Alun HODDINOTT (1929-2008)
Landscapes (Ynys Mon), Op.87 (1975) [13.44]
Two Songs from Glamorgan (1990) [4.25]
The Silver Hound, Op.121 (1985) [11.11]
One must always have love, Op.152/3 (1994) [8.20]
Towy Landscape, Op.190 (2006) [10.36]
Six Welsh Folksongs (1982) [11.53]
Claire Booth (soprano), Nicky Spence (tenor), Jeremy Huw Williams (baritone), Andrew Matthews-Owen (piano), Michael Pollock (piano)
rec. Menuhin Hall, Yehudi Menuhin School, Cobham, Surrey, 2009/10
NAXOS 8.571360 [60.19]
This is a reissue of a release from the British Music Society
issued on their own label in 2011 and has already been the subject of no fewer
than four reviews on this site, each of which described the music at considerable
length. At the time of its original release it appears to have been the sole
representative of Hoddinott’s songs in the catalogue, although there
had been an earlier disc on the Sáin label sung entirely by Jeremy Huw Williams
(SCD2318). This is still shown as available on the company’s
own website although it is not listed on Arkivmusic. The latter release
duplicated the Six Welsh folksongs and Two songs from Glamorgan
from this issue, but otherwise focused on Hoddinott’s settings in the
Welsh language. Since the folksong arrangements were given in transpositions
for lower voice, those who are interested in Hoddinott’s song output
will clearly want to have both discs. Apart from these, there remain other
works for solo voice by Hoddinott which were recorded on discs subsidised
by the Welsh Arts Council in the 1970s but which have never been released
on CD at all.
Among those LP releases there was a recording of Hoddinott’s orchestral
work Landscapes, Op.86, given by the New Philharmonia Orchestra under
Hans-Hubert Schönzeler. This was inspired by a poem by T H Parry-Williams;
but the song-cycle which immediately succeeded it, and sported the same title,
was based on poems by Emyr Humphreys who had also been responsible for the
text for Hoddinott’s earlier Roman Dream. The latter was recorded
on LP at the time of its premičre by no less a singer than Dame Margaret Price,
but again was never reissued on CD. In his comprehensive booklet notes (reproduced
from the original BMS issue) Geraint Lewis refers to the orchestral work in
passing, but I cannot detect any musical material in common between that and
the song cycle.
On the subject of works by Hoddinott which were recorded at the time of their
premičres but have never seen the light of day on CD, one should certainly
mention his operas The Beach of Falesŕ, The Magician and The
Rajah’s Diamond, all of which were recorded for television but
have never been subsequently released in any format. There are also a considerable
number of BBC broadcast recordings of all the symphonies and many other orchestral
works, which I understand the Welsh music archive label Tŷ Cerdd are
considering for belated release. This might help to boost the composer’s
somewhat meagre representation in the current catalogues, although many of
the performances can be found on the internet for those who wish to explore
further.
Earlier reviews on this site have discussed the music itself at considerable
length and I see no reason to duplicate these descriptions here. The vocal
line in Landscapes takes the form of a heightened lyrical recitative
declamation of Emyr Humphrey’s expressive poetry. It is odd to note
that the cycle as originally published was described as “a song cycle
for Irish voice and piano” since the initial performances were
given by the Welsh tenor Stuart Burrows and there seems to be no very evident
Irish connection. Stuart Burrows was also responsible for the first performance
of the Two songs of Glamorgan, settings of two very beautiful folksongs.
Incidentally the text in the booklet omits the word “me” from
the second line of the last verse. The connected series of songs which form
the cycle The silver hound return us to Hoddinott’s style of
declamatory setting, to very chilling effect in the final two songs of the
cycle. The high soprano line of the cycle One must always have love,
frequently circling around a single note, is also effective even when sometimes
the sense of the words is obscured despite Claire Booth’s best efforts.
Most dramatic of all is the setting of Towy Landscape for two voices
and piano duet, although here one at times wishes that Hoddinott would allow
more time for the text to expand – for example during the contemplation
of mortality that ends the penultimate verse. One also notes, in the context
of a series of song settings, Hoddinott’s clear reluctance to allow
for instrumental postludes to bring any individual song or cycle to a rounded
conclusion. Nearly all the items here end either with the sustained voice
or a series of brief final chords where one would really welcome a reflection
from the accompanist. The final Welsh folksong settings are compared by Geraint
Lewis in his booklet notes to those of Britten — a resemblance very
striking in Ap Shenkin, track 24. It is a pity that he feels the
need to comment that “there are surprisingly few first-class arrangements
of Welsh folksongs by Welsh composers” when one considers the very many
superb choral settings in existence. All the singers here do the composer
proud, as do the accompanists. The recording is immediate and clear.
Last year I gathered a fair collection of brickbats in consequence of a couple
of reviews on the Seen and Heard section of this site (review
~ review)
when I noted the sparse representation of Hoddinott in the current catalogues
when compared with his contemporary William Mathias, especially in view of
the considerable number of recordings sponsored by the Welsh Arts Council
during the composer’s lifetime. In their television broadcast of this
year’s St David’s Day Concert in Cardiff given by the BBC National
Orchestra of Wales, Welsh broadcaster S4C even abridged the full performance
of Hoddinott’s popular Investiture Dances to a single movement.
In those reviews I had attempted to analyse the reasons why the music of Mathias
— overshadowed by Hoddinott during their lifetimes — was proving
to be more durable in the long term. Various fans of the composer accused
me of personal malice for my attempts – accusations which I hope I was
able to refute, although it did not stop one correspondent asking that I should
refrain from further reviews of the composer’s music. I hope therefore
that I can be believed when I enthusiastically recommend this release, which
frequently displays Hoddinott’s vocal writing at its best. In the published
score of The Beach of Falesŕ, when compared to the first performances
in Cardiff, the composer had on occasion written passages for the voice which
evidently caused such strain on the singers that they had to be adjusted —
the same considerations arose in the first performances of some of his choral
music — but the writing here is more considerate and certainly all the
singers sound totally at ease with the music. In one of the reviews of the
original issue Byzantion lamented the fact that with the exception of Jeremy
Huw Williams none of the singers were Welsh. This concern need not be taken
all that seriously since all the texts here are in English or sung in English
translation. Naxos as usual provide these texts in full in the booklet together
with the extensive notes on the music by Geraint Lewis which appeared with
the original release.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Previous reviews (BMS release): Byzantion,
John
France, Mark
Sealey and Hubert
Culot
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