Very British
Sir Edward ELGAR (1857–1934)
Serenade for Strings, Op 20 [12:39]
Nine Pieces for Cello and Strings (Arranged by Emanuel Schmidt) [32:59]
Benjamin BRITTEN (1913–1976)
Simple Symphony, Op 4 [17:46]
Peter WARLOCK (1894–1930)
Capriol Suite [10:42]
Karl JENKINS (b.1944)
Palladio [3:53]
Metamorphosen Berlin/Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt (cello in Nine Pieces)
rec. 12–14 April 2019, 8 March 2020 & 24 June 2020, Teldex Studio
Berlin.
Reviewed as downloaded from press access. Download only from some dealers.
SONY G0100045460061
[78:07]
Any ensemble from outside the UK must be very bold or very foolish to
record such archetypally British music. There are some very firm and
well-established favourites for three of these pieces: especially Sir John
Barbirolli with the Sinfonia of London in the Elgar Serenade, still
unbeaten in that work after all these years: Warner Masters 6317882 or
0851872, both download only, with Introduction and Allegro, Elegy, Sospiri,
Vaughan Williams Greensleeves and Tallis Fantasias and Delius Brigg Fair, a
75-minute true classic –
review
–
review
of earlier, shorter reissue.
Of course, Elgar and other British composers have been recorded before by
non-British conductors and orchestras, often with considerable success. After
all, we don’t expect the Vienna Philharmonic to have a monopoly on the
Strauss family – though they do play their music very well. Monteux’s
Enigma Variations are among the best ever recorded, while Karajan’s Decca
and DG recordings of The Planets, with the VPO (Decca 4523032, with
the Monteux Enigma, budget-price download) and BPO
respectively, came off very well, as did the
Marco Polo series of recordings of British Light Music, slowly being
transferred, I’m delighted to see, to the less expensive Naxos label, but
the Naxos English String Festival from Capella Istropolitana is
much less successful, especially in the rather dreary versions of the two
Parry suites (8.550331). Stick with Boult conducts Parry for those
(Lyrita SRCD.220 –
review
–
review).
The recording of the Elgar Serenade sounds surprisingly idiomatic – very
‘British’, in fact. It must have been a strong temptation to listen to and
copy a classic performance like the Barbirolli, but it’s far from a slavish
imitation of any recording that I know. The opening allegretto piacevole is noticeably faster than Barbirolli, the larghetto significantly slower and the finale again considerably
faster. More importantly, Metamorphosen make the whole sound idiomatic,
with even a touch of portamento. I certainly shall not be ditching the
Barbirolli recording, but I very much warmed to the new Sony to the extent
that I wished that we might have had the Introduction and Allegro
from the same team, with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt directing from his cello
as a member of the quartet. What makes the Barbirolli recording of both the
Elgar works is that the music almost seems to glow, and I find a similar
glow in the new recording.
Instead of more substantial Elgar, Schmidt gives us his own arrangement for
cello and strings mostly of nine short, unfamiliar Elgar pieces, all receiving
their first recordings. Enjoyable as these arrangements are, I found my
attention wandering a little at times. Salut d’amour, the best known of
these pieces, sounds just sentimental enough in this arrangement.
I perked up, however, for the Britten and the Warlock. In the Britten Simple Symphony Schmidt again avoids slavish imitation of the
composer’s own recording (Decca E4175092, download only), with slightly
faster times except in the Sentimental Saraband, where he allows more time
for the sentiment to develop, yet without laying it on too thick. All told,
I think this recording will make new friends for Britten’s early
composition, reminding us that Mozart and Mendelssohn were not the only
composers to show clear early signs of what was to come.
Both the Britten and the Warlock (whose real name was Heseltine) show
reverence for earlier musical styles. I must admit to enjoying music such
as the Capriol Suite, a modern re-imagining of the music of the
past akin to Respighi’s Gli uccelli and Ancient Airs and Dances for the Lute and Rodrigo’s Fantasia para un gentilhombre. There’s a fine, inexpensive
recording of Capriol on Naxos from the Bournemouth Sinfonietta and Richard Studt,
which I was pleased to have a reason to revisit, courtesy of the Naxos B2B
service for reviewers. It was released in 1994, before the advent of
MusicWeb, so I’m happy to sing its praises now, but the only reason to prefer
it to the new Sony would be its availability on an inexpensive CD and
download – the new Sony is digital only in the UK, or as an expensive
import (19439873312) – or for the rest of the Naxos programme of Britten’s Bridge Variations, Holst St Paul’s Suite, Vaughan
Williams’ ethereal Variations on Dives and Lazarus, and Delius Aquarelles (8.550823).
The final item on the new Sony, Karl Jenkins Palladio, may
not be a reworking of a
particular piece of early music like the Capriol Suite, but its
underlying quality also evokes the past. The title represents an act of homage
to the celebrated renaissance architect whose work is enshrined in the word
Palladian. The form is that of the concerto grosso, and the tone
is not so much that of the sixteenth as of the eighteenth century, when the
style was very fashionable. It’s surely coincidental that the name of the
ensemble echoes the title of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the inspiration
for music by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (recordings on Naxos, Chandos and
Supraphon) and that Palladio might almost be a modern take on the
music of Dittersdorf’s period. Indeed, the music was metamorphosed from a
diamond advertisement to its present form. More to the point, it’s an
earworm of a piece which will ‘send its listeners out into the night
tapping their feet and humming its tunes’, as the booklet puts it.
The calibre of the performances is matched by the recording, which
I heard in CD-quality 16-bit, but is also available in 24-bit sound. The
booklet, aimed mainly at German readers, will be of less interest to UK
collectors. All in all, I really enjoyed hearing the idiomatic performances
of this eclectic selection of British music which should reach a wider
audience – significantly, the one review on Amazon as I write is in Spanish.
Brian Wilson
Nine Pieces for Cello and Strings:
Romance, Op 1 [5:17]
Salut d’amour, Op 12 [3:18]
Mot d’amour, Op 13/1 [2:26]
Bizarrerie, Op 13/2 [3:03]
Idylle, Op 4/1 [3:56]
Rosemary (1915) [3:16]
Carissima (1913) [4:19]
Adieu (1932) [2:20]
La Capricieuse, Op 17 [5:00]
