Eclogue
Chamber Ensemble of London/Peter Fisher (violin)
rec. 2009-2020, Kingston University, UK; Henry Wood Hall, London, UK
SOMM RECORDINGS SOMMCD0653 [75]
erhaps it’s inevitable that this disc’s title derives from Finzi’s piece of
the same name. If the restored Violin Concerto is anything to go by, it’s
perhaps best that the Piano Concerto – of which Eclogue was the second
movement (the title is Howard Ferguson’s) – is no longer heard in that form.
But perhaps that’s too hard on the Violin Concerto and indeed on the
composer’s sense of concerto form. The Eclogue is a famously beautiful
piece, multiply recorded, but the advantage of this performance is its
chamber intimacy in which string textures are clarified and great care has
been taken over voice leading and colour. The incisive entry points are also
notable, as is lyric primacy; sometimes, no matter how affectionate the
performance, in bigger band recordings Finzi’s lines are subpoenaed to an
amorphous symphonic mass. Not here, thankfully, much though I admire other
recordings.
Clive Jenkins is an admired presence on the British scene, an acknowledged exponent of Light Music. His Three Pieces for oboe and strings are played by Michael Stowe, for whom the piece was written, and combines witfulness with expert scoring. Don’t overlook the first movement’s pastoral charm or the zesty B section in the central Air. His Piano Concerto, a very recent work dating from 2018, closes the programme in Margaret Fingerhut’s performance. She too was the dedicatee and deals splendidly with the bustling high spirits of the brief opening movement, cast in trusty sonata form, the languorous Moderato central movement, and then the exciting finale.
Don Shearman, an older contemporary of Clive Jenkins, is represented by two movements from Eine Kleine Leichtmusik, a droll title for the set. The first is Venice in the Rain and features a long violin solo cast in sweetly nostalgic vein in the form of a Barcarolle, and I’m assuming that the fiddle was played by Peter Fisher, violinist and director of the ensemble, for whom the piece was composed. The second piece from the set is Seventeen Going On Eighteen, a luscious piece for violin folksily pirouetting over the ensemble. Admirers of Alan Ridout will welcome his Concerto for flute and strings, composed in 1978, and played here by Judith Hall. It’s perfectly proportioned, very compact and features that all important grit in the form of a more angular central movement.
There is a sequence of small pieces. William Lloyd Webber’s Frencham Pond has been arranged by clarinettist Peter Cigleris for string orchestra from the piano original to form a charming watercolour. Ronald Binge’s The Watermill is lovely as ever and note the subtle clarification of string lines in this adept recording, with Michael Stowe a most elegant agile soloist. There’s also Elias Parish Alvars’ Romance derived from his Concerto for Harp and Orchestra and played by Gabriella Dall’Olio. The effusive warmth of this work, published in Paris in 1847, was warmly praised by Berlioz. Celia McDowall contributes her impressionistic 2007 take on Y Deryn Pur which was originally written for oboe and string trio.
Joseph Horovitz’s Concertante was written for Gervase de Peyer in the late 40s and is a multi-movement eight-minute piece, protein-packed and complete with fugal section – fleet, elegantly turned and spirited. Robin Milford’s Mr John Peel Passes By is a two-minute salute to the fox hunter himself, with Judith Hall in first place.
The programme offers a raft of ingenious arrangements and pieces written for chamber orchestra, all heard in fine performances, and more to the point in good sound. Essential? No. Engaging? Yes.
Jonathan Woolf
Previous review: John France
Contents
Clive Jenkins (b. 1938)
Three Pieces for Oboe and strings (2021)
Gerald Finzi (1901-56)
Eclogue, op. 10 (1929)
Don Shearman (b. 1932)
Venice in the Rain (Eine Kleine Leichtmusik)
Alan Ridout (1934-1996)
Concertino for flute and strings (1978)
William Lloyd Webber (1914–1982)
Frensham Pond (arr. Peter Cigleris (1960)
Ronald Binge (1910–1979)
The Watermill (1955)
Elias Parish Alavars (1808-1949)
Romance from concertino for harp and orchestra, op. 34 (1847)
Cecilia McDowall (b. 1951)
Y Deryn Pur (2007)
Don Shearman
Seventeen Going on Eighteen (Eine Kleine Leichtmusik)
Joseph Horovitz (1926-2022)
Concertante (1948)
Robin Milford (1903–1959)
Mr John Peel Passes By (c.1930)
Clive Jenkins
Piano Concertino (2018)
Other performers
Margaret Fingerhut (piano), Gabriella Dall’Olio (harp), Peter Cigleris (clarinet), Judith Hall (flute), Michael Stowe (oboe)
