec. 9-10 December 2017, The Music Auditorium, Clayton,
Victoria, Australia.
DIVINE ART dda 25158
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.
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