Metronome has been around since 1992. Its furrow has been shaped
and directed under the imaginative hand of Tim Smithies. Their
stable of recordings includes contemporary classical, early music
and a measure drawn from the standard classical repertoire. The
most attractive portion of their work lies in the championing
of living composers. This includes music by William Mathias, Piers
Hellawell, Adrian Williams, Harrison Birtwistle, Salvatore Sciarrino
and, as here, Richard Rodney Bennett. Quietly and confidently
they have been recording Bennett’s music for piano and this is
the third volume although the fourth disc.
The Piano Concerto,
of which this is the second recording, was a 1968 Feeney commission
from the CBSO. It was premiered in September that year by the
unsung but superb Hugo Rignold whose reputation rests securely
on his Lyrita CBSO recording of the Bliss Music for Strings
and Blow Meditations. Stephen Bishop (now Kovacevich)
was the soloist threading his way through the lapidary tendrils
of this work. The Concerto is a work emblematic of Bennett in
its luxuriant delicate-dissonant profusion and of the metropolitan
1960s compositional style. The original recording of the Bennett
is on Lyrita (see review)
but it is not suited to a disc-by-disc comparison as the couplings
are quite different and in the case of the Lyrita less generous
in timing. The Lyrita is bound to retain a special historic authority
and is extremely well recorded; as is this Metronome version.
Dream Dancing
dates from 1986. It is a work from his New York years
and is scored for an orchestra of thirteen players. The London
Sinfonietta commissioned it for RRB's fiftieth birthday. It
is in two movements which resonate with the glint of the harpsichord
amid an essentially Ravel-like impressionistic web.
The Walton Reflections
are from 1985 and again from New York. The Reflections
are dedicated to Walton's memory and use the 12 tone theme
from the finale of Walton's much deprecated Second Symphony.
It is for 11 strings and piano and was commissioned by the
Guildhall Ensemble. It is dedicated to Walton's memory. He
had died in 1983. It is dignified and at times redolent of
Rawsthorne.
The little Party
Piece is a lighter effusion for piano and orchestra.
It's in his most approachable idiom. There are dashes of Copland
in more demonstrative mode as well as an infusion of bluesy
Gershwin at others. It was commissioned and premiered by that
ferment of musical activity the Farnham Festival to which
orchestras - often youth ensembles - gravitated in and around
Surrey. It's a fun piece which now we can all enjoy.
This seventieth birthday
offering for Bennett includes his completed published music
for piano and orchestra and is a sequel to two other Metronome
volumes. There's MET CD 1068/69 a 2CD set of volumes 1 and
2 of the solo piano music (Martin Jones) and MET CD 1070:
piano duos and duets (Martin Jones and Richard McMahon). Regrettably
neither has been submitted for review as far as I can see
although we really should be covering them.
I see that in addition
to the quietly effective Holst Foundation this disc has had
funding from the Foundation for Sport and the Arts. A single
swallow but this gives me a grain of renewed faith in QUANGOs
and government support for the arts in England. Well done!
More please.
Rob Barnett
Richard Rodney Bennett - Complete Works for Solo Piano on Metronome
CD 1: Noctuary; Impromptu (Haydn);
Tango; 3 Romantic Pieces; Impromptu; Excursions; Memento (Dutilleux);
Eustace & Hilda
CD 2: Sonata; Fantasie; Studies;
Scena 1; Diversions; Week of Birthdays; Seven Days of the Week;
Taking a Line for a Walk; Partridge Pie
Special Price 2 CDs for the price
of 1 MET CD 1068/1069
