Piano Music by E.J. Moeran and Gordon Jacob on Lyrita

When I was looking through some old posts on my Land of Lost Content Blog I found that in 2008 I had posted this review originally published on MusicWeb International. On my blog, it had become corrupted with some missing text and the fonts lacking uniformity. I have no hesitation in posting this again. I have corrected a few typos and matters of style but have not changed the content or sentiment of the review.

I was so delighted when I heard that Lyrita were resurrecting these recordings. It is a long time since I last gave my vinyl recordings of these pieces a spin and it is great to hear them again. I live in hope that it will not be too long before the remaining mono recordings in the Lyrita archive appear on CD. [This has happened! 2018]. Meanwhile, Iris Loveridge provides the listener with a thoroughly enjoyable and often moving account of some fine but neglected piano music.

The Irish Love Song was composed in 1926 and was based on a genuine folksong. Moeran rarely used ‘real’ folksongs, however this piece is one two such arrangements – the other being ‘The White Mountain’.  There is some debate as to whether the composer derived the tune from his friend Peter Warlock or from Hamilton Harty. On the one hand the piano piece is dedicated to Warlock and on the other Harty used the same tune in his Irish Symphony written some eight years previously: Harty was one of Moeran’s mentors.

I must admit that the ‘Theme and Variations’ is my least favourite of Moeran’s piano music: I have never been able to work out why. I think that it may be that I feel it somehow lacks a sense of unity. It is an early piece, written when the composer was about 26 years old. The ‘Theme’ would appear to be based on a folksong, yet the truth is that it is a confection devised by the composer. Delius seems to lie behind this tune. The theme is followed by six variations that explore various facets of the material. Perhaps the most attractive is the 6^th – non troppo lento e rubato. This is followed by ‘a large scale peroration’ of a finale.

On a May Morning is one of those pieces of music whose title belongs to someone else. Naturally, it complements Bax’s On a May Evening – also for piano solo. And Rob Barnett suggests that it is a title that belongs to John Ireland! This is possibly nearer the mark: the piece was written in 1921 at a time when Moeran was studying with the older man.  It is actually a very beautiful piano solo that well balances folk music content (do I hear an echo of Linden Lea?) and a neo-impressionistic style. It is played delightfully by Loveridge who manages to suggest all the busyness of that magical time of year – at least as the poet imagines it, as opposed to the reality of ‘May Days and Grey Days!’ 

The Three Fancies could be construed as ‘mere’ salon music, albeit of a high quality. Yet there is much here that goes deeper. For example, the ‘Elegy’, with its dark and rather depressing harmonies, is in complete contrast to the more ebullient pieces that flank it. It has been suggested that the ‘Elegy’ is a ‘dreamy pastorale,’ however that is a sentiment that overstates the mark. If a landscape was being described it would be a marshy bog and not the smiling fields that the Scholar Gypsy knew. The ‘Burlesque’ lightens matter up. It is not quite a peasants’ dance but is full of ‘uncouth’ piano figurations that suggests Bax’s Gopak. The opening ‘fancy’ is really a little masterpiece that could well stand on its own. Moeran spent much time in Norfolk exploring the villages and searching out folksongs. In his travels he would come across windmills – certainly many more that nowadays grace the skyline. His musical evocation of these ‘quixotic giants’ echoes the ‘revolving sails’ in a clever impressionistic manner. There is a quieter interlude, when the wind has died away to a whisper. But the miller’s business is safe, the breeze returns, and the sails revolve once more. It is a perfect miniature tone poem. Loveridge captures the grace and movements of this music.

Summer Valley seems to be more Fred. Delius than Fred. Delius ever composed! I think of the Cotswold Hill Tune by C.W. Orr and the Serenade by Peter Warlock as the two other prime candidates for this sub-genre. Moeran writes an attractive ‘Sicilienne’, and I guess it is more this than anything else that makes Delius the referential marker. Delius often used this compound time ‘from’ in his tone poems.  

Yet this is not to knock this lovely piece – it is one that has been a favourite of mine ever since I first bought the original vinyl album. I have often wondered where the ‘summer valley’ was – but I guess that is a place that exists in the composer’s and the listener’s minds: I certainly know where mine is – but that would be telling. It is one of my (many) Desert Island Discs. And Iris Loveridge’s rendition is top of that list.

The Moeran recital ends with the early Three Piano Pieces written in 1919. These were the composer’s first published compositions. Interestingly, Moeran had come to Boyle in County Roscommon to convalesce from his serious war wounds. He was smitten with Ireland (country) and was to retain this affection for the rest of his life.

The first piece, ‘The Lake Island’, is redolent of W.B. Yeat’s ‘land of fairie’ and may have been directly inspired by the poet’s similarly named poem. Moeran was acquainted with some of Bax’s music, including In the Fairy Hills.  Once again, this is really a little tone poem for piano – the water can be heard lapping against the bank or the boat. ‘Autumn Leaves’ is a more serious piece. Peter J. Pirie suggests that it has something in it of Farnaby’s Fall of the Leaf, although pointing out that Moeran’s thoughts extend considerably further and in a more complex manner than that piece. ‘At the Horse Fair’ is really a little bit of Irishry that captures the mood of an event that the composer had attended in Roscommon.  This is hardly complex music – it is largely diatonic but maintained interest with ‘off-beat’ rhythms. 

One last thought about Jack Moeran: the CD cover and the sleeve notes suggest that Moeran was born in 1864. All enthusiasts know that he was born thirty years later. The official date of birth is 31^st December 1894.

It is good that Iris Loveridge’s recording of Gordon Jacob Piano Sonata has been re-released. It was one of the earliest Lyrita records that I purchased. Some thirty-five years down the road [now 45 years] it is still (I believe) the only edition of this work available on CD. It is difficult to understand how such an impressive work can be so completely ignored by performers. Yet, with one or two exceptions, it is the fate of most British Piano Sonatas. Bridge and Ireland have considerable followings. But what are we to make of the masterworks of McEwen, Hurlstone, Dale, White, Hamilton, Hoddinott, Truscott et al? They are largely represented by a single recording of their respective Sonatas made over the past forty or fifty years.

Gordon Jacob is a name who is familiar to all enthusiasts of English music, yet relatively few of his compositions are widely known. Over recent years several works have been committed to CD – most especially the wonderful Symphonies on Lyrita.

The present Piano Sonata was written for Iris Loveridge over fifty years ago. It is hardly a work of its time: I suppose it could be argued that Jacob was always on the conservative side of the compositional fence. Yet there is nothing ‘retro’ about this music. It is a fine example of piano writing and displays considerable power and invention.

The Sonata is in four movements with the first being the longest at six minutes. I find it rather difficult to pin down the stylistic content as each movement explores a different facet of pianistic style. For example, the finale makes use ‘of the piano’s percussive quality’ whereas the opening section of ‘adagio’ is painted in dark colours that border on the impressionistic.  The third movement, another adagio is the emotional heart of the work. This is truly beautiful music that creates a perfect balance between spontaneity and control.

Rob Barnett has suggested that this Sonata is caught between the ‘folk-foundation he shared with Moeran and the tart and dissonance-accommodating impressionism we hear in the piano music of Howard Ferguson.’ This is a fine description of much of this work. It is a superb example of the genre that should always be available - both on CD and in the concert hall.

This CD is based on mono recordings that are 60 years old. It would be asking too much to expect a brilliant sound. Yet the transfer to CD has been well-done. Not all the hiss has been removed, but that does not matter. Any short-coming in the sound quality is more than amply made up for in the generally superb playing by Iris Loveridge. One can only imagine that when these recordings were originally made they were exceptional for their day.

Other editions of Moeran’s piano music exist on CD. Eric Parkin’s contribution to the Lyrita catalogue is complementary to the Loveridge recital –t here are no ‘overlapping’ pieces. Parkin went on to record the complete works on Ismeron JMSCD2 and Una Hunt has issued a similar collection on ASV CD DCA 1138. Since this review was originally written, Duncan Honeybourne has issued the complete piano works on EM CD0012-13. The present recording of the Jacob Sonata would appear, as noted above, to be the only one.

Yet for my money Iris Loveridge adds considerable value to any collection of Moeran piano music. Her style and her sympathy with the composer are self evident. I would not wish to be without this present recording. 

Track Listing:

Ernest John MOERAN (1894-1950) 

Irish Love Song (1926) 

Theme and Variations (1920) 

On a May Morning (1921)

Three Fancies (Windmills; Elegy; Burlesque) (1922) 

Summer Valley (1925) 

Three Piano Pieces (The Lake Island; Autumn Woods; At the Horse Fair) (1919) 

Gordon JACOB (1895-1984) 

Piano Sonata (1957) 

Iris Loveridge (piano) 

rec. The Music Room, July 1958, May 1959 (Moeran); 26 June 1958 (Jacob). Mono. ADD. 

first issued on LP as RCS 3 (Moeran); RCS 2 (Jacob). 

LYRITA REAM.1103

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review first appeared.