These performances were issued some years ago
as 'Percy
Grainger Orchestral Works' on
Australian ABC Classics 426 989-2 and
also on Koch International Classics
3-7003-2. It appears that four of the
works contained here are in versions
that were being recorded for the first
time. This is a fascinating compilation
and the feature work The Warriors
is one of his most curious and inventive
scores.
The booklet notes state
that, "Percy Grainger was one
of the greatest 'originals'
of 20th century music." He
certainly was and a lot more besides.
A true eccentric, the mould was certainly
broken when he died. Grainger was never
seemingly bothered by the views of others,
with the exception of his mother. He
came across as strongly self-willed,
very much doing his own thing, often
in an obsessive and compulsive manner.
I remain fascinated by what comes across
as his need for making multiple arrangements
of his own works, a great number of
which were strongly influenced or taken
from folk-songs. We have a debt of thanks
to Chandos and the Percy Grainger Society
for their considerable contribution
to the resurgence of interest in Grainger's
works. Mainly owing to their fruitful
collaboration Chandos had, at my last
count, reached volume 19 in their landmark
Grainger Edition.
The score to The
Warriors was composed in 1913-16.
I always understood it to be Grainger's
longest continuous work (no letters
or e-mails please). This work has a
convoluted history and has been said
to have been conceived as a result of
Sir Thomas Beecham's suggestion to Grainger
to write him a ballet score. The mystery
continues as the booklet notes relate
that documents unearthed in the Grainger
Museum, at the University of Melbourne,
seem to show that it was never Grainger's
intention to have the score staged as
a ballet.
In January 1987 I attended
a performance of The Warriors at
a BBC Philharmonic concert in Studio
7 at the BBC's New Broadcasting House
in Manchester. John Hopkins conducted
the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in a
performance with a large richly Straussian
orchestra augmented with three pianos
and a wide assortment of percussion.
My recollection of that event from twenty
years ago is not perfect but I remember
that the orchestra was divided into
various groups; there was another conductor
directing an off-stage ensemble and
at least one of the pianos underwent
some form of 'preparation'.
On this recording Simon and the Melbourne
orchestra perform the work with tremendous vitality and colour in
a reading that is hard to fault. The first section is taken very
swiftly in music that sounds like it could accompany a Christmas
television advertising campaign. Geoffrey Simon directs restless,
swirling music that contains a hotchpotch of episodes of
excitement, beauty and dissonance with the percussion, including
the pianos, prominent throughout. Surprisingly at several points I
thought I could detect suggestions of the Christmas carol 'The
Twelve Days of Christmas'.
In the 'slow and languorous'
second section we hear a highly characterful
reading and the busy dance-like quality
of the third section becomes increasingly
agitated with heavy use of percussion,
especially the pianos at the close.
The bass-oboe with its haunting yet
beautifully played theme over muted
tremolo strings takes centre-stage
in the fourth section. In the fifth
a weary, exhausted quality is conveyed
and I was impressed with the balance
of the military-sounding off-stage brass
section.
In section six the
dance-orgy is impressively developed
with a furious energy. Then comes a
magnificent outburst of emotion. The
dance-orgy in the eighth and final section
is boldly and extremely energetically
performed. The work ends abruptly. I
played this SACD on my standard player
and was impressed by the clear and well
balanced sound quality.
I am only aware of a handful of recordings of
Grainger's
The Warriors. From my collection I greatly admire the
superbly recorded account from Simon Rattle and the City of
Birmingham Symphony Orchestra included in 'Percy Grainger, In a Nutshell'
on EMI Classics 5 56412-2. Recorded
in 1996 at Symphony Hall, Birmingham,
Rattle uses three pianos and Stephen
Frost is the assistant conductor. Rattle's
excellent performance is polished and
dramatic yet cannot match the earthy
vitality and the high degree of colour
of this Cala version.
Another fine account
is the premiere recording of the version
that uses Alessandro Servadei's 1996
critical edition. This is performed
by the BBC Philharmonic under Richard
Hickox for Chandos on CHAN 9584. Hickox's performance is on 'The Grainger Edition,
Volume 6 - Works for Orchestra 2'
and was recorded at the BBC New Broadcasting
House, Manchester in 1997. Hickox uses
three pianos and employs Paul Hindmarsh
as the second conductor in an account
that once again doesn't achieve the
excitement and earthy vitality of Geoffrey
Simon's Cala account.
Sir John Eliot Gardiner
conducts an acclaimed version of The
Warriors with the Philharmonia Orchestra,
first released in 1995, on Deutsche
Grammophon 445 860-2 (coupled with Holst
The Planets) and now also on
SACD 471 634-2. I do not have this Gardiner
recording, however it is well thought
of and I believe that virtually everything
that Gardiner conducts is worthy of
attention. Whilst on the subject of
John Eliot Gardiner readers wishing
to explore Grainger's music further may wish to obtain an
outstanding collection of works for chorus and orchestra titled 'Londonderry Air, The Music
of Percy Grainger' from Gardiner,
the Monteverdi Choir and the English
Country Gardiner Orchestra on Philips
Classics 446 657-2. This Philips disc,
recorded 1994-95 in London, would be
worth acquiring just for Gardiner's
superb interpretation of the sailor's
sea shanty Shallow Brown.
One of Grainger's most
popular scores, the Irish Tune from
County Derry is also known as the
Londonderry Air and has achieved
world renown as the song Danny Boy.
Grainger composed several versions
of the Irish Tune from County Derry
and recorded here is his "large
room-music, elastically scored"
orchestral version from 1920 which is
given a passionate and moving reading.
The Danish Folk-Music
Suite comprises four works all based
on folk melodies he gathered from trips
to the Jutland region of the country.
Here the first work The Power of
Love has at times an unusual bluesy
feel and Lord Peter's Stable Boy
is buoyant and jaunty. The dramatically
performed The Nightingale and the
Two Sisters contains a 'big tune'
that could easily have formed part of
a Hollywood film score. The Jutish
Medley incorporates four tunes.
In the first Simon provides a march-like
quality with a carnival atmosphere and
the second is tender, almost pastoral,
in the manner of Vaughan Williams. The
third tune is suggestive of dancing
at a county fair and the fourth tune
took me far from Jutland feeling evocative
of the panorama of wide open spaces
such as the American prairie.
Late in his life Grainger
wrote the great accolade, "I
consider Hill Song No.1 by far the best
of all my compositions."
In Simon's broodingly characterful
interpretation of the Hill Song No.1
one can almost smell the freshness
of the open air and feel the crisp breeze
on ones face in a score so evocative
of Highland landscapes. Aptly, one is
yet again struck by the convincing outdoor
feel of the Hill-Song No.2. There
is a strong sense of night drawing-in
after the exertions of a long and tiring
day spent trekking through the Scottish
Highlands.
Beautiful Fresh
Flower appears here in an arrangement
by contemporary Australian composer
Peter Sculthorpe. Geoffrey Simon easily
and realistically communicate the Chinese
influences in this brief and relaxing
work. Colleen Dhas is another
short work presented here in Grainger's
"room music" setting.
The freshness of the great outdoors
is again evident, infused with a distinct
Gaelic flavour. One can visualise Grainger
taking a day's tramp through the lush
green valley that rises up from the
cool blue-green waters of the lake below.
High excitement, earthy vitality and superbly
recorded sound. This spirited account of Grainger's
The Warriors from Geoffrey Simon
and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
is the one to have.
Michael Cookson
see also review
by Jonathan Woolf
Glen Riddle, Ben Martin, Denise Harvey (pianos
in The Warriors) 
for
details
