This six-CD boxed set of
recordings made by the English pianist Frank Merrick is remarkable for its
diversity and sheer competence of performance. The collection is based largely
on the ground-breaking collection of LPs issued by the Frank Merrick Society
and the Rare Recorded Edition from 1961 onwards. This featured many important
works from Merrick’s recital career. The liner notes explain that these
recordings were made for private listening. In fact, one member of the Merrick
family noted that less than 100 copies of each LP were produced. There were 24 numbered
releases by the society, with three issued by the Rare Recorded Edition and one
by Cabaletta. This former company went on to produce some 17 numbered releases,
including the nine-volume John Field Edition.
It was not possible to find all
the LPs needed to produce a ‘Complete Frank Merrick.’ Some ‘tough selection’
was done and several important works were omitted. This included sonatas by
Beethoven, Brahms and Balakirev as well as several piano concertos. One reason
cited was that with the best will in the world, even modern restoration
techniques could not correct the original recordings. Other works that did not
reflect Merrick at his best were also excluded. I understand that the exigencies
of the original recording process did not allow for ‘retakes and edits.’
James Methuen-Campbell has
provided a detailed 9-page biography and assessment of Frank Merrick in the
first section of the liner notes. I present a few brief details of his notable
career to aid the reader in situating his life and times.
Frank Merrick was born into a
musical family at Clifton, near Bristol, on 30 April 1886. After a strong
grounding in piano playing and theory from his parents, he went to Vienna to
study with the Polish pianist, professor and composer, Theodor Leschetizky. I
think is fair to say that after the completion of his training, Merrick
proceeded to have a distinguished career rather than a spectacular one.
Listeners owe to Merrick the
rediscovery of John Field, the Irish precursor of Chopin. Often regarded as
being a great interpreter of JS Bach, Merrick apparently caused quite a stir
with his ‘Proms’ performance of the Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor BWV 1052.
Aside from his concertizing,
Merrick was a respected teacher, both at the Royal Manchester College of Music
and the Royal College of Music. Eminent students included Alan Rawsthorne and
Tom Pitfield.
Frank Merrick composed a
considerable catalogue of music including two piano concertos. In 1928, during
the Schubert Centenary Year he won a prize offered by the Columbia Gramophone
Company for a completion of Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony.
Merrick’s non-musical activities
included the post of Treasurer of the Suffragist Movement and he was an active
member of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). Merrick’s
first wife was Hope Squire, who was also a composer.
During his time in Manchester, Merrick
was Treasurer of the Suffragist Movement. Following a strong campaign by the RSPCA
for the humane slaughter of animals, he became a vegetarian and latterly was
Vice-President of the Vegetarian Society. Merrick was a conscientious objector
during the Great War and was subsequently imprisoned at Wandsworth Prison and
Wormwood Scrubs.
Frank Merrick died on 19 February
1981 aged nearly 95 years.
There are more than forty works
in this six CD collection. It does not seem a good idea for me to write a
critique and commentary on every one of them. So, I will mention a few
highlights – at least for me.
Frank Merrick has a wide-ranging
musical interest. From the early ‘Diferencias sobre el canto del caballero’ by
the 16th century Spanish Renaissance composer Antonio De Cabezon to
the relatively modern Four Romantic Pieces by Alan Rawsthorne, he explored
virtually the entire range of piano music.
There are many well-known pieces
included on these six discs such as Chopin’s lyrical ‘Berceuse’, an extract from
Granados’s Goyescas, Schubert’s
Sonata in A minor D845, Johannes Brahms’s Rhapsodie in B minor, op.79, no.1 and
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.27 in E minor.
I warmed to Merrick’s playing of ‘Jardins sous la pluie’ from Claude
Debussy’s Estampes.
A step down the musical ‘popularity’
hierarchy is represented by an entire disc devoted to relative rarities by Max
Reger. At least they are not often heard these days in the concert hall or
recital room. These include the wonderful Variations and Fugue on a theme of
J.S. Bach, op.81 dating from 1904. This work, based on a theme from the Cantata
No.128, may well be regarded as Reger’s piano masterpiece. It is an enormous
edifice consisting of 14 variations and a highly developed fugue leading to a
massive peroration.
John Field has a certain degree
of standing in our time: he is occasionally played on Classic FM! Many
listeners were probably introduced to this music by the wide-ranging survey
made by Míceál O'Rourke in the 1990s and issued on Chandos. Frank Merrick had
preceded him with a complete cycle of Field’s music as part of this recording
project. This included the Nocturnes and the seven piano concertos. The liner
notes explain that these do not do composer or pianist justice. So only four
examples have been included.
I was fascinated by the two CDs
which feature all four (numbered) piano sonatas by Arnold Bax. I came to this
music by way of Iris Loveridge’s Lyrita recordings. In later years, I picked up
on Eric Parkin’s cycle for Chandos and finally Ashley Wass on Naxos. I have not heard the Michael Endres reading
on Oehms Classics
It is a revelation to listen to
Bax’s Piano Sonatas played by Merrick (for the first time). For me it is the
missing link between Iris Loveridge and the age of digital recordings. Contemporary reviewers suggested that the
sound recording quality of Frank Merrick’s Bax Sonatas was far superior to
Loveridge. I would agree.
If I am honest, I would like to
explore the various recordings of Bax’s piano sonatas in considerably more
depth than time allows for a review – preferably with the scores.
Meanwhile, I am enthralled by
Merrick’s rhapsodic approach to these powerful works. He is well able to
provide the energy needed to convincingly present this powerful music whilst at
the same time delivering ‘great delicacy’ where appropriate. Merrick can
balance the Russian influence and complexities of Sonatas No.1 and 2, the
nature worship and incipient impressionism of the Sonata No.3 and the
concentrated and often terse lyricism of the Sonata No. 4.
The liner notes reveal that Bax
told Merrick that ‘on reflection he preferred many of his interpretations to
Harriet Cohen’s’!
Included in this collection is Bax’s
subtly Ravelian Moy Mell: an Irish
tone-poem for two pianos. The other pianist is Michael Round. Other Bax works
include the idyllic ‘Hill Tune’, the Grainger-esque ‘Burlesque’, the ‘noisy
little’ ‘Paean’ (dedicated to Merrick) and the lovely ‘Lullaby.’
Other English works featured on
CDs 3 and 4 include an evocative performance of John Ireland’s Prelude No.1 ‘The
Undertone’, Hope Squire’s Variations on ‘Black Eyed Susan’ and an imaginative playing
of Alan Rawsthorne’s gnomic Four Romantic Pieces.
The final disc is reserved for music
composed by Frank Merrick. The first selection is the inspired and often
beautiful Eight Esperanto Poems. Merrick had become an adept in that
manufactured language during his years as a conscientious objector. Five songs
have been recorded here. They date from 1950. I was impressed by the purity and
depth of mezzo-soprano Sybil Michelow’s voice. I wonder if Merrick wrote many
songs? If so, they would be well worth exploring.
A major concerted piece is the ‘Seascape’
from the Piano Concerto No.2 which was composed in 1936. This atmospheric piece
incorporates a Hebridean song ‘Chant of the Fisherwomen of Skye’. The entire
concerto (along with No.1) is available on YouTube, however I do hope that one
day it will be issued in a new CD version. It may not be the greatest example
of the genre, but it certainly demands to be in the recorded repertoire.
Two Movements in Symphonic Form:
A Completion of Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony are a little bit of an
enigma. They were ‘completed’ in 1928 with the composer using his own material.
Merrick did not use Schubert’s sketches for the ‘scherzo.’ It is worth hearing
for his creative use of Schubertian ‘characteristics’. At best, one could
describe it as resourceful.
The other three piano pieces are
of mixed interest. I enjoyed the enthusiastic ‘Bonny Blue Bell Variations on a
Somerset Folksong’. On the other hand, ‘The Ocean Lullaby’ is not the dreamy
piece of impressionism promised by the title. And finally, the ‘Hares on the Mountains’
is a dashing little three-part invention that does manage to present a musical ‘moving
picture’ of the title.
As noted above the liner notes
include a detailed biography of Frank Merrick’s life: in fact, I believe that
it is the most comprehensive study yet made available. James Methuen-Campbell
has also provided notes about the repertoire. Unfortunately, Nimbus have not
included the dates of every work presented. Some are cited in the programme
notes, but they have not been included in the track listings. I know that it is
easy to discover this information in reference books, online and in hard-copy
but I do think it is an essential part of any CD package. The texts of the
Esperanto poems have been included. Several photographs of Merrick at various
stages of his life are featured throughout the booklet.
It is proposed to issue a
companion set of 4 CDs in 2019. This will feature recordings made by Frank Merrick
in partnership with the violinist Henry Holst. It will include Bax’s violin
sonatas, and works by Max Reger, Jean Sibelius, Frederick Delius, Sergei
Prokofiev, Ernest Rubbra, Edward Isaacs and Bernard Stevens. Based on the
present set of CDs, it promises to further enhance the memory of one of the
most remarkable pianists from the United Kingdom.
Frank Merrick
(1886-1981): A Recorded Legacy
NIMBUS NI8820-25
For full track listing please see Nimbus webpage, as this is very long.
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.
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