This
recording could claim to be one of the
most important discs issued by the British
Music Society, released to celebrate
the 50th anniversary of Malcolm
Binns’ London debut at the Wigmore in
1958. There is therefore a personal
element in the choice. In preparation
for what is essentially an authoritative
reading of these major works from the
inter-war years in a medium that most
of the major figures in English music
(Vaughan Williams, Holst, Delius, Elgar,
Walton and others) have neglected, Binns
has carefully studied the composers’
emendations to the original manuscripts
(in particular the Bax 2nd
and 3rd, and the Ireland).
The result is a refreshing re-appraisal
of works which have been variously recorded
- though seldom performed live - over
the years.
I would
suggest that, listening to these works
in perspective as it were, there is
another fascinating aspect to these
recordings. I have long believed that
John Ireland (though he wrote no Symphony
or oratorio) is a composer of far greater
stature than has been accorded him in
the past: that Frank Bridge was never
the anarchic modernist ‘uglifying’ his
music to bring it up to date (as one
misguided critic is said to have remarked!)
- on the contrary, despite the agonised
chromaticism evoked by the circumstances
of the dedication, this work is essentially
lyrical, with many points of contact
with the John Ireland; and that the
‘brazen romanticism’ of Arnold Bax (who
was essentially a symphonist) belongs
to the end of the 19th century
(as Joan Chissell once remarked).
Binns’
studies in the manuscripts yield some
fascinating ‘chips’ from the composers’
workshops – sidelights rather than floodlights
– and are carefully annotated in the
accompanying booklet (but no dusty ‘Urtext’
here!). Two particular instances are
highlighted and are incorporated in
the recording ( CD1) as Appendices 1
and 2 on separate tracks. These, especially
the first will provide subject for discussion?
The
other most immediately obvious is the
restoration of the melisma figuration
in the slow movement (bars 36-50) of
the Bax 3rd, over the big
Irish tune - and a 2 bar intrusion (bars
49-50 in the Bax 2nd Sonata of a curious
fragment marked ‘dizzily’! (bars 47-50).
The
idea of perspective, while it has thus
considerable significance in hearing
these works together, has specific relevance
to the John Ireland Sonata – where the
melodic perspective seems to chart its
path over the hushed stillness of the
silent bars of the slow movement with
all the majesty of a colossal sunset
over Chanctonbury. Significantly "Earth’s
Call" dates from around the same
period as the Sonata – and it is this
aspect of Ireland’s music that, with
The Forgotten Rite, Mai Dun
and Legend that throws its
roots backward into prehistory - "Let
us both listen, till we understand"
(Monro) and therein lies mystery.
The
Bax Sonatas cover some 20 years of his
life – touching 1910, 1917, 1919, 1926
and finally 1932 - but it is significant
that it is out of the Piano Sonata medium
that the first of Bax’s symphonies emerged.
There
is a bonus – a superfluity of good things
here! The liner-notes conclude with
an interview with the pianist in which
Lewis Foreman elicits from Binns an
illuminating commentary reinforcing
that refreshingly personal approach
to the music. This should not be missed.
The
recording is bright and spacious and
is highly recommended.
Colin
Scott-Sutherland
for details
Malcolm Binns (piano) 
