The
best of British? Without Dunstable, Byrd or Purcell, or,
even keeping within the restricted period from which these
CDs appear to have been chosen, without Sullivan, Bush, Birtwistle
or Maxwell Davies?
It
would be ridiculous to expect any general agreement on which
are the “best” of British composers or on what are their
best works, but this certainly looks a very odd selection
to me. Including the Stainer and Rutter suggests a very sweet
tooth indeed, and whilst I have a soft spot for the Harty
it is surely impossible to regard it as in any way a better
work than any of the Maxwell Davies pieces issued elsewhere
by Naxos which might have been included in its place. It
is perhaps best to ignore the title and simply to take the
discs as samples of the quality and variety of repertoire
and performance of music by British composers, mainly of
the 20th century, available on Naxos.
On
that basis the company can be congratulated in particular
on seizing the opportunity to record such first rate but
under-recorded conductors as Paul Daniel, David Lloyd-Jones
and George Hurst, orchestras such as the English Northern
Philharmonia (now known as the Orchestra of Opera North),
and choirs such as St John’s and Clare from Cambridge. Their
performances are without exception of immense distinction,
and the others, if not always quite up to those exalted standards,
are well worth hearing. The poetic and for once not too slow
performance of “The Lark Ascending” by the English Northern
Philharmonia is almost worth the cost of the discs on its
own – it is unfortunate that the generally helpful notes
omit the name of the excellent soloist, David Greed. Other
performances which are particularly impressive include Robert
Plane in the Finzi and Maria Kliegel in the Elgar concertos,
both of which make me long to hear the rest of their performances.
And
that brings me again to the question of the choice of music
included and, even more, to the order in which it is presented.
This is not alphabetically as shown above or chronologically.
Instead, as the box explains, “CD1 features powerful and
rousing classics, while CD2 boasts some of the most serene
and beautiful music ever written”. This means that almost
the whole of CD2 with the exception of the Finzi comprises
slow and often quiet music. Fine if you just want the recordings
to play in the background but if you really want to listen
to the music on the disc as a whole as it deserves you are
in for a mixture of monotony and bathos. To follow the Rutter
with the Tavener merely draws attention to the somewhat saccharine
nature of the former, and to follow “The Holy Boy” with “God
so loved the world” does neither piece any favours. The inclusion
of odd movements of longer works is perhaps inevitable in
this kind of anthology but the Elgar Cello Concerto is much
too tightly organized for the Adagio to make even a fraction
of its proper impact out of context. This is especially so
when that context consists of “The Blue Bird” before and
Bax’s “Summer Music” after. Elgar is indeed poorly treated
as a whole. Rightly he is allowed more works than other composers
represented but most of these are mere excerpts from longer
pieces. Worst of all is the use of “Nimrod” and “E.D.U.” from
the Enigma Variations to start and finish the first disc.
Both are excellent performances under George Hurst, an underrated
conductor, but both lose most of their impact by being heard
in this way.
I
am very grateful to Naxos for the support they have given
to British music, making a wide selection available at bargain
prices. I had hoped that these discs would have been wholly
recommendable both as proof of the quality and variety of
this and as an anthology likely to attract those who may
previously have been doubtful. The most I can raise however
is two cheers – for the performers and composers – and one
very large boo for the way in which their music has been
put together and marketed.
John Sheppard
British
composers on Naxos page
Performance details
1. Queensland
Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Penny
2. Royal Scottish National
Orchestra/David Lloyd-Jones
3. New Zealand Symphony Orchestra/James
Judd
4. London Symphony Orchestra/Stuart
Bedford
5. Royal Scottish National
Orchestra/David Lloyd-Jones
6. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/George Hurst
7. Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge/Christopher Robinson
8.
Maria Kliegel
(cello)/Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra/Michael Halász
9. Capella Istropolitana/Adrian
Leaper
10. Robert Plane (clarinet)/Northern Sinfonia/Howard
Griffiths
11. Peter
Donohoe (piano)/Ulster Orchestra/Takuo Yuasa
12. Royal Scottish National
Orchestra/David Lloyd-Jones
13.
Maggini Quartet
14. Leeds Festival Chorus/English Northern Philharmonia/Paul
Daniel
15. Krysia Osostowicz (violin)/Ulster Orchestra/Takuo Yuasa
16. Choir of Clare
College, Cambridge/Timothy Brown
17. Choir of Clare
College, Cambridge/Timothy Brown
18. Christopher
Witton (organ)/Ch. of St John’s College, Cambridge/Christopher
Robinson
19. Oxford Camerata/Jeremy Summerly
20. Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge/Christopher Robinson
21.
Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra/Gavin Sutherland
22. David Greed (violin)/English Northern Philharmonia/David
Lloyd-Jones
23. English Northern Philharmonia/Paul
Daniel
24. English Northern Philharmonia/Paul
Daniel
NAXOS 8.570573-74 [68:43
+ 75:46]
