There is something
very appealing about the gritty immediacy
- some might say ferocity - of this
recording of the Bowen Viola Concerto.
By comparison with the luxurious concert
realism and transparency of the Hyperion
recording with Laurence Power this grips
the listener from the beginning. Doris
Lederer, by now the veteran of three
previous British music collections on
Centaur, completes the picture with
an ardent tone that reaches out imploring
and imperious.
The York Bowen was
written for Lionel Tertis, the subject
of John White’s biography to be published
later this year. It is a tremendously
ardent work. The writing is stirringly
romantic and quite Straussian or to
use a closer national parallel, Bantock-like.
The start of the slow movement is surely
influenced by Bantock’s Pierrot, by
his Scottish highland fantasies, perhaps
by Delius and by the Bruch Scottish
Fantasy. The finale is notable for its
chirpy Sibelian writing for the woodwind.
The optimistic tone of the writing veers
between melodrama and lighter ideas
that may remind you of the music-hall.
In this juxtaposing and reconciling
of the incongruous we can think of Holbrooke’s
orchestral music (e.g. his Byron
and Ulalume) and, at a more
exalted level, of Mahler and his dalliance
with military band music. All in all
this is a fascinatingly entertaining
piece which ends in a wonderful shriek
from the trumpets and a war-whoop from
horns.
The Second Viola Sonata
is from three years later. It is in
three movements again but this time
the tone is rather different from that
of the concerto. Essentially it is light
music with its terms of reference firmly
harnessed to the music-hall and the
salon. It’s all very polished but there
is little of the profundity of the first
viola sonata or the quartets or of many
of the other works featured in the Dutton
Epoch series. The Melody in C is a grateful
and soulful piece. Despite its brevity,
coming after the salon-light sonata
the Melody impresses with its tawny
slow-flowing Brahmsian sentiment.
The scene-setting notes
are by accompanist Bruce Murray.
If I had to go for
a single version of the Bowen Viola
Concerto this would be it. The contrasting
Forsyth Concerto makes the Hyperion
very special if you would like a collection
of two viola concertos. On the other
hand if you are still exploring York
Bowen then this all-Bowen collection
is the choice offering a truly
vibrant .recording of the Concerto and
the only recording of the Melody and
Second Sonata.
Rob Barnett
Note received
In your review of Doris Lederer's
Bowen CD you say that it contains
the only recording of the Viola Sonata
No 2, but I think you must have
forgotten the excellent Dutton Epoch
CDLX 7126 - both sonatas plus
Phantasy (Boyd and Forsberg). In June
2002 you published a report on the recording
sessions by Lewis Foreman, and the disc
was mentioned by Jonathan Woolf in
his review of Lederer's sonata CD on
Centaur in May 2004. But as far as I
can discover, no review of the Dutton
disc ever appeared on MusicWeb. I
recall that I found it had been published
via an ad in BBC Music Magazine,
and I sent for it quick smart. I had
been awaiting it eagerly for two
reasons: (1) LF's enthusiasm and (2)
it was in my own repertoire around
1950.
Douglas Smith
Doris Lederer (viola) 
for
details
