One of many wonderful
recent re-releases from Lyrita, this
disc offers a splendid compilation of
works by Butterworth, Howells, Hadley
and Warlock.
The disc opens with
Butterworth’s Two English Idylls,
delightful pieces based on English folk-songs
- of which Butterworth, along with Ralph
Vaughan Williams and Cecil Sharp, was
a collector. The first Idyll cleverly
combines three Sussex folk-songs (Dabbling
in the Dew, Just as the tide
was flowing, and Henry Martin),
and the second just one (Phoebe and
her dark-eyed sailor). Boult creates
a beautifully rich string sound here,
yet with a light and delicate touch,
and evokes a combined sense of joy and
nostalgia. An intense and passionate
rendition of The Banks of Green Willow
follows, another work based on folk-song.
There is great drama in the contrast
that Boult produces between the melting
tenderness and the astringency of the
vehement interjections from the strings.
The Shropshire Lad Rhapsody is
given a radiant and poignant performance,
and precedes Peter Warlock’s An Old
Song. Composed in his early twenties,
and, according to the composer, based
on a Gaelic tune and on the Cornish
countryside, the piece shows a sustained
lyricism that one might not normally
associate with Warlock, yet unmistakably
Warlockian chords and chromaticism creep
in and give the game away. Patrick Hadley
ensues, with his One Morning in Spring.
This employs the folk-song known as
Tuesday Morning, from the opera
Hugh the Drover, by Hadley’s
teacher, Vaughan Williams, sung with
the words "As I was a-walking one
morning in the Spring". This work
was written to celebrate Vaughan Williams’s
70th birthday. Boult gives
a relaxed and luxuriant performance
of this brief but charming piece. A
change of mood comes with a rare outing
for Herbert Howells’s Procession.
In a spirited and atmospheric performance,
Boult captures a good sense of underlying
menace, which was inspired by a dream
of an ominous procession. A buoyant
version of Merry-Eye follows,
and then a tender performance of the
Elegy for viola, string quartet
and string orchestra, written in memory
of Howell’s friend and fellow composer
"Bunny" Warren, killed in
action in 1916. This is a typically
Howells-ian work, incredibly deeply-felt,
and with searingly radiant strings.
Herbert Downes captures the throbbing
intensity of the solo viola opening
wonderfully. Alas, this version of the
heart-breaking work is slightly marred
by fairly persistent creaking chairs
about two-thirds of the way through.
The final piece on the disc is Music
for a Prince, composed by Howells
to commemorate the birth of Prince Charles.
Corydon’s Dance is almost film-score-ish,
with lush orchestration, and the final
Scherzo in Arden slightly martial,
with occasionally strident woodwind
and background percussion. Both are
superbly played, although there are
more creaking chair sounds in the opening.
Lush and passionate
performances of the most wonderful English
miniature masterpieces!
Em Marshall
see also review
by Rob
Barnett, John
Quinn and Jonathan
Woolf
for details
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Adrian
Boult 
