 E.J.
MOERAN
Symphony 2 Overture for a Festival John
IRELAND Sarnia Royal
Scottish Ntl O/Martin Yates rec. 2011 DUTTON EPOCH
CDLX 7281
While new recordings of the standards have continued
to be issued alongside recordings of music never previously
recorded 2012 has for me been a year dominated by bargain
boxes and reissues. The prices of boxed sets often represent
fabulous value for money. Though we live in this turbulent
and chaotic vanity fair of a market these are halcyon
years for music lovers of all classical styles and preferences.
The rolling road that is the expiry of copyright continues
to reintroduce old and new friends from labels with which
they are unfamiliar such as the excellent Naxos, Alto,
Pristine, Heritage and Brilliant Classics. Often these
jostle for space with issues of the same recordings on
their ‘home’ labels with access to first generation
recorded originals.
The majors have largely continued their mission to present
celebrity-accented material but Decca, EMI, Sony and Universal
have also been splendidly active in the reissue field,
particularly the former with the deluxe reissue of the
Solti Ring cycle. Other labels continue to plough their
own furrows: where heroism meets commerce. Labels of the
eminence and allure of Hyperion, BIS, Ondine, CPO and
Dacapo match up the most exalted production values, stimulating
new talent and fresh repertoire. The likes of tirelessly
magnificent Dutton, inspired and diligent Toccata (the
glorious Percy Sherwood CD should not be missed; likewise
their Peggy Glanville-Hicks opera Sappho) and
the astonishingly valorous Campion, Stone’s dedication
to English song (two volumes of their CW Orr songs command
attention) add immeasurably to an affluently variegated
landscape.
It seems at one level a pity to have to choose but after
wrestling with the decision there must be a winner. It
is Martin Yates’ and Dutton’s realisation
of the Moeran Second Symphony. This was premiered at Em
Marshall’s English Music Festival this year and
‘deuxièmed’ at Brighton last month.
Moeran has long been at the centre of my musical affections;
this alongside a measure of frustration since reading
a Musical Times article in 1980 about the unfeasible bundle
of rags and tatters of the score held in Australia. Inevitably
speculative, but done with true Moeran style and love,
this work calls out for your attention. Do not be distracted
or discouraged by the purists. This is deeply enjoyable
and loveable music here astoundingly realised with evident
integrity, well performed and convincingly recorded. It
stands shoulder to shoulder with a similarly imaginative
orchestration of John Ireland’s Sarnia
in a year (the fiftieth since his death in 1962) that
has seen a small landslide of Ireland performances across
the UK.
Classical Editor, Rob Barnett |
