James FRISKIN (1886-1967)
Quintet in C minor (1907) [36:36]
Phantasie for String Quartet (c.1905) [11:55]
Elegy for viola and piano (1912) [9:46]
Phantasy (for piano quintet) (1910) [18:28]
The Rasumovsky Quartet (Frances Mason (violin); Hilary Sturt (violin); Christopher
Wellington (viola); Ian Pressland (cello)) Catherine Dubois (piano)
rec. Champs Hill, West Sussex 17-19 April 2009
NIMBUS ALLIANCE NI6182 [76:45]
As a fellow Glaswegian, I feel that I ought to know more about James Friskin.
Apart from the fact that he was born in the same city as myself, wrote a number
of works for Cobbett’s chamber music competitions and was married (eventually)
to the composer Rebecca Clarke, I know very little.
Some additional biographical information may be of interest to potential listeners.
James Friskin was born in Glasgow on 3 March 1886. At the early age of fourteen,
he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music to study piano with Edward
Dannreuther and composition with Stanford. He taught at the Royal Normal School
for the Blind between 1909 and the outbreak of the Great War. In 1914 he was
invited by Frank Damrosch to become a ‘founding teacher’ at the Institute
of Musical Art in New York. This was the forerunner of the Juilliard School
of Music. He furthered his career as a pianist, specialising in Bach: he gave
the first performance of the Goldberg Variations in the United States.
Friskin published two important books – The Principles of Piano Practice
(1921) and Music for the Piano: a Handbook of Concert and Teaching Material
from 1580 to 1952 (1954). There was also a critical edition of Bach’s
music. In his seventies, he made a number of recordings of Bach’s music that
has been released on CD in recent years. From
a compositional point of view, the corpus is relatively small: most of the
surviving works for piano, singers and chamber groups. There are also a Piano
concerto and a Concert Overture for orchestra. James Friskin died in New York
on 16 March 1967.
Stylistically, Friskin’s chamber works fit into the general sweep of Western
classical music. I was often reminded of Schubert whilst reviewing this CD.
Certainly, there is not a general reliance on ‘pastoral musings’ or ‘heuchter-cheuchter’
Scottisms – in spite of the Scottish character of the main tunes in the ‘scherzo’
and ‘adagio’ of the C minor Quintet.
One of the great-unsung heroes of British chamber music is Walter Wilson Cobbett
(1847-1937). Fortunately, he is now becoming more appreciated as many of the
works inspired by his competitions and commissions are finding their way into
the recording studios. Friskin’s achievement in these competitions was excellent.
In 1905 he was a runner-up with his Phantasie for String Quartet. However,
in 1907 he gained second prize with the Phantasie Trio, which is available
on CD
BMS 418. Frank Bridge won first prize and John Ireland came third. Interestingly,
Cobbett himself in his massive Cyclopaedic Survey of Chamber Music
places Friskin third! In 1910, Cobbett commissioned a number of works
from leading British composers. This included B Walton O’Donnell’s Cello Sonata
and Bridge’s Piano Quartet. Friskin produced his Piano Quintet which is heard
on this present recording.
The opening work on this CD is the almost ‘symphonic’ Quintet in C minor (1907).
This massive work, lasting for more than half an hour has four movements.
Thomas Dunhill (and not Cobbett as the notes suggest) described the Quintet
as ‘one of the most brilliant Opus Ones in existence’. The liner-notes point
out that it was composed after just two years study with Stanford. This sweeping,
romantic work exploits the full range of possibilities offered by this chamber
grouping. This is indeed, big music.
The principal subject of the first movement acts as a kind of motto theme
that runs through the entire work. Ideas follow each other in a profusion
of melody that eventually leads to the first movement’s quiet ending. As noted
above, the ‘scherzo’ makes use of a Scottish popular song (I confess to not
knowing which one); according to the liner-notes, this passage scandalised
Stanford. Yet it is a strong movement that is full of energy and interest.
The following adagio also has a Scottish flavour to it without descending
to the mawkish or trite. In fact, this truly gorgeous music paints a picture
of Scotland in the listener’s mind seldom achieved by any composer of Scottish
or any other nationality. The final movement is a treasure. It is prefaced
by a slow introduction before opening out into an expansive movement. I guess
it is here that I am most conscious of Schubert’s E flat major Trio. There
is much excitement with contrasting reflective episodes to keep the listener’s
attention from the first bar to the last. The optimistic concluding coda is
hugely impressive.
The Phantas(y)[ie] for String Quartet was composed in 1905 and not 1909 as
the liner-notes suggest. It was an entry for the Cobbett competition of that
year (See Musical News July 1906 p.19). The genre was one specially
devised by Cobbett, designed to revive the Elizabethan Fancy, which was deemed
a composition of relatively free construction, and lasting between 12 and
20 minutes. It is a form taken up by many composers in the first three decades
of the twentieth century. Examples are extant from the pens of composers as
diverse as Britten, Holbrooke, Vaughan Williams and Arnold Bax. Less obvious
names include H Waldo Warner, Susan Spain-Dunk and Haydn Wood.
It work opens with a ‘jaunty’ theme, which declares ‘youthful high spirits’.
This Presto section is full of humour and wit and reveals superb craftsmanship
at every turn. The main theme of the ‘adagio’ has been described as ‘frankly
and freely obvious’ however this does not detract from the quality of the
music. There is a will o’ the wisp central section that is full of trills
and shakes before the rather charming tune returns played on the viola. The
final section is march-like which features strong syncopation and a well marked
rhythm. The ‘trio’ of this march surely recalls the music from the adagio.
The work closes with a long coda. Of all the pieces on this CD this is the
one that attracted me most. A well-crafted, musically interesting work that
is at times moving and always enjoyable.
The beautiful Elegy for viola and piano (1912) is well-wrought. Christopher
Wellington writing in the liner-notes suggests that he has ‘a strong impression
that this piece embodies (Friskin’s) feeling for the beautiful Rebecca (Clarke)’.
This seems a reasonable guess when one considers that her instrument was the
viola and his was the piano. However, the elegy is actually a little more
profound than love’s young dream. There is passion; there is violence and
a number of tentative explorations that never resolve. If this work had been
written a few years later, it could have been seen as a kind of ‘Anthem for
Doomed Youth’, without sinking into abject depression or despair. This Elegy
is meditative, reflective and ultimately beautiful: it ought to be in the
repertoire of all violists. As for the playing, I am not convinced that it
is being heard at its best. Something seems a wee bit amiss with the balance
between piano and soloist: the tone of the viola tends to lack the sheer romantic
quality required.
The final work on this CD is the above-mentioned commission (not mentioned
in the notes) – the Phantasy (1910) for Piano Quintet. It opens with a mournful
passage for solo viola, which is interrupted by a sharp chord, before being
joined by the other strings. Soon the mood changes and the entire ensemble
launches into the impassioned and occasionally aggressive ‘allegro’. The mood
then changes once again for the lively ‘presto’. Yet, the heart of this work
is the central ‘poco adagio’ which is at times heart-rendingly beautiful.
The inverted arch form of this piece then progresses to an ‘allegro con fuoco’.
This big passionate music occasionally reverts to a quieter, more tranquil
mood. However the intensity returns before leading to a gloriously expansive
and finally optimistic coda.
Christopher Wellington is correct in noting that ‘although this ‘Phantasy’
is only half the length of his C minor Piano Quintet, Friskin has filled it
with incident and contrast.’ It never sags or causes loss of interest. It
is a work that will surely move the listener, as the composer marks out his
musical journey.
There is a good analysis of each of these pieces placing them in the liner-notes.
The playing by the Rasumovsky just does not seem to ‘gel’ in my mind although
there is a genuine sympathy with the music. Whether they are ultimately the
best advocates for this unjustly neglected repertoire I am not too sure. Nonetheless,
I was particularly impressed by the pianist Catherine Dubois’s contribution.
As with so many composers, much of Friskin’s music would appear to be in manuscript
– assuming that it is still extant. This no doubt will put off artists resurrecting
his music. However, based on the music presented on this CD, I am convinced
that the search for other ‘lost’ works will be well worth the effort. James
Friskin is no ‘forgotten genius’: his essays are never going to usurp the
chamber works of Frank Bridge and John Ireland. However, he is a worthy and
often inspired voice that demands to be heard as a part of the re-evaluation
of the so-called English (British) Musical Renaissance.
John France
A worthy and often inspired voice.