Hyperion’s Romantic Violin Concerto
series rolls steadily forward adopting
a more sedate pace by comparison with
their prolific piano concerto series.
These two British violin concertos make
a welcome appearance. The Coleridge-Taylor
is nothing short of treasurable. The
Somervell I am still coming to terms
with but has some most surprising resonances.
If the series continues this well we
should watch out for the violin concertos
of Haydn Wood, Gaze Cooper, Robin Milford,
Arthur Benjamin, Arthur Bliss, Jean
Coulthard, Eugene Goossens, Leroy Robertson,
Gordon Jacob and so many others.
The Coleridge-Taylor has been recorded
before on the Avie Label where it was
in safe and sound harness with the Dvořák.
There Philippe Graffin took only thirty
seconds less than Marwood. The Avie
disc has the Johannesburg Philharmonic
Orchestra conducted by Michael
Hankinson. Avie AV
0044.
Astonishing that this
Hyperion is now the second version of
the Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto
to have been commercially recorded ...
and issued. Whether Lyrita Recorded
Edition will ever get round to releasing
their recording made by the Scots violinist
Lorraine McAslan, circa 1995, remains
a matter of futile speculation.
The Coleridge-Taylor
has much in common with the affable
and gracious
Dvořák concerto. In mien and melodic
curve it is similar and was presumably
influenced by the Dvořák; perhaps
by the Mendelssohn and Bruch works also.
It is a supremely attractive work with
an indelibly memorable store of tunes
both lively and sweetly sung.
The claimed presence of Negro spirituals
must be buried deep - I do not hear
it. The work in any event stands happily
on its own two feet. If you have a liking
for the Glazunov and the other models
mentioned above then you are bound to
like this
It’s
hardly a surprise that Coleridge-Taylor
was dubbed ‘the colored Dvořák’
by Maud Powell, the work’s first soloist.
Powell premiered the concerto on 4 June
1912 at the Berkshire Festival in the
USA. It had its UK premiere at the Proms
in London on 8 October 1912 and
was performed at Bournemouth in February
1913. It dropped out of the repertoire
for many years until Sergiu Schwartz
revived it at the Guildhall School of
Music in 1981. There has also been at
least one 1990s performance with the
Harvard Orchestra where the soloist
was someone now better known to us as
a conductor featured on the Naxos American
Classics series, John McLaughlin Williams.
Lorraine McAslan broadcast
the work for the BBC on 9 June 1995
with the Ulster Orchestra conducted
by Jan Latham-Koenig. Getting out my
off-air tapes of this broadcast and
of the other one by Sergiu Schwartz
with Brian Wright and the Guildhall
School Symphony Orchestra some comparison
can be made. Schwartz (broadcast on
27 February 1981) is sweet-toned but
the pacing moves forward with leaden
boots and tired muscles. While this
tempo has the advantage of allowing
Schwartz to mine the work’s lyrical
strata without distraction (to great
advantage in the Andante) there is no
doubting the extra ‘lift’ and mercurial
poetry in Graffin and Hankinson’s approach.
Schwartz has difficulty keeping his
instrument in precise tune; not a problem
with Graffin or Marwood. If anything
McAslan is even more self-absorbed and
reflective than Schwartz especially
in the first two movements. The Ulster
Orchestra is, not surprisingly, much
better than the Guildhall group and
their horns make wonderful air-lofted
use of the accompanimental figures in
the first movement. The Ulstermen and
the BBC Scottish are riper than the
Johannesburg Orchestra. Do try the hearts
and flowers embrace of the middle movement
- benevolent writing and playing, brimming
with sentiment. It is difficult to choose
between the two although, as you will
read, there is one noticeable difference.
I suspect most people who don’t already
have the Avie will choose between the
two on the basis of the coupling.
Arthur Somervell’s
reputation as a composer now rests on
his songs. However he wrote much else.
Very much a ‘child of his time’, he
was taught by Stanford and Parry and
served for many years as Inspector of
Music to the Board of Education. The
Violin Concerto is his last extended
work and was written in 1930. Heart-warming
and pastoral, this is the concerto’s
first recording. It makes for a far
more stimulating and adventurous
coupling than the Dvořák. The Concerto
has a Brahmsian warm-heartedness and
generosity of spirit that I am sure
you will instantly warm to. The Somervell
also foreshadows Finzi’s pastoral ecstasy.
It is surprising to me how often Finzi’s
name comes to mind. The fall
of many of Somervell’s melodies has
Finzi staring out from the stable and
emotionally affluent Brahmsian predominance
into a transcendent pastoralism. The
work has the German composer’s weightiness
and gravity as well as his probing emotionalism
but the number of episodes when he reaches
beyond this with themes and treatment
whose contours trace those of Finzi’s
Introit (itself for violin and piano),
the Clarinet Concerto and the string
orchestral parts in Dies Natalis are
remarkable. Quite apart from giving
us a new point of lineage and prompting
curiosity about Somervell’s Intimations
of Immortality when compared to
Finzi’s own major setting, this music
with its singing soul provides clear
rewards. The finale bounces along with
something approaching the bluffness
of manner of Stanford and Edward German.
This is moderated by the daffodil-and-daisy
innocence and impetuous freshness of
the violin solo.
Make no mistake the
Coleridge-Taylor is a vivacious and
captivating work which I guarantee that
you will come to love. The only reservation
I have about Marwood and Brabbins’ version
is that the first movement is taken
extremely broadly; more so than in Graffin’s
case. It is not a big deal and when
it comes to the most enterprising combination
there is no competition - Hyperion will
carry the day. If you get a chance do
hear the Avie do so but this Hyperion
is satisfying at so many levels and
it is carried on high by Lewis Foreman’s
expert and readable programme notes.
Rob Barnett
SOMERVELL, Arthur [Windermere, 5.6.1863
- London, 2.5.1937]
A select list of his works
Operetta:
The Enchanted Palace;
Princess Zara;
King Thrushbeard;
Knave of Hearts;
Golden Straw;
Thomas the Rhymer;
Choral:
Mass in C minor for
soloists, chorus and orchestra (1891,
Bach Choir);
A Song of Praise
(1891, Kendal Festival);
The Power of Sound
(1895, Kendal Festival);
The Forsaken Merman
(1895, text Matthew Arnold, Leeds Festival,
then Queen’s Hall, Handel Choral Society
/ Augustus Manns);
The Charge of the
Light Brigade for chorus and orchestra
(1897, text Tennyson);
Ode to the Sea (1897,
Birmingham Festival);
Elegy for chorus
and orchestra or soloist, chorus, strings,
horn and piano (1902);
Intimations of Immortality,
Ode for baritone, chorus and orchestra
(1907, Leeds Festival);
The Passion of Christ
for chorus and orchestra (1914);
To The Vanguard
for soprano, chorus and orchestra
(1917);
Christmas, A
Cantata (1926);
Concerto:
Concertstück for
violin and orchestra (1913, Aachen);
Symphonic Variations,
Normandy for piano and orchestra
(1913, Donald Tovey / LSO / Artur Nikisch);
Piano Concerto, Highland
Concerto (1920, Guildford 1921);
Violin Concerto (Adila
Fachiri / Reid SO / Dr Mary Grierson);
Orchestra:
Orchestral Ballad,
Helen of Kirkconnel (1893, Philharmonic);
Suite, Thomas The
Rhymer (18??);
Suite, In Arcady
for small orchestra (1897);
Symphony in D minor
Thalassa (1913, Queen’s Hall,
LSO/Artur Nikisch, 17.2.1913);
Chamber:
Clarinet Quintet (1919,
London);
Violin Sonata (late);
Piano:
Concert Study in C
minor;
Variations on an Original
Theme in E minor for two pianos (composer
/ Leonard Borwick);
Songs:
Five Songs of Innocence
(1888, Blake);
Maud, Song Cycle
(1898, Lawrence Rea, Salle Erard);
Love in Springtime
Song Cycle (1901);
A Shropshire Lad,
Song Cycle (1904, Plunket Greene, Aeolian
Hall, 3.2.1904);
James Lee’s Wife
Song Cycle (1906);
Windflowers for
vocal quartet or choir of female voices;
The Broken Arc (1923,
Browning)
HYPERION’S ROMANTIC
VIOLIN CONCERTO SERIES
Volume 1: SAINT-SAËNS
The Three Violin Concertos Compact
Disc CDA67074
Philippe Graffin violin, BBC Scottish
Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins
Volume 2: STANFORD Suite for
Violin and Orchestra, Op 32; Violin
Concerto in D major, Op 74 Compact Disc
CDA67208
Anthony Marwood violin, BBC Scottish
Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins
Volume 3: HUBAY Violin Concerto
No 3, Op 99; Violin Concerto No 4, Op
101; Variations on a Hungarian Theme,
Op 72 Compact Disc CDA67367
Hagai Shaham violin, BBC Scottish Symphony
Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins
Volume 4: MOSZKOWSKI Violin Concerto,
Op 30; Ballade, Op 16 No 1; KARLOWICZ
Violin Concerto, Op 8 Compact Disc
CDA67389
Tasmin Little violin, BBC Scottish Symphony
Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins
Anthony Marwood (violin) 
for details
