Support us financially by purchasing from

Visions of a Century
Germaine TAILLEFERRE (1892-1983)
Violin Sonata No 1 in C-sharp minor (1920) [17:26]
Lucien DUROSOIR (1878-1955)
Aquarelles (1920) [16:05]
Sir Edward ELGAR (1857-1934)
Violin Sonata in E minor (1918) [26:29]
Rebecca CLARKE (1886-1979)
Two Pieces for Viola & Piano (1917 & 1921) [8:44]
Malin Broman (violin/viola)
Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano)
Rec. 7-9 August 2020, Studio Sous-Sol Malmö, Sweden
DB PRODUCTIONS DBCD199 [68:44]

Initially I was slightly confused by this disc’s title, “Visions of a Century”. The liner by producer, engineer, editor, mixer, masterer and label owner Erik Nilsson explains that the music all dates from a century ago – 1918-21 to be exact – not that it is a survey across a century. As such the programme is unique as a whole although all of the works have received recordings – often multiple versions – previously. A certain symmetry is achieved by having two male and two female composers with each representing either Britain or France.

Violinist/violist Malin Broman and pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips are a fine musical partnership and Nilsson has ensured that they are recorded in a natural manner with a very good balance achieved between the instruments in a supportive but not overly resonant acoustic. I had previously encountered Germaine Tailleferre’s Violin Sonata No 1 in C-sharp minor through an old VoxBox entitled “Chamber Music by Women Composers” performed by members of the Macalester Trio. This new performance is far superior to the older recording which sounds rather tentative both musically and technically compared to the performance here. Tailleferre was a member of “Les Six” which first appeared as a collective name in articles around the time of this work’s composition in 1920. Nilsson rightly notes the “many typically French elements – wit, whimsy and elegance” in the work and these are all well captured here. Interesting to follow the score on IMSLP to see just how far off the opening tempo marking of crochet/quarter note = 132 Broman/Crawford-Phillips are. But that marking is a strange one as Taillefferre describes the movement as modéré sans lenteur but the metronome marking would imply something significantly faster. As a movement I found the first the least successful – harmonically quite adventurous but somehow prone to note spinning. The second movement 3/8+2/8 Scherzo is marked muted throughout [curiously the score doesn’t seem to contain a “senza sord.” marking]. The playing here is lithe and sinuous but I did wonder if something a fraction closer to the dotted crochet = 80 could make the music even more playful and capricious. In the score the closing two movements Assez lent and très vite run together without a break but sensibly they are given separate tracks on the CD. To my ear these are the most impressive and convincing pages of the Sonata and they are very well played here. The technical demands of both violin and piano are considerable and the players here surmount them with ease.

Lucien Durosoir is a composer I had not encountered before. Originally a violin virtuoso, an accident forced him to turn to composition and at his death there were some forty unpublished works found in his papers. His family have subsequently brought them to print but they are still very hard to find. The five Aquarelles performed here are some of his earliest compositions written when he was still pursuing the career of violin virtuoso. No surprise that the pieces exhibit a detailed understanding of what ‘works’ on the violin. The collective term aquarelle is very appropriate as the mood and musical style of each movement is quite distinct ranging from the pensive impressionism of Vision [No 2] to near neo-classical Ronde [No 3] and the salon-lyrical beauty of Berceuse [No 4]. Indeed the moods across the 5 pieces are so diverse I wonder if Durosoir did intend them to be performed as a set at all. The Berceuse is an absolute gem and receives a very poised and gently rapturous performance here – certainly it makes me curious to hear more Durosoir although little seems to have been recorded.

Not that that can be said of Elgar’s music. Much as I love Elgar’s music in general and this Violin Sonata in E minor in particular, I am not convinced how effectively it fits into this programme. For sure it is fascinating to hear it juxtaposed against the contemporaneous Tailleferre or Durosoir but it is very different. Wisely, Broman/Crawford-Phillips play this work “from the page”. By this I mean they take Elgar’s detailed markings at face value and do not seek to over indulge extremes of tempo or dynamic or phrasing. The origins of the work are well-known; one of the group of three chamber works that alongside the Cello Concerto represent the last great flowering of Elgar’s genius before the death of his inspiration wife Alice. Of the three, the Violin Sonata is often considered the least significant but I would argue that in many ways it is one of Elgar’s most intriguing major works. This is because of the range of emotional ambivalence it contains. Elgar draws on the remarkable well of melodic invention he possessed so that the Sonata is replete with the widely spaced powerful tunes he could produce at will. Conversely – and in the central Romance in particular – the music has a haunted, elusive and almost uncertain quality quite unlike anything else Elgar wrote. The challenge for performers is to make these two musical and emotional extremes cohere. In this I am not sure Broman is totally successful. Throughout the ‘big’ gestures and melodies are absolutely superb – I particularly liked the very closing pages when the sonata reaches a near-heroic conclusion. But the skittering uneasy central Andante feels a tad literal. There are many fine versions of this work but recently I became acquainted with Clare Howick’s quite superb 2017 performance on Naxos. Not only is Howick’s slightly febrile vibrato and tightly focussed tone especially well-suited to this work but she and pianist John Paul Elkins have the shifting emotional landscape of the work absolutely perfectly captured. I would go as far to say that the Howick performance is the best version I know bar none and for all the considerable qualities of Broman/Crawford-Phillips Howick/Elkins are better, indeed revelatory.

Rebecca Clarke’s stature as a composer rightly grows by the year. For the two Clarke works that complete the disc Broman swaps to the viola. Her sound on the viola is again very beautiful and poised but without the depth of tone some players seek. Clarke’s Morpheus is a fairly common piece in recitals such as this. I enjoyed both Helen Callus’ performance on her recital “A Portrait of the Viola” and also Dame Avril Piston’s version on “her” recital “Heartache: An Anthology of English Viola Music” [there’s an in-joke there that I will leave readers to explore]. This is delicately ecstatic music that again benefits from an unaffected performing style and easy technical polish which all three viola players provide. I had not heard the Chinese Puzzle that completes the programme and finishes the CD. At 1:18 long it is literally the shortest work on the disc and oddly inconsequential for all its undoubted charm. Clarke’s use of pentatonic melodies and harmony is attractive in a fairly obvious ‘chinoiserie’ way and the ending rather abrupt.

So, a well-played and interesting programme with the Durosoir standing out as the music that intrigues the most. Fine playing and recording complete the package but ultimately I would probably “pick and choose” alternative performances.

Nick Barnard

Previous review: Stephen Greenbank