In the mists of the
early 1980s, on the cusp of the CD era,
the bud that is now a forest, Hyperion,
issued an LP called 'Fishing by Moonlight'.
It was an anthology of Robin Milford's
music, songs, chamber, choral and orchestral.
I remember that LP (A66048) and its
unassumingly gentle charm. That quality
carried over into the present CD but
with a more professional polish to the
playing. The LP had Christopher Finzi
conducting the Southern Pro Arte in
sessions on 2 September 1982. I had
half been expecting a reissue of that
LP but no such thing and here the mix
is entirely chamber-orchestral.
The Guildhall Strings
and Robert Salter here continue the
fine-toned work they have already done
for Armstrong Gibbs (CDA 67093) and
also in a mixed recital of pieces for
piano and orchestra by Milford (Concertino
in E major), Gibbs, Rootham and Dring
(Hyperion CDA 67316).
Fishing by Moonlight
was inspired a picture of the same
name by Dutch artist Aernout van der
Neer (1603-1677) displayed on the cover
of the original Hyperion LP. In the
present case the adroitly designed booklet
cover carries The
Three Brothers (c.1897)
by Frederick Cayley Robinson (1862–1927).
There is nothing declamatory
about Fishing by Moonlight;
nothing that shouts. The music has a
Finzian curve and sigh. It is neither
belligerent nor intense. There are passing
similarities to Finzi's Eclogue (2.01
- those trills!) but Milford adds a
fine mist of Elizabethan sensibility:
Finzi meets Warlock. Much the same can
be said of the Capriol capers
of the Miniature Concerto. Milford's
way is soft and modest. Self-promotion
is completely alien to this music and
its composer. More of the same can be
heard in the Two Orchestral Interludes.
Go Little Book is
for flute, soprano and strings. Carys
Lane's soprano is well nigh perfect
in its innocence. We return to the Finzian
repose of works such as Eclogue
and Love’s Labours Lost in the
strolling contemplation of trs. 9 and
13. Otherwise we are caught in a hinterland
between Warlock and Respighi.
The Elegiac Meditation
is
very different. Its pastoral Dvořákian
textures contrast with the poignant
discourse of the solo viola. If this
lacks the ecstasy of sorrow found
in the Elgar Introduction and Allegro
or in Howells' Elegy it certainly
seems to speak out for Milford's soul
made eloquent by loss and given voice
here by Clare Finnimore's solo viola.
Whether the loss of which it speaks
is of Milford’s son Barnaby or of friends
killed during the Second World War we
do not know. Flush with similar serious
melancholic moods, the James Scott
Elegy moves between Warlock,
Wirén (Serenade) and Vaughan
Williams (Tallis Fantasia).
The beautiful Interlude,
here done rather breathily by Julian
Sperry, deserves to be played often
and surely would do well on Classic
FM if given a chance. It is the slow
movement of Milford's large-scale flute
sonata.
The Festival
Suite for strings was written
for Reginald Jacques
and his orchestra. Its pastel shades
place it close to Grieg's Holberg and
Dvořák's Serenade and to the gentler
movements of the Serenades by Moeran
and Warlock's. It is not a cousin to
Holst's Brook Green or
Vaughan Williams' Concerto Grosso.
Milford is portrayed
here as a miniaturist but there are
grander works which we must hope to
hear. Let's not forget the Symphony,
the oratorio Prophet in the Land
and the Violin Concerto. His Hardy-inspired
piece for violin and orchestra, The
Darkling Thrush would go well in
a mixed recital with similar pieces
by Finzi (Introit), Foulds, Goossens
and Julius Harrison.
The notes are by Lewis
Foreman so we know all is well on this
front.
A gentle and modest
addition to the catalogue of English
music.
Rob Barnett
