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ALAN RAWSTHORNE. Piano Quintet; Piano Trio; Cello Sonata; Concertante for violin and piano; Viola Sonata   Rogeri Trio, John McCabe, Mark Messenger, Helen Roberts, Martin Qutram, Julian Rolton. Naxos 8.554352 [DDD] [70' 05]

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The Piano Quintet is like the curate's egg - good in parts. The opening movement is frankly tedious with all its stops and starts. But this reflects the character of the composer with whom I studied. He was a moody, difficult and changeable man. It is a lazy and boring movement. The following allegro fares better and yet the sparkle is not quite caught. Pity since Alan rarely wrote scintillating music. The performance of the slow movement is masterly in this account and pleased me greatly. The finale is so short that it is rather pointless and typical of Alan's inability to develop his material.

The Concertante is a good piece and Nadia Myerscough gives a commendable performance and has a glorious tone. But I prefer the account by Benedict Holland and Alan Cuckston on a Swintsy recording.

The Piano Trio has the same small weaknesses as the Piano Quintet... bitty, episodic, stop and start music. There are some very fine moments but some awfully drab ones. The second of the two movements is a Theme And Variations and, again, the music gets to the launching pad but never takes off!

And yet for all this the performance is excellent! Rawsthorne overcomes the usual difficulties in composition for the combination of viola and piano. It is, without doubt, his finest chamber work. It was written in 1937 before alcoholism had blighted him and when he was concerned with writing music that had vitality and impressive quality. This is a robust work and is therefore successful and the piano part has an aggressive virtuosic character.

While all composers should develop their style in order to be original and unpredictable it is a pity that Rawsthorne did not maintain the promise of this early sonata. The second movement, a scherzo was reworked to some extent in the Piano Concerto No 1 .... or, at least, the thematic material is the same. The adagio tries to be tender and, at times, almost succeeds. The finale does not work. The composer has run out of ideas. The music is too superficial and does not belong somehow.

It is over 30 years ago since Ngoc and I played the Cello Sonata to the composer. Although cast in three movements it is made up of twice as many sections. It does not have the persuasive power of the Viola Sonata but is very well written for the instruments. Alan played the cello as well as the piano, but not very well. Parts of the adagio are quite beautiful and the performers have the measure of the piece. The balance is exemplary

The disc is worth having for the sonatas.

Reviewer

David Wright

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John Belcher is more impressed


Reviewer

David Wright

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