Hidden Holst II: Japanese Suite, op.33 (1915)

Gustav Holst’s Japanese Suite, op.33 (H126) is one of the ‘forgotten gems’ of his opus. This beautifully written piece sits well beside The Planets. The Japanese dancer Michio Itō required some Asian sounding orchestral music for his dancing appearances. Holst broke off his work on The Planets to oblige.

Michio Itō (1892-1961) was born in Tokyo, moved to Paris in 1911, then to London on the outbreak of the First World War. In 1916 he relocated to the United States, where he remained until after the attack on Pearl Harbour, when he was interned and then deported to Japan as part of a prisoner of war exchange. He had a working relationship with W.B. Yeats and Ezra Pound. For the former he provided the balletic elements of At the Hawk’s Well, which, although based on the tales of Cuchulain, the mythological hero of ancient Ulster, used many of the features of the Japanese Noh Play.

The Japanese Suite uses music mainly derived from ancient Japanese tunes which were supplied by Itō. They were whistled to Holst, who jotted them down, and realised them for full orchestra.

The Suite is made up of four movements with an introduction and interlude. The opening bassoon solo in the Prelude: Song of the Fisherman nods towards Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The prelude continues with a serene passage, supported by a complex harp figuration. This is followed by a rhythmic, but also pesante, Ceremonial Dance. The Dance of the Marionette was an original Holst tune that suggests Mercury from the Planets. Look out for the illusory changes of metre between 6/8 and 3/4, as well as the use of the glockenspiel and xylophone. This short number nods more to Petrushka, than any incipient orientalism. The short Interlude: Song of the Fisherman, re-presents the gorgeous romantic phrase from the opening section. Sadly, it lasts for less the fifty seconds. The fourth movement is a Dance under a Cherry Tree, which magically evokes the blossom of Japan’s iconic tree, whether seen in London or Kyoto. The initially grumpy Dance of the Wolves brings the suite to a rumbustious conclusion with a compelling accelerando.

The listener may argue to what extent this Suite reflects any Japanese musical aesthetic. Safe to say that it is really a Western musician’s view of what this would/should/could sound like. Michael Kennedy wrote that it “is more reminiscent of the Mendelssohn of the Hebrides Overture, with occasional idiosyncratic touches of harmony.”

As an exercise in orchestration, it is a masterpiece. Despite being a short composition, Holst deploys a broad range of instruments including the piccolo, flutes, oboe, English horn, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, timpani, sleigh bells, bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, xylophone, gong, harp, and strings. The large orchestra required has been one of the factors that has led to this brief suite being ignored by concert promoters.

According to Imogen Holst, the Suite was “possibly” staged at the Coliseum Theatre, London during 1916. I was unable to find a reference to this performance in the contemporary media. The first concert performance was given during a Promenade Concert at the Queen’s Hall, London on 1 September 1919. The composer conducted the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra.

Three recordings of Holst’s Japanese Suite have been made:

1. London Symphony Orchestra/Adrian Boult, (Lyrita, SRCD.222, 1972/1992)
2. Ulster Orchestra/JoAnn Falletta, (Naxos 8.572914, 2012)
3. Manchester Chamber Choir/Andrew Davis, (Chandos CHSA 5086, 2011)

The Naxos Edition can be heard on YouTube, here.

It's not British, but...Alec Wilder's Piano Music

Alec Wilder is a composer whom I know little about. I connect his name to the Great American Songbook. Certainly, he worked with Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, along with many other big names. Well-known songs include I’ll be Around and While We’re Young. Conversely, there was a classical side to his achievement. The present disc introduces the listener to several collections of piano music. At the outset, this is a tricky CD to listen to, and to review. There are eight compositions, most of which are collections of small pieces. There are forty-four tracks in all. For example, Twelve Mosaics presents a dozen miniatures with the longest lasting 57 seconds and the shortest only 20 seconds. Listening to one after the other, they begin to blend into each other. And what is true for the Mosaics is true for the entire album. It all begins to sound the same. I did listen to each suite/number separately, with a gap between bouts, however, I was conscious of a sameness. If I am honest, I struggled to keep up enthusiasm. The only exception to this brevity is the Sonata Fantasy which is about 15 minutes long. It is well structured, with relationships between the four movements, especially the first and the last, which give a cyclic structure to the work.

Wilder’s pianistic writing is wide ranging. He uses elements of classical aesthetics, jazz tropes and popular songs. Typically, these styles are blended into a fusion. Melodically, each number is attractive, if not always memorable. There are often appealing harmonies. The short duration does not allow time for development. They are finished before the “exposition” has barely begun.

What does Wilder’s piano music sound like? The author of his biography on Classical Net suggests that it is a combination of George Gershwin, Francis Poulenc, and Heitor Villa-Lôbos. This may be a finger in the air evaluation, but it gives the listener a fair idea of what to expect. Yet, Wilder does not produce parodies or pastiche. It does seem to result from a clever personal synthesis of his models.

The liner notes give a good introduction to the composer and his music. Unfortunately, dates are not given for each work. The cover photo is a bit lugubrious. The performance of these Suites and the Fantasy are given sympathetic accounts by John Noel Roberts.

I guess that this CD will appeal to listeners who know Wilder’s “pop” songs, his film scores and maybe one or two of his numerous operas or stage shows. Each piece is quite charming, well stated and beautifully played. It will help the listener if they remember that Alec Wilder was beholden to no-one. He composed what he wanted to, and how he wanted to write it. If that did not please the jazz enthusiasts, the pop music groovers or the classical aficionados, then, it was just too bad.

Track Listing:
Alec Wilder (1907-80)
Sonata-Fantasy
Hardy Suite
Suite for piano I
Suite for piano II
Un Deuxième Essai
Suite for piano III
Suite for piano IV
Twelve Mosaics
John Noel Roberts (piano)
rec. 13-14June 2010 ACA Digital Recording Studio, Atlanta, USA
Albany Troy 1294

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published. 

Leroy Anderson: Scottish Suite (1954)

I do not know if American light music composer Leroy Anderson ever visited Scotland. I understand that there is no specific record of travel to that country. That said, he seems to have absorbed the mood and ethos of that country’s scenery and lore. Few composers have created such an evocative medley of traditional songs and tunes.

Anderson’s Scottish Suite (1954) was a touch problematic for him. It began as a work in six movements, however only four were completed. These were Bonnie Dundee, Turn Ye to Me, The Bluebells of Scotland and The Campbells Are Coming. Plans to include Scotland the Brave and Charlie is My Darling were abandoned. After some performances and a single recording, he withdrew all the movements save The Bluebells of Scotland.

Further complications for this work’s revival arose due to Turn Ye to Me being published only as a piano piece, with the full score and parts being lost. For Leonard Slatkin’s Naxos recording (8.559391, 2008) David Ross recreated the orchestral score from Anderson’s 1954 recording used in the Decca A Leroy Anderson Pops Concert.

The Suite opens with the dashing Bonnie Dundee which evokes the eponymous hero on horseback, hunting or being chased across the moors. It is full of rhythm and Scotch snaps. The heart of the work is the haunting Turn ye to Me, that originally had words by the Scottish poet John Wilson (1785-1854), who wrote under the pseudonym Christopher North. The beautiful words tell of his courting of ‘Mhairi Dhu’ (Dark Mary) and her eventual death in the “angry waves.”  Anderson has written a charming waltz, which evokes the melancholic mood. The Bluebells of Scotland is given a dancing, baroque turn, which reflects the singer’s sentiment “O where and O where does your highland laddie dwell/He dwells in merry Scotland where the bluebells sweetly smell.” Note the composer’s word painting with bells and chimes suggesting the flowers. The finale presents a swaggering version of the war song The Campbells are Coming. With hostile intentions the Great Argyll marches forth. Anderson’s take does not take this militarism too seriously.

Leroy Anderson’s Scottish Suite is a charming composition that reflects his ability for creating music with a keen sense of place and character. The suite’s enduring appeal lies in its ability to evoke the Scotland as clearly as any native composer.

A recording of Leroy Anderson’s Scottish Suite can be heard as the composer’s webpage, here.

Adrift: Music for clarinet, cello and piano

The most significant (and longest) work on this CD is Kenneth Leighton’s Fantasy on an American Hymn Tune, op.70, completed in 1974. The tune that forms the basis of the Fantasy is the hymn The Shining River, written by Pastor Robert Lowry during a typhoid and cholera epidemic in Brooklyn. The sentiment of the words is straightforward – “We are parting at the river of death: Shall we meet at the river of life?” Lowry’s words and tune preface Leighton’s score. They give a message of “universal hope and consolation transcending personal sadness.” The Fantasy is in six linked sections which progress towards a satisfying “clarification and glorification” of the found melody. It balances reflection, “driving rhythmic passages” and jazz infused episodes. The present recording opens with the hymn tune and words sung unaccompanied by unnamed singers. It is given a dynamic performance by the Delphine Trio.

The liner notes do not mention that it was premiered on 8 July 1975, during the Cheltenham Festival. The soloists were Gervase de Peyer, William Pleeth and Peter Wallfisch.

Émigré composer Robert Kahn escaped from Germany in 1939, aged 73 years. He settled in the South of England. The present Serenade seems to exist in several incarnations: originally for oboe, horn and piano, but with alternatives for nine different instrumental combinations. The listener will enjoy this serene, occasionally melancholic, post-Brahmsian work which presents no challenges. It is presented in a single movement but subdivided into sections. Serenade was completed in 1923, whilst Kahn was living in Berlin.

John Psathas’s Island Songs is an attractive three-movement piece that explores traditional Greek dance music seen through the eyes of the composer. The liner notes explain that these include the “zeibekiko” and the “sirto.” There is an overall impression of “latent energy” even in the thoughtful slow movement. Various traditional Greek instruments are emulated, including the dulcimer and the stringed outi. It was originally written in 1995 for the Kadinsky Ensemble. It has been re-scored for string trio.

Astor Piazzolla’s Oblivion has been arranged for multiple combinations of instruments. The present version for clarinet, cello and piano was realized by Roelof Temmingh. It was devised for a performance of Pirandello’s Enrico IV (1984). The liner notes do not explain this, but apparently it is a slow milonga, which was a predecessor of the tango. It is melancholic from the first note to the last.    

Robert Delanoff is a new name to me. He was born in Trappau, Germany in 1942. He specialises in chamber music for “unusual instrumental combinations.”  The present Trio, dating from 1965, explores an eclectic stylistic range. There are nods to Debussy, Hindemith and not a few hints of jazz. The liner notes are correct in pointing out the sense of humour in the final movement, a Scherzo. Yet the heart of the Trio is the melancholic, but extremely beautiful Nocturne.

I am always delighted to see a work by Mátyás Seiber featured on a new disc. His Introduction and Allegro was originally scored for cello and accordion. It is undated. The present arrangement, for clarinet, cello and piano was made by the composer. It displays all the excitement and vivacity exhibited by Seiber’s native Hungarian folk music.

The CD liner notes are adequate, however more details of each number would have been helpful. Dates of the works typically are not given.

The Delphine Trio features three musicians “from opposite ends of the globe”: Australian clarinettist Magdalenna Krstevska, Dutch cellist Jobine Siekman and Roelof Temmigh from South Africa. Their performances are outstanding throughout and they are clearly sympathetic to the repertoire. It is enhanced by a crisp, balanced recording.

This is an excellent debut album that serves its purpose by shining a light “on [some] beautiful hidden gems of the clarinet trio repertoire.”

Track Listing:
Kenneth Leighton (1929-88)
Fantasy on an American Hymn Tune, op.70 (1974)
Robert Kahn (1865-1951)
Trio Serenade, op.73 (1923)
John Psathas (b.1966)
Island Songs (1995)
Astor Piazzolla (1921-92)
Oblivion (1982) (arr. Roelof Temmingh (b.1946))
Robert Delanoff (b.1942)
Trio (1965)
Mátyás György Seiber (1905-60)
Introduction and Allegro (undated)
Delphine Trio: Magdalenna Krstevska (clarinet), Jobine Siekman (cello), Roelof Temmingh (piano)
rec. 26-29 June 2023, Studio 1, Muziekcentrum van de Omroep, Hilversum, Netherlands
TRPTK TTK0113 SACD
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.

Benjamin Britten: Sonata in C for Cello and Piano (1961)

The Sonata in C for cello and piano was the first of a series of works written for the Soviet cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich. Others that followed included the Three Suites for solo cello and the Symphony for cello and orchestra. The Sonata was planned whilst Britten and Peter Pears were on holiday in Greece during October 1960: the work was begun at Aldeburgh after Christmas and completed by the end of January 1961. It represents the composer’s awakened interest in chamber music after more than a decade largely devoted to vocal compositions. This was fired by Britten’s friendship with the cellist and an appreciation of his superb musicianship. The first performance was given at Aldeburgh on 7 July 1961 by Rostropovich and the composer.

Arguably, the work may be perceived by the listener as being a ‘suite’ rather than ‘sonata’. However, the opening ‘Dialogo’ has elements of Sonata form. The first subject is based on a tiny motive motive which is used in an augmented form in a lyrical second subject. The second movement is a standard ‘scherzo’ which the composer has suggested is a ‘study in pizzicato, sometimes almost guitar-like [with] its elaborate right-hand technique’. The slow movement is a deeply felt ‘Elegia’ which develops an impassioned theme in an arch-like structure. Notice the use of double, triple and quadruple stopping as the music builds to a huge climax. Peter Evans has suggested that the ‘freakish’ ‘Marcia’ was conceived as a ‘tribute to the musical satire of Prokofiev or the early Shostakovich’.  This is a standard March and trio structure. However, it is probably closer to some of Britten’s own pre-war works such as the Suite for violin and piano. The final ‘Moto perpetuo’ is complex. It is mood music at its best with constantly changing humour – ‘now high and expressive, now low and grumbling, now gay and carefree.’ There are a number of fingerprints in this Sonata including those of Bartok and Shostakovich, however the musical framework and language is ultimately Britten’s own: it is a finely judged balance of ‘classical’ sonata form with the composer’s dramatic and narrative style typical of his operas and other vocal works.

Perhaps the final word may go to William Mann, music critic at The Times. He wrote, ‘There is a suggestion...that Britten may have intended [the Sonata]...to reflect his own impression of the character of the player to whom it is dedicated: gay, charming, an astonishingly brilliant executant, but behind all these qualities a searching musician with the mind of a philosopher.’

Listen to Mstislav Rostropovich, cello and Benjamin Britten, piano on YouTube, here.

With thanks to the English Music Festival where this note was first published.

In Two Minds Edward Cowie (b.1943); Laura Chislett

The advertising for this disc explains that it “offers a unique fusion of musical expression and the natural world, inviting audiences to join in this extraordinary sonic exploration created through skilled and instinctive improvisation.” It further suggests that “this profound ritual of spontaneous outpourings invites listeners on an immersive journey, experiencing the direct transmission of sensory encounters through eight tracks that shape the discovered music of the moment.”

I am grateful to the liner notes and personal communication with Edward Cowie during my preparation of this review.

The word “improvisation” needs a little unpacking. It is often associated with the organ loft and the filling in of awkward gaps in the service. And then there is jazz… In both cases the performers tend to perform within “a prescribed musical world.” They often use a series of melodic and harmonic cliches. Another manifestation of improvisation was in the invention of complex and technically challenging cadenzas for concertos. One thing that it should not be (at least to this listener) is a jumble of notes chucked around any-old-how.

I asked Edward Cowie what preparation went into these pieces. He responded that “all effective improvisation would entail something akin to pre-composition.” With the present works each movement was planned in terms of certain “cues” that the performers give to each other, whilst leaving the improvisation as flexible as possible. There are no graphic/notated scores of any sort. The inspiration was the shared experiences of the sounds of the birds, the natural habitats and the paintings of Kandinsky, Rothko, Pollock, and Heather Cowie. Even the duration of each number was not fixed beforehand but resulted in a sympathetic response between the players. Each was made in a “continuous and unbroken take.”

The recital opens with the Dawn-Bellbirds. These are imagined to be in an Australian forest as the light slowly emerges from the darkness. The flute indulges in a variety of extended play techniques, before other bird species join in and create a kind of “avian counterpoint.”

An understanding of the art theories of Kandinsky infuses Guten Morgen, Herr Kandinsky! The artist insisted that “Points,” “Line” and “Planes” are “the three basic structural and dynamic paradigms of not only the cosmos and nature but also of music and the visual arts.” The Point is the beginning of all things, the Line is in effect a moving Point, and a Plane represents multiple Lines, producing a composition… Kandinsky reveals how “geometrical, physical, aesthetic, and spiritual concepts coexist naturally.” Cowie has used this paradigm in his Kandinsky (1995) Kandinsky’s Oboe (2009), both issued on Métier MSV28612. The present number is clearly a cheery greeting to, and an acknowledgment of, the artist’s theories. It is certainly much more satisfying than the theoretical underpinning would suggest.

Leighton Moss wetland nature reserve, near Carnforth, Lancashire is famous for its bittern colony. Boom Time - Bitterns at Leighton Moss celebrates the moment in late winter when the male of the species “warms up” before creating his powerful call. Cowie creates a splendid impression of landscape, mist, and sheer stasis, building up to the “boom” and eventually the other birds awakening. It is the longest piece on this CD, lasting for nearly ten minutes. Like Olivier Messiaen, Cowie can manipulate time: the work seems to last forever but contradictorily is over too soon. The bittern has the loudest bird call in the United Kingdom and is often compared to a foghorn or like the wind blowing over the top of a gigantic milk-bottle.

Sadly, due to a printing error, the booklet failed to print any commentary on New York - New York Mark Rothko - Jackson Pollock. I asked Edward Cowie about this, and he gave me this ‘take’ which I quote in full: “The two painters, Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock, key members of a group of New York painters…worked in hugely diverse ways. Indeed, the personalities of both men could not be more starkly different. Rothko worked slowly and in a constant state of meditative tension, whilst Pollock was filmed working his strange, ferocious, and frenetic ‘dances’ holding a huge paint-dripping brush over a canvas on the ground. There is, thus, an obvious contrast between the steady application of layers of colour forms and delicately blended fringes that separate and join these often-huge geometric planes, and the gradually accelerating cascades and arabesques of paint that form the complex linearity of Pollock’s constructions. Thus, this improvisation plays with these contrasted ways of forming things. Rothko signs off with gentle hymn of colours whilst Pollock ends with a scream or loud slam of paint!”

There are two solo pieces on this disc. The first, Ornitharia, explores bird habitat in and around Sydney, Australia. Although this is for solo flute, the sustaining pedal on the grand piano is depressed. Cowie explained to me that the flute is often directed to the inside of the piano, sometimes “generating sympathetic vibration and harmonics, much as it would when birds in Australia sing in vast open spaces.”

The second solo, Stonehenge Thunderstorm and Skylark for piano, recalls a visit to the ancient monument with a distant thunderstorm over Salisbury Plain. Throughout, the song of the skylark is heard against the distant noise, before getting gradually quieter and finally fading away. For me, there are considerable echoes of Messiaen in these pages.

Out of curiosity I looked up Lake Eacham on Google Maps. It looks an idyllic place. The colour of the water at the shores is an inviting aquamarine, with the deeper reaches revealing an “unearthly black and jade colour.” The venue is ideal for bathing, sailing, and kayaking. Cowie explains that the place is “undoubtedly an Aboriginal sacred site for even to the uninitiated, it oozes an atmosphere of primal power - an almost magnetic feeling of life and history in wrapt and wrapped co-dependency.”  He has created a beautiful nocturne which compliments the special mood of the place, along with personal echoes of times past, when he was courting his wife, Heather. It is the most evocative piece on this CD.

The final improvisation is Dusk/Night Lyrebirds. Once again, it is inspired by Australia and is another ‘nocturne.’ This time it evokes the rainforest haunts of the lyrebird. Cowie writes, “Darkness falls in a rainforest where a chorus of avian ‘goodnights’ are uttered before a solitary lyrebird begins its bewitching and bewitched song.” It is a melancholy sound, nodding to the fragility of this and other avian habitats.

It is interesting to note that the Latin name of the lyrebird is Menurida: this happens to be the name of the Chislett/Cowie Duo.

The booklet is most helpful and gives a proficient introduction to the content. There is an interesting foreword by Cowie which discusses the nature of improvisation and puts these eight works into context, both in a performative and creative sense. Then follows the notes on the music, which unfortunately misses out any discussion on New York-New York Mark Rothko - Jackson Pollock. A personal note is given by Laura Chislett. Finally, there are the usual resumes of the performers and composer. The insert is illustrated and features a painting by Heather Cowie, Two Minds.

The recording quality is second to none and compliments the often-intimate nature of these improvisations.                                                 

I enjoyed this CD immensely. If I had not been aware of its improvisatory nature, I am not sure that I would have guessed it. The impact is sensuous, inventive, and often fantastic. Edward Cowie is keen to point out that although the titles are full of meaning for the performers, the listener can make their own “sonic” pictures and ignore the Notes on the Music. For me, although I have not been to the locales mentioned (Leighton Moss excepted) and I am unaware precisely what paintings inspired the music, I was prepared to use his notes as an aural prompt.

Track Listing:
Edward Cowie (b.1943); Laura Chislett
Pre Dawn and Dawn: Australian Bell Birds
Guten Morgen, Herr Kandinsky! (Point and Line to Plane)
Boom Time- Bitterns at Leighton Moss
New York-New York Mark Rothko - Jackson Pollock
Ornitharia (Flute Solo)
Stonehenge Thunderstorm and Skylark (Piano Solo)
Lake Eacham Blue
Dusk/Night Lyrebirds
Duo Menurida: Laura Chislett (flute), Edward Cowie (piano)
rec. October 2023, Ayriel Studios, Whitby, Yorkshire
Métier MEX 77121

Introducing Cecil Coles

Cecil Frederick Gottlieb Coles is one of the most gifted composers to have been killed during the Great War: he is also one of the least known.

Coles was born near the Galloway market-town of Kirkcudbright in 1888 and after moving with his parents to Edinburgh attended the George Watson Grammar School and Edinburgh University.  In 1906 he went up to the London College of Music.  Although he had won the Cherubini Scholarship, he was always rather short of cash. There is an apocryphal story told of how he used to stand outside a nearby pickle factory and enjoy the smell for his lunch! Fortunately, he made an impression with an older lady called Miss Nancy Brooke. She was a lecturer at Morley College and soon took young Cecil under her wing.  At that College Coles met Gustav von Holst who had been appointed director in 1907. Soon he was a member of the orchestra and was helping to get it into a state where they could give respectable performances. The relationship between the two men blossomed and Coles began to assist Holst with his teaching duties.

After further study at the Stuttgart Conservatory, Coles was appointed as Assistant Conductor to the Stuttgart Royal Opera.  He concurrently held the post of organist at that city’s Anglican Church, St Catherine’s.

In 1912 he married Phoebe Relton and after a brief sojourn in Stuttgart returned to the United Kingdom the following year.

Coles went on to serve a distinguished career in the Queen Victoria Rifles. He corresponded regularly with his older friend Holst and sent him drafts of his music for comment and correction. On 26 April 1918 Cecil Coles was killed whilst courageously helping to bring wounded soldiers back from behind the lines. 

Cecil Cole’s catalogue is not large. The few pieces that have been heard in recent years include the orchestral works From the Scottish Highlands, a Scherzo in A minor, an Overture: ‘The Comedy of Errors’ and an effective ‘dramatic scena’ Fra Giacomo set for baritone and orchestra.  There are a handful of songs and piano pieces.

His final work was composed when he was on active service. The suite Behind the Lines was a four movement orchestral piece written in 1918: only two movements survive.

In 2001 a retrospective CD of Cecil Coles orchestral works was released on Hyperion (CDA67293): since that time there has been little further exposure of his music.  All discussion of Coles and his music owes much to the Scottish musicologist and composer John Purser.

Parallels: the organ of Cheltenham College Chapel

The Divine Art website explains that this new CD of music from Cheltenham College Chapel is a “meticulously curated album that explores the organ’s remarkable breadth and sonority. Featuring three monumental organ works and delightful arrangements of English classics, the collection is a testament to the grandeur and versatility of the instrument.”

The Suite No.1 by Florence Price dates from 1942. However, it shows none of the then-modernist traits of Olivier Messiaen, Marcel Dupré or Jean Langlais. What she does bring to the party is an enthusiasm for certain African American musical tropes such as spirituals, hymns, pentatonic scales and jazz inspired harmonies and rhythms. After an ageless Fantasy, she presents a very Reger-ian Fughetta, that uses the Spiritual Sometimes I feel like a motherless Child as the subject. Jazz does seem to infuse the Air, but only to a limited extent. This is no Gershwin-like exploration of the medium. Perhaps Percy Whitlock was the model here? The concluding Toccato (sic.) certainly shifts along. It uses a “juba base” which is a concept beyond my ken, but certainly creates movement and makes it swing. A touch of the theatre organ here.

The rock band Coldplay is not on my radar. In 2011 they had a ‘hit’ with Paradise taken from their fifth studio album Mylo Xyloto. Ten years later, Alexander Ffinch made a transcription of the song. I listened to the original track as part of my prep for this review. All I can say is that this realisation for the organ reflects its "slice of hug-warm ecstasy.” If I heard this piece played at the conclusion of Evensong, I would never guess its genesis and its fusion of “electronica, ambient, pop, R&B, classical and progressive rock.”

Little need be said about the Holst and Elgar transcriptions. They are always a pleasure to hear. It is especially appropriate to have Jupiter (from The Planets), to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of GH’s birth. Along with Elgar’s P&C No.1, these days it (at least when sung with the words I Vow to thee, my country) is liable to be a bit non-PC and liable for ‘cancelation.’ There is nothing controversial about Elgar’s Chanson de Matin in Herbert Brewer’s 1904 arrangement.

I have not heard any music by Dan Locklair before, at least consciously. Peter Hardwick writing in The Diapason magazine has stated that Rubrics is “one of the most frequently played organ works by an American composer.” Extracts were played at the Washington National Cathedral funeral service for President Ronald Reagan in 2004, and during the January 2009 Martin Luther King Jr. service during the Presidential Inauguration of President Barack Obama. A ‘Rubric’ (or Rubrick) is used in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (and successive revisions) as an instruction to the officiant and/or worshipers. Locklair has used five directions. The energetic “The ancient praise-shout, ‘Hallelujah,’ has been restored…” is followed by a “Silence may be kept” which is a “lyrical movement featuring the flute stops.” Then there is a vivacious trumpet tune section which suggests “…and thanksgivings may follow.” Another slow, expressive, movement reflects on the instruction that “The Peace may be exchanged.” Rubrics concludes with the challenging toccata “The people respond – Amen!” Overall, this is a satisfying work that is both jazzy and sometimes minimalistic but is still in the great tradition of 20^th century organ music.

Leon Boëllmann’s Suite Gothique was written for the commissioning of the new Jean-Baptiste Ghys organ at Notre-Dame de Dijon during 1895. This was a small two manual instrument, so the Suite is suitable for a wide range of organs. The powerful Introduction-Choral, which contrasts a loud theme and its quieter echo, seems to run into the vigorous Menuet Gothique. The Prière a Notre-Dame evokes the statue of the Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir. The final movement is the ever-popular Toccata with its surging progress suggesting both light and darkness. The soubriquet Gothique may refer to the literary genre or more likely to the architectural structure of the Dijon church which is a masterpiece of 13^th century Burgandy Gothic. The Suite is given an exceptional performance here.

The present three manual and pedal organ at the Cheltenham College Chapel was originally built by Norman and Beard in 1897. It was subsequently rebuilt by Harrison and Harrison in 1930 - with additions in 1976. In 2013 a 32-foot Double Ophicleide pedal stop was added. The latest cleaning, re-leathering of the wind system along with the restoration of the console and a new piston system were concluded in 2017. A complete specification of the current instrument is printed in the booklet.

The liner notes, by various hands is helpful, but often do not carry dates of the compositions and arrangements. They include a lengthy essay about Florence Price by Calvert Johnson, and a long-winded interview between Alexander Ffinch and Dan Locklair, as well as notes on the other numbers. There is a resume of the soloist.

This is an impressive recital that “parallels’ old and new favourites. New to me was Coldplay’s Paradise, Locklair’s Rubrics and Price’s Suite. It was good to hear Leon Boëllmann’s Suite Gothique and four “pot-boiler” English transcriptions.

Track Listing:

Gustav Holst (1874-1934), arr. Thomas Trotter
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity from The Planets op. 32 (1914-17)
Florence Price (1887-1953)
Suite No.1 for Organ (1942)
Chris Martin (b.1977), arr. Alexander Ffinch
Paradise (2011/2021)
Edward Elgar (1857-1934), arr. William H. Harris
Nimrod from Enigma Variations (1899/1932?)
Dan Locklair (b.1949)
Rubrics (1988)
Edward Elgar arr. Edwin H. Lemare
Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 (1901/1902)
Edward Elgar arr. Herbert Brewer
Chanson de Matin (pub.1899/1904)
Leon Boëllmann (1862-1897)
Suite Gothique, op.25 (1895)
Alexander Ffinch (organ)
rec. 23-24 August and 18-19 November 2023, Cheltenham College Chapel, Cheltenham, England
Divine Art DDX 21112
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.

Jean Sibelius: Night Ride and Sunrise (1909)

One of the first pieces of music by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius that I heard was his Night Ride and Sunrise, op.55 (1908). It remains one of his most neglected tone poems. It was included on a Decca Eclipse LP coupled with the Symphony No.5 in E flat, op.82 and the Overture from Karelia Music. This had been recently issued in 1972 with the ‘trademark’ sleeve featuring a National Trust property. In this case it is a scene of Gowbarrow, near Ullswater in the Lake District. It is what encouraged me to invest in the album, as I was just beginning to explore this part of the country during the early seventies.

The recording history is a little complicated. Both the Karelia Overture and Night Ride and Sunrise were recorded at the Kingsway Hall, London between 2-3 June 1955. The Symphony, at the same venue between 25-27 January 1955. Anthony Collins conducted the London Symphony Orchestra.

The Symphony and Night Ride were released on LXT 5083 and LL1276 (USA). The Karelia Overture was issued on a 10-inch disc, LW 5209, together with excerpts from the Pelléas et Mélisande, Suite. In 1972, the three works were reissued on Decca Eclipse ECS 605, with reprocessed ‘stereo.’ This was an attempt at making the old monaural recordings sound better by adding reverberation and ‘tinkering’ with frequency levels. Some reviewers felt that the original recordings were ruined by this novel process.

There is some debate as to Sibelius’s vision for this work. On the one hand, he suggested to his secretary Santeri Levas that it was inspired by a journey he made in his native Finland, on a sleigh between Helsinki and Kerava. Levas later wrote that the composer witnessed an unforgettable sunrise: “The whole heavens were a sea of colours that shifted and flowed, producing the most inspiring sight until it all ended in growing light.” Yet, he told his biographer Karl Ekman that the piece was conceived on first seeing the Colosseum, whilst on a trip to Rome in 1901. Whatever the truth, he told his friend, the English poet and writer on music, Rosa Newmarch, that it shared “the inner experiences of an average man riding solitary through the forest gloom; sometimes glad to be alone with Nature; occasionally awe-stricken by the stillness or the strange sounds which break it; but thankful and rejoicing in the daybreak.”

The writer of the sleeve notes for the original 1955 (LXT 5083) recording wrote that “The ‘night ride’ is dominated by an insistent trochaic rhythm, eventually combined with a plaintive theme introduced by the woodwind. A transition leads to the ‘sunrise,’ one of Sibelius’s most vibrant portrayals of nature, with a calm grandeur that anticipates the Fifth and Seventh Symphonies.”  It is interesting that Sibelius concludes the piece in contemplative manner, rather than with a peroration.

Night Ride and Sunrise was premiered by Ukrainian pianist and conductor Alexander Siloti in St Petersburg on 23rd January 1909. He made several cuts that the composer would never have approved of. Sibelius was not in attendance at the concert.

The recording history is a little complicated. Both the Karelia Overture and Night Ride and Sunrise were recorded at the Kingsway Hall, London between 2-3 June 1955. The Symphony, at the same venue between 25-27 January 1955. Anthony Collins conducted the London Symphony Orchestra.

The Symphony and Night Ride were released on LXT 5083 and LL1276 (USA). The Karelia Overture was issued on a 10-inch disc, LW 5209, coupled with excerpts from the Pelléas et Mélisande, Suite. In 1972, the three works were reissued on Decca Eclipse ECS 605 with reprocessed ‘stereo.’ This was an attempt at making the old monaural recordings sound better by adding reverberation and ‘tinkering’ with frequency levels. Some reviewers felt that the original recordings were ruined by this novel process.

Anthony Collins’s splendid 1955 recording of Night Ride and Sunrise can be heard on YouTube, here.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music Premiere Recording

I have a very tenuous connection to the first performance of RVW’s Serenade to Music. My late father told me that one day, before the Second World War, he came home from school, to be introduced to Isobel Baillie and Walter Widdop in the family drawing room. My grandfather often organised musical events in and around Manchester and would liaise with soloists contracted to sing Messiah in the area. These two singers along with fourteen other performers provided the vocal forces for the Serenade’s premiere on 5 October 1938 during the Henry Wood Jubilee Concert at the Albert Hall.

The added value of this CD is that “for the first time” the listener can explore original recordings from the sixteen artists who were well-known and popular in their day. As the liner notes state, “before you get to the Serenade, which is track 17, you can hear each of the sixteen voices for whom it was written.”  The repertoire heard ranges from drawing room ballads to grand opera, by way of Scottish folksong and English “lieder.”

The final track, Keith Falkner’s rendition of George Butterworth’s Is my Team Ploughing? from A Shropshire Lad is a bonus. Falkner would have been one of the Sixteen if he had not been touring in the United States. He would have replaced Robert Easton.

The listener will need to be aware of differing singing styles prominent ninety-odd years ago. For example, John Francis, Chairman of the Vaughan Williams Society, told me that RVW and others hated the rapid vibrato that certain professional singers used. He exhorted music festival competitors not to imitate it. That said, all the performances on this CD are important historical documents that must be judged on their own terms.

Highlights for me included the Mull Fisher's Love Song set for contralto and harp, which was one of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser songs collected in the Highlands of Scotland. Hubert Parry’s restrained setting of John of Gaunt’s dying speech in Shakespeare’s Richard II (“This royal throne of Kings, this sceptred island”) is nowadays likely to be a casualty of cancel culture. There is a beautiful performance of Puccini’s aria Vissi d'arte from Tosca by Eva Turner. Heddle Nash gives a characteristic interpretation of RVW’s Linden Lea.

As for my familial connection, Walter Widdop’s rendition of A Request by Amy Woodforde-Finden is a pot-boiler from back in the day. And Isobel Baillie does a sterling job with the hackneyed Bach-Gounod Ave Maria.

One discovery was Granville Bantock’s Serenade from Six Jester Songs, sung beautifully by Muriel Brunskill. Surely there must be some singers/pianist prepared to do a complete edition of Bantock’s songs.

It is especially important to me to have the original Henry Wood recording of RVWs Serenade to Music. This was made on 15 October 1938 at the HMV Abbey Road Studio No.1 with the sixteen soloists listed in the contents below, with Sir Henry Wood conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Although I have heard this performance, I did not have a copy in my record library. I was introduced to this work by the wonderful 1972 release by Sir Adrian Boult and the New Philharmonia Orchestra (ASD 2847). This has remained my “go-to” version.

All tracks have been remastered by Peter Reynolds: they have “scrubbed up” extremely well. The detailed liner notes by Stephen Connock are excellent and provide both commentary and context. All texts are printed. On the CD cover is a remarkable colour photograph of the sixteen soloists, the composer, and the conductor at the Abbey Road Studios on the day of recording.

Normally, I am not an enthusiast of historical recordings, especially those from the days of 78rpm. Yet, I found this CD absorbing and often most moving. Several of these pieces brought a tear to my eye (Elgar, Parry, and Kennedy-Fraser). There is a magic in these tracks that defies time, stylistic parameters, and logic. 

Track Listing:

J.S. Bach (1685-1750)/Charles Gounod (1818-93)

Ave Maria
Isobel Baillie (soprano), Berkeley Mason (organ), cello and harp
rec.1930
Arthur Somervell (1863-1937)
Shepherd's Cradle Song
Elsie Suddaby (soprano), Madame Adami (piano)
rec. 1926
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Vissi d'arte from Tosca
Eva Turner (soprano), Sir Thomas Beecham and Orchestra
rec. 1928
Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945)
Santuzza's Song from Cavalleria Rusticana,
Lillian Stiles-Allen (soprano), John Barbirolli and Orchestra
rec. 1927
Granville Bantock (1868-1946)
Serenade from Six Jester Songs,
Muriel Brunskill (contralto), with piano
rec. 1926
Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857-1930)/Kenneth MacLeod (1871-1955)
Mull Fisher's Love Song
Astra Desmond (contralto), Maria Korchinska (harp)
rec.1941
Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Angel's Farewell from Dream of Gerontius
Margaret Balfour (contralto), Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, Royal Choral Society/Edward Elgar
rec.1927
Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918)
England
Mary Jarred (contralto), with Massed Choirs/Hugh Allen
rec. 1938
Amy Woodforde-Finden (1860-1919)
A Request
Walter Widdop (tenor), Percy Kahn (piano)
rec.1926
Peter Warlock (1894-1930)
There is a Lady Sweet and Kind
Parry Jones (tenor), W.T. Best (piano)
rec.1934
Giacomo Puccini
Ah! Mimi, tu più non torni from La Boheme
Frank Titterton (tenor), Roy Henderson (baritone) and orchestra
rec.1929 or 1930
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Linden Lea
Heddle Nash (tenor), Gerald Moore (piano)
rec.1948
George Butterworth (1885-1916)
Loveliest of Trees from A Shropshire Lad
Roy Henderson (baritone), Gerald Moore (piano)
rec.1941
Charles Gounod
Heavenly Vision from Faust
Robert Easton (bass), Heddle Nash (tenor), BBC Choir, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Beecham
rec.1929/30
Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919)
Prologue from I Pagliacci
Harold Williams (bass-baritone), British National Opera Company’s Orchestra/Eugene Goossens (snr)
rec.1929
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Silent Noon
Norman Allin (bass), with piano
rec.1926
Serenade To Music
Isobel Baillie, Lilian Stiles-Allen, Elsie Suddaby, Eva Turner (sopranos)
Muriel Brunskill, Astra Desmond, Mary Jarred, Margaret Balfour (contraltos)
Heddle Nash, Frank Titterton, Walter Widdop, Parry Jones (tenors)
Harold Williams, Roy Henderson (baritones)
Robert Easton, Norman Allin (basses)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Henry Wood
rec.1938
George Butterworth
Is my Team Ploughing? from A Shropshire Lad
Keith Falkner (bass-baritone), Gerald Moore (piano)
rec.1940

Albion Records ALBC059

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.