Elgar was one of Coates’s
most admiring auditors and used to insist
on receiving his discs. He must have
been one of the earlier collectors to
announce to the younger man that he’d
"worn out" his disc of one
of Coates’s tunes. Fortunately we can’t
wear out this long-delayed specimen
from the newly revivified Lyrita label.
In it we have a good selection, endearingly
served up by Barry Wordsworth and the
LPO. Pressed and copyrighted 2007 though
they may be these are assuredly much
earlier.
The Three Men suite
is a brisk study in contrasts. The Man
from the Country whistles a folkloric
tune and walks with a brisk gait. He’s
confident, elegant and certainly no
bumpkin; his county is more the metropolitan
fringes of Sussex from the sound of
it than the rude acres of, say, Gloucestershire;
and his breezy nonchalance reaches an
impassioned climax; no yokel, he, more
an umbrella-and-bowler sort of chap.
The Man-about-Town might even
be Coates himself – laid back, twinkling,
terpsichorean, off for a Foxtrot at
the Monseigneur perhaps. There’s a Glamorous
Nights feel to this – deliciously knowing.
The Man from the Sea brings with
him an absorbing shanty feel but otherwise
not too much nauticalia. Three Blind
Mice makes a bid for melodic freedom
and there’s a crafty fugal section as
well – so this chap has a whimsical
sense of humour, and doesn’t take himself
too seriously. These three wittily pointed
character portraits are a delight –
what a pity Elgar never lived to hear
them.
Dancing Nights is
a concert waltz (valse to be
accurate) and an elegant and astute
affair written in 1932. The following
year Coates crafted the Two Symphonic
Rhapsodies. The first is I Pitch
my Lonely Caravan in which Coates
seems to relive his early years as an
orchestral and chamber viola player
– this is sunk deep in the Russian muse,
Tchaikovsky predominately. The second
Rhapsody gives us the great hits Birdsongs
at Eventide and I Heard You Singing.
The former sings with ripe affection
whilst the latter explores the
sheer singability of the song with practised
charm.
The longest single
work is the 1946 Ballet: The Enchanted
Garden which clocks in at twenty-one
minutes. This is a most enjoyable fare
and shows the range of influences on
Coates – a most open-minded composer
not least when it came to transatlantic
trends. There’s an awful lot of Gershwin
here, from the syncopation to the actual
accent of the melody lines – some Kern
as well (he was clear about his admiration
for Kern). Some passages do sound very
Porgy-like and there are hints
of An American in Paris as well.
The cheeky fugue is followed by a dreamy
end.
To wrap up this delightful
programme – well selected and with not
overmuch opposition in the catalogues
- we have a trio of pieces. Footlights
is an avuncular waltz, London
Bridge a well known March – splendid
trio, nautical air – and there is the
final movement from the Four Centuries
suite of 1942 – Rhythm. This,
very naughtily, is a paraphrase of Fascinating
Rhythm – complete with dance band
saxophones and off-beat Max "Frying
Tonight" Bacon percussion.
This is a secure port
of call for all Coates collectors. Its
Lyrita brother volume, with Boult conducting
Coates, is now also available and has
been reviewed
by me. This Wordsworth volume however
has more Coates, rarer Coates, and better-played
Coates.
Jonathan Woolf
see also review
by Rob Barnett
for
details
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Barry Wordsworth
