Proudly subtitled ‘a collection for
connoisseurs’ the Louisville series
of subscription LPs of first recordings
of new orchestral music, usually supervised
by the composers themselves, and much
of it specially commissioned, was a
notable feature of the LP era. These
were collected in volumes, of which
unfortunately I only have one, but it
tells me that by 1960 there had been
forty-two issues containing 98 works
including six full-length operas. Among
those pioneering recordings were the
Bliss and Rubbra recordings reissued
here, both Louisville commissions and
the only British composers then represented.
Eventually Louisville would record over
400 works.
It is good to discover
this series of CD reissues from the
Louisville source, and to find that
according to their web site (www.firsteditionmusic.com)
there are now 38 CDs available. Many
of these have been arranged in composer
volumes, notable titles - I have not
yet heard the reissues - being Blacher,
Malipiero, Toch, Tcherepnin, Panufnik
and Peter Mennin. Much of the music
issued then has not been recorded again,
and thus this constitutes a remarkable
historical archive of music in the third
quarter of the twentieth century. The
tapes seem perfectly preserved and even
the mono recordings, nearly fifty years
old, have a presence which belies their
age. Thank goodness there has been no
attempt to process the mono in any way.
The four British composers
represented here wrote these works between
1949 and 1962. These are all fine performances.
There is nothing routine about them;
at the time they must have each been
an event. The Bliss is perhaps most
interesting because Bliss later withdrew
the score as recorded here and revised
it, deleting the second section entitled
"a more disturbing view",
which although it only runs a minute
and three quarters, gives the whole
even more energy and pace. The later
version was recorded by Vernon Handley,
but if you are a Bliss fan this is a
unique opportunity.
For me the most cherishable
music of this British collection is
Rubbra’s soaring meditation which he
simply called Improvisation.
Rubbra tells us for this he returned
to his Fantasia for violin and
orchestra written in the early 1930s
and, re-using the long opening cadenza
– invocation would be a better word
– more or less as it originally stood,
produced this new work. The music -
which runs 12½ minutes - falls into
five sections, broadly slow – fast –
slow – fast – slow, and is a classic
example of Rubbra’s continuous evolution
in which the soloist’s soaring flight
is pitted against the controlling orchestra.
Malcolm Arnold’s eloquent
double violin concerto is one of his
more serious works, written to a commission
from Yehudi Menuhin for the 1962 Bath
Festival. We now know its inspiration
was informed by the death of Arnold’s
brothers, though he did not disclose
this at the time. There are at least
four other recordings and my preference
would probably be for the Prom performance
conducted by Arnold himself (BBC 1565
91817-2), but Peter McHugh and Paul
Kling here eloquently project the dialogue
between each other and the string orchestra,
in a performance that once surfaced
on an RCA LP (GL 25018, 1977) alongside
the next work.
John Addison’s trumpet
concerto is a substantial and brilliant
work, which I have to say I did not
know. The music dates from 1949 (not
1958 as given in the booklet and original
notes), was first performed in 1950
and in New York in 1953. Addison was,
of course, a celebrated film composer
(including A Bridge Too Far,
Carte Blanche and Reach for
the Sky), and whether he
is being energetic or lyrical, elegiac
(as in the slow movement, trumpet muted)
and expressive or fizzing as in his
finale, his invention is always likeable.
The syncopations in the finale are catchy,
the trumpet writing dazzling. Trumpeter
Leon Rapier is brilliant in the demanding
solo part and plangently expressive
in the deeper quiet slow music. But
why such a sparkling score should be
so little played that we are unaware
of it is beyond me. In fact it is the
only work included here which was actually
recorded long after it was first written.
If you like the programme don’t hesitate;
the two mono items need be no barrier.
Lewis Foreman
Sidney Harth (violin) (Rubbra) 
