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Eric COATES (1886-1957) The Enchanted Garden: 10 Orchestral Pieces.   John Wilson conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra ASV CD WHL2112. [71:18]March:London Calling; Symphonic Rhapsody on "I pitch my lonely caravan at night"; Springtime Suite; Ballet: The Enchanted Garden; Concert Waltz: Dancing Nights; À la Gavotte; March: The Seven Seas; Symphonic Rhapsody on a song by Richard Rogers - "With a Song in my Heart"; Lazy Night; March: High Flight.

 

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Eric COATES Eight Orchestral Works.   Andrew Penny conducting the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. MARCO POLO 8.223521 [60:57]

 

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These two albums of Eric Coates works have been released almost simultaneously. The good news is that they both contain some interesting rarities that have not been recorded in modern digital sound. Both programmes share some of the same pieces.

I remember interviewing the composer's son, Austin Coates, many years ago and he was adamant that Eric Coates liked his music taking at a brisk pace he did not like it dragged out. Now the young conductor John Wilson who has made a speciality of Eric Coates understands this well and his interpretations capture the spirit of this music very well; in fact as many of my fellow critics have observed his recordings sound almost as if Eric Coates himself was conducting the pieces. His readings are much more joyful than those of Penny. Penny's reading of the opening movement of the delightful Springtime Suite (1937) is affectionate enough but it cannot capture that extra charm that Wilson brings to it and Wilson has the expressive edge in the meltingly beautiful "Noonday Song" which is the Suite's second movement. Where Wilson does falter slightly is in his too fast tempi for the concluding movement, "Dance in the Twilight", at his pace the dancers would surely do themselves a mischief in the fading light?

High Flight (1956) was the last work that Eric Coates composed. Wilson again wins with a faster, more stirring approach while Penny prefers to pull out all the emotional stops with a rather stiff upper lip point of view. Where Penny succeeds most is in the more relaxed romantic pieces. His Lazy Night has a nice dreamy atmosphere which is just as satisfying as Wilson's more hurried but nicely turned version.

Turning now to the other works on the albums and to the Marco Polo collection first. The major work here is the Four Ways Suite. The first movement North, is a march using the Scottish tune "Ca' the Yowes" which in the Slovak Orchestra's hands is just a bit too careful and deliberate. The Italian-sounding waltz that is the South movement is nicely shaped and beguiling enough in Penny's hands and the East movement is even more successful; it is a clever pastiche of oriental styles employing triangle, xylophone, Chinese block and gong with some clever writing for the woodwinds. The final movement, West, however, falls flat; the Slovak orchestra just does not seem comfortable playing Eric Coates's jazz-orientated rhythms.

The other major work is Eric Coates haunting Saxo Rhapsody is nice enough and Kenneth Edge plays up its bitter-sweetness very well but this performance cannot compare with the ../graphics/classic 1968 EMI Studio 2 recording made by Jack Brymer with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Charles Groves.

The CD opens with a graceful and lilting performance of By the Sleepy Lagoon. A glowing rendition of the romance, Last Love, another lovely piece is another plus point for Penny. His reading of the Footlights Waltz has its charms too but it cannot displace my memories of Stanford Robinson's exquisite touch with this enchanting little gem. Penny's 8th Army March is rather stolid.

Now to the Wilson disc which has the more exciting programme and the best performances.

The BBC Concert Orchestra plays immaculately throughout and they are, of course, thoroughly attuned to this type of repertoire. The main item is the ballet The Enchanted Garden (1938). This piece grew out of music Coates had originally written for a stage production called "The Seven Dwarfs", but then the Walt Disney film of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out and rather overshadowed it. Stanford Robinson, after much nagging, finally persuaded Coates to recast the music to a story written by Eric's wife Phyllis. Her story of The Enchanted Garden is of a Prince who has to leave his beloved Princess at home in their garden under the protection of the animals and birds who live there with them. But evil spirits invade (characterised by a Tarantella which grows wilder and wilder) to threaten the Princess who is saved just in time by the return of the Prince brandishing a flaming sword. Peace and happiness are then reinstated. Wilson points up all the exuberance, joy and charm in this, Coates's most opulent and extended work, lasting about 20 minutes and brimming with detail and colour. It is sco../graphics/red for the largest orchestra Coates ever wrote for - triple woodwind, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, harp and a full percussion section and strings.

This CD opens with the march, London Calling which sweeps you along and gets your toes a-tapping. Another march, The Seven Seas, with its infectious rhythms, is a jaunty, salty and vibrant voyage in Wilson's hands. There follows the Symphonic Rhapsody on "I pitch my lonely caravan at night" based on one of Eric's own highly successful songs. Wilson gives it the full-blooded Romantic treatment and listening to it I could not help but think how appropriate it might have been for one of the Gainsborough Studios "bodice-ripper" films of the 1940s. (Although Coates was not at all happy about writing for films because of a tendency on the part of directors to cut out scenes and loose music at the same time.) The programme also includes another symphonic rhapsody on another song this time one by Richard Rogers (the only time that Eric Coates arranged somebody else's music) - "With a Song in my Heart" which is as much Coates as it is Rogers - Coates gives it the full glamourous treatment which Wilson relishes. The earliest piece is the wholly charming À la Gavotte a nicely-crafted, sophisticated and elegant pastiche of eighteenth century styles. Finally, there is the sparkling concert waltz, Dancing Nights lovingly played by the BBC Concert Orchestra; nobody could resist joining the dancers to this beautiful music.

Reviewer

Ian Lace

Penny: Performance

Sound

Wilson: Performance

Sound

Reviewer

Ian Lace

Penny: Performance

Sound

Wilson: Performance

Sound

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