In the heady days of
the 1960s and 1970s when Lyrita put
out the very best LP pressings on the
market, the UK’s leading composers like
Berkeley, Walton and Alwyn were persuaded
to step into the studios and record
their own work or, as in this case,
be present for the recording. Some of
these recordings lay dormant for several
years after the death of the LP but
have now emerged triumphant.
The original LP coupling
for the B flat Concerto was the 2nd
Symphony with some quite analytical
notes by Berkeley himself. These are,
in part at least, quoted by Peter Dickinson
in his excellent updated booklet notes.
What we now have is a much more sensible
coupling although one might be disappointed
that the disc falls below the ‘statutory’
one hour’s duration .The Second Symphony
is now, incidentally, coupled with the
First on SRCD.249
and both discs use the original LP cover
designs.
Both of these works
were commissioned and first performed
in the Henry Wood promenade concerts
in consecutive years: 1947 and 1948;
not 1958 as the booklet mistakenly has
it. Peter Dickinson makes it quite clear
that he regards the B flat Concerto
as a masterpiece. It falls into
three movements, a sunny opening, marked
Allegro moderato, a melancholy
and pastoral middle Andante and
an exuberant finale. It’s all very approachable
but also well worth replaying to find
new theme developments and fascinating
turns of orchestration. Peter Dickinson
reminds us of John Manduel’s extraordinary
words at Berkeley’s funeral when he
said: "No composer has written
more distinctively for the piano."
That’s quite right and accounts for
the confident passages of virtuosity
in this work’s finale which David Wilde
surmounts with ease.
I know that these concertos
have been newly recorded in recent times
on Chandos, but I have not heard them.
Anyway there is a sense of authority
and definitiveness about these Lyrita
recordings which means that if you love
Berkeley’s music you will want both
versions. The Concerto for Two Pianos
has been coupled on Chandos with
Michael Berkeley’s Concerto for Orchestra
(CHAN 10468) and the B flat Concerto
with the Four Poems of St. Teresa
of Avila (CHAN 10265); all suitably
mouth-watering.
This double concerto
is of a demanding half-an-hour’s duration.
One should not underestimate the skill
and genius there is in writing a double
concerto, especially when both instruments
are the same. Berkeley was at the time
in his fullest maturity as a composer
and was revelling in it.
This work falls, most
curiously, into two movements beginning
with an eight minute opening Allegro
consisting of a grand, declamatory
introduction. There’s then a twenty-four
minute Theme and eleven variations.
The booklet notes adumbrate the variations
usefully and clearly. The grand idea
which opened the first movement returns
at the end. Why did he adopt this structure?
Peter Dickinson says nothing, but no
Romantic composer would have opted for
this structure. Mozart, however, Berkeley’s
ideal, often used to end a work with
a set of variations. Not only is Berkeley
anti-romantic in form but he also eschews
the whole Romantic concept of conflict
in the concerto, one against the many,
which is even harder with two soloists.
I surmise that these variations are
an antidote to conflict. They follow
rapidly, creating a fast, slow, fast,
slow, fast format, where development
of material and melody is the overriding
consideration. Despite all of that,
and I have known the work for over twenty
years, I still find it not completely
satisfactory. The Variations can give
the structure a disjointed effect and
although there are some memorable melodies
the work spreads itself too widely for
my taste.
The recording however
is superb. The performance seems to
me to bring out the best of the music,
but as I have said I have not heard
the Chandos recordings.
So, although these
pieces may not be for those of you unfamiliar
as yet with Lennox Berkeley, for those
of you looking to add these pieces to
your library then do search this disc
out.
Gary Higginson
See also
review by Rob Barnett
for details
