William Hurlstone is
another of those ‘What if?’ composers.
A mere thirty years young at the time
of his death, he was a composition pupil
of Stanford (at the Royal College in
London). He was a promising pianist,
too, but precarious health precluded
a full-time concert career. His music
is immediate in its appeal, partly because
of Hurlstone’s assured craftsmanship,
partly because of his obvious delight
in orchestral colour. Conductor Nicholas
Braithwaite inspires the LPO to lavish
affection over these scores.
Lyrita’s programme
begins with the Variations on an
Original Theme. Hurlstone was only
twenty at the time of writing and still
at the Royal College, yet he shows great
flair in producing a contrasted and
assured set of variations. The theme
itself is positively luscious and of
the Variations, the more stately sections
are the most impressive. Lyrita’s recording
is fully up to their famous standard
– it is amazing how one can hear all
the detail, yet the sound-picture is
warm and imbued with just the right
amount of resonance. Diana McVeagh (who
wrote the booklet notes) puts her finger
on it when she refers to a Schubertian
mood for the fifth variation (4’27 –
it is the Schubert of Rosamunde).
Despite the many changes of colour and
outlook of the various variations, the
piece coheres as a whole, the longer
finale (Variation 16) acting as a gatherer
and reconciler of the various strands.
The other set of variations
here is that on a ‘Hungarian Air’. No
date of composition is given, but this
work received its première on
March 22nd, 1899 (a mere
three months before Elgar’s much more
famous Enigma Variations was
performed at St James’ Hall). Only half
as long as the Variations on an Original
Theme, the Variations on a Hungarian
Air is light and breezy. If the
Brahms of the St Anthony Variations
was lurking in the shadows of the Original
Theme Variations, here it is Brahms
of the Hungarian Dances that
is the influence.
Hurlstone’s music for
The Magic Mirror is consistently
dance-worthy. It is based on the story
of Snow White (each of its seven movements
has a title that refers to this story
except for the sixth, ‘Interlude’).
The second movement in particular (‘Snow
White in the Wood’) has a spring in
its step and ends with the cheekiest
cuckoo you will ever hear. The ‘March
of the Dwarfs’ is as sweet as one could
imagine, while ‘Snow White’s Death-sleep’
(movement four) is magically performed
in orchestral half-voice. Although the
other two works on this disc are more
overtly ambitious in intent if not in
duration, it is this Suite that remains
the highlight of a disc stock full of
delights..
One of the unsung glories
of the Lyrita catalogue, this programme
of Hurlstone is recommended with the
utmost enthusiasm. Incidentally, Hurlstone
wrote a Piano Concerto in 1896
– given his excellence as a pianist
and his obvious affinity for the orchestra,
it would be fascinating to hear it …
any enterprising record companies reading
this? …
Colin Clarke
The
Lyrita catalogue
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Nicholas Braithwaite.
