Sonnets and Songs Without Words: Book 2 was composed over an eight-year period, with it being completed and published in 1875. The liner notes explain that this collection had its roots in the days when Parry was courting Maude Herbert. They were to marry in 1872 although the union was to remain problematic for many years. At one time, Parry was “ordered off” by Maude’s mother, leading perhaps to the first number, the “stoical” Resignation. Milton’s L’Allegro and Il Penseroso set two contrasting moods. L’Allegro delights in daylight, music, and lively company, while Il Penseroso turns inward to night, study, and quiet reflection. Together they sketch a life balanced between outward joy and inward thought. Parry provides a muted commentary on these two poems in the second and third eponymous Songs. Overall, this is an introverted collection of pieces that, despite their nod to Mendelssohn, are more inward and personal than salon‑bound, showing a young composer testing emotion, rather than virtuoso display. This collection is a “first recording.”
Parry was a past master at writing Suites that nod to Baroque exemplars. One need only think of the early Suite de pièces, the Partita in D minor and the Lady Radnor’s Suite, with the English Suite between them, to recognise this expertise.
A near-contemporary review by
Stanley Bayliss of the Hands
Across the Centuries:
Suite (pub. 1918) suggested that compared to the Shulbrede Tunes it
failed. The critic felt that although they “attract the attention,” they show
signs of hurriedness. Yet this contradicts Charles L Graves’s contention that here
“he happily justified the title by a dexterous accommodation of eighteenth-century
conventions to modern idiom.” He quotes Parry’s friend, disciple, and assistant
Emily Daymond (and the Suite’s inspiration and dedicatee) as stating that “Over
and over again, he would rewrite something because ‘it must be the very best I
can do.’”
The liner notes suggest that despite the historical background to the Suite, Parry has expressed “unease and emotional isolation” from a difficult marriage to Maude. Howell also suggests a kindred spirit with “the sea and weathers experienced on Parry’s beloved yacht, The Wanderer.” Whether I fully agree with this contention, there is little doubt that the sea is present in the opening Prelude (which also nods to a Bach fantasia) and in the “lapping wavelets” of the “capricious” Courante. Parry scholar Jeremy Dibble has noted the “Brahms-tinged Passionate Allemande and the “expressive” Quasi Sarabande which was played at the composer’s funeral. This seriousness is dismissed by the cheerful Gavotte and Musette and the Quasi Minuetto before all is blown away by the Lisztian Whirling Jig. Surely this final number would make a splendid encore for any recital of British music.
The main event on this disc is a distinctive performance of Hubert Parry’s Piano Sonata No.2 in A major, completed in 1878. I first heard it played by Anthony Goldstone (Albany Records TROY 132, 1994) on the composer’s Hagspiel grand piano at Shulbrede Priory in Sussex. Despite the historical significance of this recording, I was unmoved by the tone and balance of the instrument. During 2023, I appraised Richard Deering’s account of both sonatas on the Heritage Records HTGCD140-41 (reviewed here) and there discovered a reading that I could do business with. I am equally impressed with Howell’s account here.
The liner notes remind the
listener that although the Second Sonata was finished before the First, Parry
wished it to be known as the second, as it seemed to be a “logical development
from the less ambitious first.” Confusing! The work was dedicated to his “close
friend” Tora Gordon on the engagement to Victor Marshall. Jeremy Dibble notes
that Parry’s affection for Tora was “deep but necessarily restrained.” The
sonata was a “perfect outlet for his sense of loneliness” from his
“increasingly unresponsive” wife, Maude.
The opening movement adopts a modified sonata design, effectively a rhapsodic play on two contrasted themes, one of which may conjure up “a vision of Tora.” The Adagio con sentimento that follows may glance toward the early Romantics, yet its harmonic language is unmistakably Wagnerian. Tender and reflective, it unfolds in a sophisticated binary structure, each half containing two distinct ideas. The Scherzo dances along in a lively 6/8 with a few unexpected twists. The finale, an Allegretto, is a deftly crafted rondo, its genial refrain framing two contrasting episodes and propelled by a succession of striking modulations; towards the close, it nods back to both the first movement and the Adagio. Listeners who cherish Brahms, Schumann and Schubert will find much to enjoy in this warm‑hearted, affectionate sonata which is in no way a pastiche or parody.
I am indebted to Christopher Howell’s outstanding liner notes in preparing this review; they are engaging, informative, and refreshingly untechnical. A résumé of the soloist and his discography is also provided. The disc’s cover features a contemporary print of the Royal College of Music on Prince Consort Road.
There is ample scope for a third volume to round off this absorbing survey of Parry’s published piano music. One can only hope it appears before long, bringing to completion what has already proved a fascinating exploration of a too‑often overlooked corner of his catalogue.
Track Listing:Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918)
Sonata in A major (1876-77, pub.1878)
Sonnets and Songs Without Words: Book 2 (1867-75, pub.1875)
Hands Across the Centuries: Suite (pub. 1918)
Christopher Howell (piano)
rec. 2023, Studio of Griffa e Figli, Milan, Italy
Da Vinci Classics C01138
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