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John IRELAND (1879-1962)
Concertino Pastorale for string orchestra (1939) [19:40]
The Holy Boy (A Carol of the Nativity) (1913) for string orchestra (1941) [2:30]
A Downland Suite for string orchestra (1932) [8:50] Frank BRIDGE (1879-1941)
Rosemary (No. 1 of two Entractes) (1906) [3:26]
Suite for string orchestra (1910) [20:52]
Sally in our Alley (No. 1 of Two Old English Songs) (1916) [3:29]
Cherry Ripe (No. 2 of Two Old English Songs) (1916) [3:11]
Lament for string orchestra (1915) [3:35]
Sir Roger de Coverley, Christmas Dance (1922) [4:25]
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir
Adrian Boult
rec. 1966 and 1978 ADD LYRITA SRCD.242 [70.02]
Boult at the helm of the
Rodney Friend-led LPO in British music – that spells invariable
ascendancy. Add to it Lyrita’s remarkable facility with balance
and engineering and their no less special remastering and
reissuing package and you have a corpus of recordings that
will not date. Whether the programme appeals depends on your
enthusiasm for Bridge’s lighter style and for the Ireland
Concertino Pastorale, though a look at the head note will
show that there’s an enviable variety to it and something
for all tastes.
The
Concertino Pastorale is a lovely work but don’t be fooled
by its title. It opens with a toughly angular introduction
that might surprise those not used to the idiom but not those
for whom Ireland’s wartime works (both wars) demonstrate
toughness and grit. Boult shapes the pastoral material with
great refinement but absolutely no indulgence, something
he did with the music of his contemporary George Butterworth
in performances also to be heard in the slew of Boult-Lyrita
reissues. The Threnody is actually more obviously lyric than
the superscription might have one believe; the reserved nobility
of utterance brought to it by Boult is perfectly gauged.
And the shifting accents of the finale are full of verve
and dynamism. The historically minded would doubtless wish
that the dedicatee, Boyd Neel, had recorded it with his eponymous
orchestra but Boult, heard in superb 1966 sound, more than
makes amends for that loss. Ireland transcribed two movements
of The Downland Suite for piano and also for string
orchestra. It’s hard to resist the folk-like and baroque
hues in this performance and in particular the warmly reflective Elegy.
The
selection of music by Frank Bridge is essentially lighter
music. He half quotes All Through the Night in Rosemary a
delightful miniature played with suitably disarmingly simplicity
here. The Suite for string orchestra is memorably
tuneful and delightfully orchestrated though interestingly
its Nocturne is more of a Threnody than Ireland’s
own in the Concertino. Note the care over dynamics
and the influence of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings. The
finale is a bustly, bold and vibrant English affair. Sally
in our Alley and Cherry Ripe are richly characterised.
The Lament is
a 1915 elegy, touchingly intense, for “Catherine, aged nine” who
died in the sinking of the Lusitania. And then we have Sir
Roger de Coverley which Boult dishes up with very considerable
verve, slashing through the counter themes with brilliant
vim.
Top
marks for this compilation; idiomatic conducting, music of
sensitivity and rustic abandon, accustomed excellence as
regards recording and remastering; and good notes as ever
from this source.
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