A double delight. These
two Sterndale Bennett concertos (of
five he wrote for piano) are gems awaiting
discovery; secondly, Malcolm Binns plays
with great panache and dedication. The
latter was frankly unexpected, given
his severely disappointing recital at
the Wigmore Hall in September last
year.
Sterndale Bennett’s
first concerto (1832) was the piece
that properly set his career as a composer
in motion, the second following soon
after. His models were Mozart (his hero)
and Mendelssohn. Indeed, the purity
of the one conjoined with the early
Romantic high spirits of the other seem
an intrinsic part of his make up.
All of the works on
the present disc are the products of
youth, and their effervescence bears
testament to their composer’s evident
joie-de-vivre. The Second Concerto,
dedicated to the London-based composer
Cipriani Potter (1792-1871) is the only
piano concerto by Sterndale Bennett
in a major key. The orchestral exposition
finds the Philharmonia playing with
an almost authenticist approach – textures
are light and phrasing a continual delight.
Interesting how the piano enters the
argument, just taking over from the
orchestra rather than being ‘formally
announced’. Binns is ever alive to the
lively possibilities of the solo part
and Braithwaite ensures that passages
that could otherwise sound dull are
here given uncommon care.
Sterndale Bennett’s
imagination is to the fore in the second
movement (marked ‘Adagio espressivo’)
where the spare single line of the soloist
is pitted against pizzicato strings.
It is a most delicate effect, and indeed
this movement is marked by its prevalent
tendresse. Most fitting, then,
that the ‘Vivace giocoso’ finale is
as affable as can be. Binns provides
some sparkling scalic work guaranteed
to raise a smile.
The single-movement
Adagio is a seven-minute dream. Andrew
Cope, who edited the score used in this
recording, actually found the piece
in the Royal Academy of Music library.
He suggests this was an alternative
slow movement for the Third Concerto
(and may have been played by Bennett
at the work’s première, in Leipzig
in 1837). The somewhat stormier middle
section is grippingly presented by Binns
and Braithwaite.
The Fifth Concerto
was actually composed before the Fourth,
but the latter piece was published first.
Right from the first bars, it is clear
that this work is of more serious intent
that No. 2. The mysterious air that
surrounds the opening, with its ‘sighing’
gestures, creates a sense of disquiet
never fully banished in this movement.
It is clear there is a remarkable imagination
at work here. The piano writing also
has more quasi-improvisatory freedom
than was the case in No. 2 while the
influence of Mendelssohn is most obvious
in the light-footed finale. The slow
movement, a ‘Romanza pastorale’, has
an apt subtitle of, ‘A stroll through
the meadows’. After the disturbances
of the first movement, this ten-minute
oasis of repose is most welcome. Binns
finds a great deal of poetry in the
solo part and the Philharmonia responds
with clear affection. This must have
been one contented afternoon stroll
– a more lively passage beginning around
3’30 provides contrast.
Geoffrey Bush, who
edited the finale of the Fifth Concerto
(removing, according to him, ‘superfluous
passage work’), also provides scholarly
notes for this release that are as informative
as they are readable.
Strongly recommended.
Colin Clarke
see
Lyrita Catalogue
Malcolm Binns (piano)