For many listeners, the main motive
for purchasing this CD will be The Lark
Ascending. The highly-regarded violinist Jennifer Pike and the Chamber
Orchestra of New York give a fine performance of this extremely popular work. It
presents the shimmering, impressionistic ‘all the live murmur of a summer’s
day’ mood that this work demands. I confess that my bench-mark will always be
Hugh Bean’s magical account with the New Philharmonia under Sir Adrian Boult. However,
Pike’s performance will prove a success.
The remainder of the works on
this disc are much less prevalent.
I first became aware of The Solent when I purchased Sir Adrian
Boult’ splendid recording of RVW’s Symphony No. 9 on EMI ASD2581. This would be
around 1973. Reading the liner notes, I discovered that ‘the second movement
[of that symphony] begins with a theme for flugelhorn which came from an
unpublished tone-poem The Solent
(composed 1903) and is also used in the Sea Symphony.’ At that time, I could find precious little information
about this work. The title stirred my imagination, but I guess I felt that I
would never hear this ‘early horror.’ In the past decade or so, several withdrawn
works have been released. The Solent appeared
on Albion Records ALBCD016 in 2013. It was coupled with two other ‘mislaid’
tone poems – ‘Burley Heath’ and ‘Harnham Down.’ Like many RVW enthusiasts, I
was not disappointed by these pieces and felt that they had been well worth the
wait.
The Solent is a reflective and introverted work that was meant to
be part of a larger suite, In the New
Forest. Aesthetically, it is a million miles away from the notion of happy
holidays by the sea at Ryde, Southsea or Cowes. In fact, the score is prefaced
with the text by Philip Marston (1850-87): ‘Passion and sorrow in the deep
sea’s voice, A mighty mystery saddening all the wind.’ I am delighted to have
another splendid version of this long-awaited tone poem.
Vaughan Williams is not usually
acknowledged for his piano music. Virtually all the original pieces, as opposed
to arrangements, could be included on one side of an old vinyl LP. Glancing at
Michael Kennedy’s Catalogue shows a few ‘occasional’ pieces: Birthday Gifts,
Hymn Tune Prelude on Song 13, Introduction and Fugue for two pianos, Six
Teaching Pieces, ‘The Lake in the Mountains’, an arrangement of Chorale Prelude
‘Ach bleib' bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ’, BWV 649, transcribed for piano and the
Suite of Six Short Piece for piano.
I am curious as to how this
present Suite can be billed on the album cover as a “World Premiere Recording”.
To my understanding this short work was released on a vinyl LP by Peter Jacob
in 1981 (Phoenix
DGS1019), and subsequently issued on cassette tape (TRXC126) and CD (TRX
CD126). Interestingly, this LP was engineered to be played at 45rpm as opposed
to the traditional 33rpm. I never owned or heard this album.
The Suite was designed for
teaching purposes, though I agree with the liner notes in thinking that is
deserves to be recognised as a recital work. The work has six movements:
Prelude, Slow Dance, Quick Dance, Slow Air, Rondo and a Pezzo Ostinato. The
music is neo-classical in mood, although the ‘slow air’ does reflect the
composer’s popularly perceived style. The rondo seems to hint at the song
‘Linden Lea.’ All six pieces are played with subtlety and conviction by Sina
Kloke.
The Suite is better-known in its
arrangement by the composer and James Brown as the Charterhouse Suite. This has been recorded several times, including
on Naxos 8.555068. The title harks back to RVWs days at Charterhouse School in
Godalming.
The Fantasia (Fantasy) for piano
and orchestra, does not seem to have quite made it into the ‘popular’ Vaughan
Williams’ repertoire. Two reasons spring to mind. Firstly, the work remained unheard
until 2011. It had been rediscovered by the pianist Mark Bebbington in 2010 and
was subsequently released the following year on the SOMM label (SOMMCD 246). The
second reason is that the sound-world of this piece owes little to the
‘received’ ideas of what the ‘Englishness’ of the composer’s music implies.
The work was begun in October 1896,
when RVW had returned to the Royal College of Music to study with Sir Charles
Villiers Stanford. During this time, plenty of other works were written,
including the Heroic Elegy, the Bucolic Suite and The Garden of Proserpine. Many of these have now been issued on CD.
The Fantasia was completed on 9
February 1902 and was revised twice in 1904 when the score was laid aside and
deposited in the British Library with the word ‘withdrawn’ written on the
cover. It is not known if the work was composed with a soloist in mind: it was
never performed until Mark Bebbington took it up.
The exemplars of the Fantasia are
largely nineteenth century, including RVWs teacher Stanford, Brahms, Wagner and
Delius, although just occasionally the listener will be struck by a phrase that
seems closer to what we expect of the composer such as the Tallis Fantasia or The Lark
Ascending.
The Fantasia is presented as a
single movement work lasting for just over twenty minutes. It is cast in six
contrasting sections. The listener will be impressed with the ‘bravura’ Brahmsian
pianism which is well-played by Sina Kloke. It is a work which is very much if
its time, but is none the worse for that. It deserves its place in the
composer’s catalogue of recorded music.
The score was subsequently edited
for performance by Graham Parlett, and was published in 2012.
The booklet notes by Paul Conway
are outstanding, giving a good overview of RVWs ‘early horrors’ which have now
become part of the composer’s legacy.
I enjoyed this new CD from Naxos.
The choice of repertoire is interesting, although I am not sure about the mix
of orchestral and piano pieces on the same CD. The playing is excellent and
reflects a great sympathy towards English music by this orchestra from New
York.
Track Listing:
The Solent (1902-3)
Fantasia for piano and orchestra (1896-1902, rev. 1904)
Suite of Six Short Pieces for piano (1920)
The Lark Ascending (1914, rev. 1920)
Jennifer Pike (violin) Sina Kloke (piano) Chamber Orchestra
of New York/Salvatore Di Vittorio
NAXOS 8.573530
With thanks to
MusicWeb International where this review was first published.
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