Serenade for Strings (1959) [4:45]
Orchestra da Camera/Kenneth Page
rec. Repton School, March 1996
Toby’s Dreams and Elegy [17:15]
Paul Bateman (piano)
rec. Castle Hedingham, 1 March 2009
Sweeny the Mad [4:02]
A Lyke Wake Dirge [7:13]
Jonathan Veira (baritone)/Shelley Katz (piano)
rec. The University of Surrey, July 1998
Elegy for John Fry [7:49]
Philharmonia Orchestra/Paul Bateman
Poem for End [10:57]
Jonathan Veira (baritone); Philharmonia Orchestra/Paul Bateman
Elegy for a Conductor (1999) [8:31]
Bickleigh Idyll [6:40]
Philharmonia Orchestra/Paul Bateman
rec Air Lyndhurst Studio, Hampstead, London, 27 March 2009
All recordings DDD
English texts included
DIVINE ART DDA25082 [68:57]
Rather like waiting for a bus, no sooner had a disc containing
some lovely songs by John Jeffreys, persuasively sung by Ian Partridge,
come my way than a second disc of his music landed on my doormat
for review. The Partridge disc was highly enjoyable but in some
ways this latest one scores higher because it presents music in
more than one genre by this interesting composer.
I listened first to the music for orchestra. The
Serenade for
Strings is the oldest recording included here. It appeared
on a Meridian disc over ten years ago (
review).
In passing I note that the same disc included Jeffreys’ Violin
Concerto and it would be good to see that piece restored to circulation.
The Serenade is short but very attractive and as annotator Colin
Scott-Sutherland comments, “there is no mistaking the essential
Englishry” of the music. It’s a lovely little piece and one that’s
worthy of the wider circulation that I hope this CD release will
bring to it. It sounds to be very well written for strings and
the performance under Kenneth Page is an affectionate one.
Page died some forty years after the Serenade was written and
in an appropriate piece of programme planning, later on in the
disc we hear
Elegy for a Conductor, which Jeffreys wrote
in tribute in 1999. The piece may well be receiving its first
recording here. It’s scored for strings with a sparingly-used
horn. In addition there are telling solo interjections by flute,
cor anglais and trumpet at various times. Colin Scott-Sutherland
describes it as a “restrained threnody”. It put me in mind of
Vaughan Williams, and not just because the trumpet solos recall
his ‘
Pastoral’ Symphony. I think it’s a fine piece and
though it’s restrained in tone it’s also heartfelt.
Bickleigh Idyll and
Elegy for John Fry both appeared
on the aforementioned Meridian disc, also in performances conducted
by Kenneth Page. Here they reappear in new, sympathetic performances
under Paul Bateman. Both are well worth hearing. The
Idyll
has an air of contented well-being about it, while the
Elegy
impresses through its calmly stated eloquence and, once again,
some idiomatic writing for strings.
The two solo songs,
Sweeny the Mad and
A Lyke Wake Dirge
have been issued previously by Somm Records some ten years ago
(
review).
They are both good, dramatic songs and I’m glad that they’ve been
included here. Mad Sweeney has no connection with the infamous
Demon Barber of Fleet Street, by the way. This is a translation
of a medieval Irish poem about a man condemned to wander the Irish
mountains alone. It’s a dark, dramatic piece and Jonathan Veira
sings it boldly. Jeffreys’ setting of the better-known text,
A
Lyke Wake Dirge, is a stark and powerful one. Veira is very
impressive here; his voice is sonorous and clear. The music for
every one of the nine stanzas is different, though thematically
closely linked, and the cumulative power of the piece is impressive.
Even more remarkable though is the setting of Ivor Gurney’s
Poem
for End, which is scored for baritone and strings with an
important flute obbligato. Gurney’s poem, which is probably a
late one, is not easy to grasp at first sight. It’s autobiographical,
linking two great places of influence in his life. There are references
to his native Gloucestershire – to Crickley [Hill], on the way
from Gloucester to Cirencester, and to the Severn – and to France,
where Gurney fought in the trenches. France is represented not
just by a reference to Artois but, more harrowingly, by mention
of “Crucifix Corner”, the war cemetery at Villers-Brettoneux,
Somme. The music to which Jeffreys sets these verses is intense
and in tune with Gurney’s deeply-felt memories. Veira sings it
powerfully and with great commitment – though I do wish he’d not
roll the letter R so obviously at times. Much of the music is
dark hued but towards the end (at 8:50) after a rather desolate
flute solo, the mood softens somewhat for the resigned, admonitory
last stanza of the poem.
Only, who thought of England as two thousand years
Must keep of today’s life, the proper anger and fears
England that was paid for by building and ploughing and tears
For these lines Jeffreys writes a lovely, lyrical line for the
singer and the piece achieves a gentle, consoling end. It seems
that this fine setting has remained unperformed since it was composed
in the 1960s. I hope this recording will encourage other singers
to take it up.
To complete the programme conductor Paul Bateman turns to the
piano to play
Toby’s Dreams and Elegy. This is a little
set of eight short pieces which, we are told, evoke “the slumbering
contentment of dog Toby”, who was killed by a car while shepherding
handicapped children across a road. These miniatures take the
form of “diversions rather than variations” on a very short thematic
figure. I thought the piece started off pleasantly enough but
as one movement followed another a rather disappointing sameness
was all too evident. All the pieces are in moderate tempo and
gentle and reflective in nature. All well and good to illustrate
canine dreams, I suppose. But, I wondered, didn’t this dog ever
dream of chasing rabbits? I doubt I’ll return to this part of
the programme but the remainder of the disc is a different matter.
This new disc continues and expands the favourable impression
made on me by Ian Partridge’s recital. John Jeffreys is a sincere
composer with something to say – and that something is worth hearing.
I’m very glad to welcome these further examples of his output
to the catalogue and this disc offers an excellent introduction
to his music for those unacquainted with it.
John Quinn
Sadly John Jeffreys passed away on September 3rd 2010
Various performers
