Let
me first declare my interest as editor of the British Music Society
Newsletter.
With
this extremely generously-filled disc the British Music Society
label makes its first foray into the increasingly crowded historic
stakes. It comes at full price (though in the lower part of the
range). In the case of the Bliss concerto it enters a crowded
field. The war-time recording by Solomon is on Naxos at bargain
price. There is a medium price issue of the Trevor Barnard recording
on Divine Art which, depending on your taste, has a fatiguing
edginess to its sound - a characteristic, I believe of the original
LP recording. There is the reputedly stormy performance in a recording
of the New York World Fair 1939 recording with Boult and Solomon
(APR) although, as expected, the recording quality is a trial.
For modern sound you can try to find the Unicorn CD which has
Philip Fowke as the soloist but this too sounded less than perfect
despite its late 1970s lineage. Peter Donohoe (who is recording
the work for the Naxos British Piano Concertos series) performs
the Bliss on 13 November 2003 with the City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra.
The
present disc is in good mono and sounds very acceptable indeed
- the best of the historical issues. All three works are taken
from LPs rather than master tapes. Some whiskery surface ‘burble’
is in evidence but otherwise all the signs indicate that good
condition copies were used. In the Bliss, the flute at 3.03 in
the second movement sounds beautifully well. Of course when Bliss
lets blast with a tutti as at 10.03 in the first movement the
limitations of a recording made more than fifty years ago are
apparent though hardly disastrous. Goehr and Mewton-Wood conjure
silvery and romantic magic from this score better than any of
the other available commercially recorded versions. I do not see
this recommendation changing at least not until someone is able
to produce satisfactory sound from an off-air broadcast by John
Ogdon (Royal Albert Hall Proms, 2 August 1966, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Bliss).
In that version the extraordinary Ogdon plays like a man possessed
transforming this problematic Lisztian work into gold. Then again
I listen to the wonders wrought by Mewton-Wood in the reflective
episodes at 14.33 and I am in two minds. He manages to integrate
the kaleidoscope of influences (Liszt, Chaminade, Tchaikovsky)
extremely cogently and I should not forget Goehr either who elicits
flames and silver from this survivor out of time.
With
the advent of an Arthur Bliss Society we can hope for other revelations.
The grand cantata The Beatitudes has never been commercially
recorded yet it is easily as visionary a piece as Dyson's Quo
Vadis. This needs to be recorded by a strong team. The BBC
tapes of Vernon Handley's studio recordings of the Metamorphic
Variations and the Violin Concerto (with the same John Georgiadis
who recorded the Moeran concerto for Lyrita Recorded Edition LP)
are in urgent need of issue. Perhaps someone could gather together
all the Carlton BBC Bliss tapes and reissue those as well.
The
Stravinsky Concerto bears the marks of the composer's neo-classical
phase - almost a Pulcinella concerto. It opens with the
austerity - almost gloom - of Purcellian funeral music. It is
given an edgily explosive reading by Mewton-Wood and the Residentie
Orchestra. Interesting to hear the overcast Purcellian element
returning in the finale. The Shostakovich was Mewton-Wood's
last commercial recording. It is eager and incendiary but makes
time for reflection during the long moonlit lento. After
the bright-eyed enthusiasm of the moderato we launch into
the allegro con brio with its ‘Tom and Jerry’ sword-play
between Mewton-Wood's piano and Harry Sevenstern's defiantly Pulcinella-like
trumpet. The two soloists fly accelerator-floored through the
breathless gaudy and braggadocio of the final pages.
The
documentation for the disc is exemplary. There are new notes by
John Talbot as well as Cecil Day Lewis's ‘Elegiac Sonnet’ written
in memory of Mewton-Wood. John Amis's memoir of the pianist is
typically engaging and certainly poignant. In addition there are
reprints of William Mann's entry on the Bliss Concerto (from ‘The
Concerto’ 1956) complete with nine music exx. Edward Sackville-West's
Mewton-Wood portrait is also there. Obtaining all necessary clearances
for this valuable copyright material music have been a considerable
imposition. Whoever invested such time to achieve the end result
can take pride in the extremely thorough level of background information
- personal and factual. This generous textual context is printed
in legible type - black on white - not to be taken for granted
these days. The photographic plates are wonderfully clear and
charming. I am not quite so sure about the colours of the booklet
cover with their subdued terracotta ground and light orange lettering.
It does not exactly command the attention on the crowded shelves
of the retailer.
At
79 minutes there can be no complaints about parsimony. The notes
are generous. Collectors would do well to keep a beady eye on
the BMS label. In addition to its already splendid catalogue (the
Bowen chamber disc represents the glories of the late romantic
era; similarly the disc of cello sonatas by Foulds, Walker and
Bowen) there are plans that will enthuse the avid collector of
challenging and idiosyncratic music of the last century.
Warmly
recommended then for those who collect Bliss or pianist recordings.
It nicely complements the Mewton-Wood set issued by ABC in 1999.
It is also a de rigueur acquisition for the growing ranks
of those who have been won over by Arthur Bliss's music. Just
hearing the stony brilliance of the cascade of notes at 9.41 in
the third movement of the Bliss leaves me once again wanting to
play this disc yet again. The Shostakovich and Stravinsky concertos
are rare birds and will be wanted by those keen to experience
a young and eloquently gifted pianist rising to the peak of his
considerable powers.
Rob
Barnett
See
also review
by John Quinn
Noel Mewton-Wood (piano)
