MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 

Buy through MusicWeb for £11.00 postage paid World Wide. Try it on Sale or Return
You may prefer to pay by Sterling cheque or Euro notes to avoid PayPal. Contact for details

Musicweb Purchase button

Charles Villiers STANFORD (1852-1924)
Cello Concerto in D minor (1879-1880) [27:36]
Piano Concerto No. 3 in E flat, Op.171 (orch. Geoffrey Bush) (1919) [37:43]
Alexander Baillie (cello); Malcolm Binns (piano)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Nicolas Braithwaite
rec. details not given
LYRITA SRCD.321 [65:23]



Other companies would have flinched from including two totally unknown works on one disc. Most would have dropped one of the two and dashed for the safety of buttressing the familiar with the unfamiliar. Not Lyrita. Instead they give us two meaty concertos. The cello work is early while the piano work is from five years short of the composer’s death when fashion had turned its face against Stanford and Parry.
 
The Cello Concerto is in the same league as the later Dvořák concerto with a first movement ripe with surging energy and some really dramatic writing for the brass. The Molto Adagio glows with gracious lyricism and while the manner might be familiar from Dvořák and even Brahms the listening experience is fresh and full of intriguing detail. A noble allegretto reminded me at times of Dvořák 8 and at others very strongly of the Brahms Violin Concerto. It’s a delightful work and an early crowning glory for this composer.
 
The Third Piano Concerto survived only in two piano score. Because the full score could not be found Geoffrey Bush - who did so much for Stanford’s music and reputation – did the orchestration. This time the stormy-heroic manner leans more noticeably towards Brahms; nothing untoward in that. I found myself thinking of the gymnastic euphoria of Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto in the first and last of the three movements. The middle movement – a Larghetto – includes extensive calm solo episodes for the piano with gentle interventions from the orchestra; these return most touchingly in the finale. This is a very optimistic work radiating smiling confidence.
 
The notes (in English only) by Lewis Foreman are well up to his usual high standards in terms of content and readability.
 
Do have also have a look at John France’s excellent review. I have tried to adopt a different approach here.
 
Two works that add invaluably to the repertoire.
 
Rob Barnett

see also review by John France

Also available on Lyrita
SRCD.219 STANFORD Piano Concerto No. 2; Irish Rhapsody No. 4; Funeral March

Full Lyrita catalogue

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.