Three Pieces Arranged by Humphrey Searle by Thomas Roseingrave Part III

In 2006, Naxos Records released the fifth volume of their survey of English String Miniatures  (8.557752). It featured a number of delightful rarities from seven composers. The main event on this disc was a performance of the complete Downland Suite by John Ireland. Originally written for the 1932 National Brass Band Championship of Great Britain, it was arranged for string orchestra by Ireland’s one-time pupil Geoffrey Bush. Many listeners will know the ubiquitous “Minuet” often heard on Classic FM, however the entire suite is a worthy composition. Other pieces on this disc included Pamela Harrison’s Suite for Timothy, Francis Chagrin’s Renaissance Suite, and Paul Lewis’s Suite Navarraise. The Royal Ballet Sinfonia was conducted by Gavin Sutherland. Included in the programme were what I believe to be the premiere recording of Humphrey Searle’s Roseingrave transcriptions.

The liner notes remind the listener that Searle’s own modernist leanings made him receptive to Roseingrave’s nonconformity, and in 1966 he marked the composer’s bicentenary by orchestrating three of his voluntaries and fugues for strings. The gesture may echo Webern’s Bach transcriptions, though Searle’s handling of eighteenth‑century material is notably more conventional.

Although reviews of the CD were generally positive, opinions differed over the worth of Searle’s transcription. Interestingly the album was ignored by The Gramophone magazine.

Jonathan Woolf, writing on MusicWeb International (6 August 2006) argued that Searle largely “sleepwalks” through Roseingrave’s pieces, conceding only a touch of harmonic deftness in the first Fugue. A month later, (6 September 2006), Michael Cookson questioned “where Searle found the energy to make arrangements of these works, that are meagre in content and lacking in memorability and inspiration.”

The most positive review was in the American Record Guide (December 2006) where a certain “Trotter” wrote: Also memorable is the suite made from Humphrey Searle's transcription of three organ pieces by Thomas Roseingrave (don't you love the name?)…In 1966, the bicentenary of Roseingrave's untimely death, Mr Searle chose to honour him with this trio of transcriptions, fashioned in a style reminiscent of Anton Webern's Bach orchestrations (Searle had been a pupil of Webern's and made no secret of the ways Webern influenced his mature compositions). The result is a fascinating musical hybrid that seems as though it shouldn't work but does, quite fetchingly.

Personally, I find these arrangements for string orchestra enjoyable. To be sure, they are not a critical part of Searle’s catalogue, yet they are well wrought, pleasant to listen to and reflect Thomas Roseingrave’s legacy in a good light.