Percy GRAINGER (1882-1961)
Jungle Book and other songs
see end of review for track listing
Polyphony and Polyphony Orchestra/Stephen Layton
rec. January 1996, St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, United
Kingdom
Originally issued on Hyperion CDA66863
HYPERION HELIOS CDH55433 [73:56]
This is one of those magnificent discs which as a full price product predated
MusicWeb International - or at least pre-dated 1998 when MWI began to review
classical CDs on a large-scale. With the passage of time and the commercial
reissue cycle becoming shorter we are now covering such lacunae as companies
re-issue and usually at bargain price. That’s the case with this admirable
disc. It takes its latest bow to mark the 50th anniversary of Grainger’s
death in February 1961. Details of other celebratory events can be found at
http://www.percygrainger.org/
My own Grainger journey began with Country Gardens and proceeded under
the tutelage of BBC Radio 3. This was via a circa 1971 broadcast by Ashley
Lawrence with the BBC Concert Orchestra tackling the wild Scotch Strathspey
and Reel and the feral eruption of dance and battle that is The Warriors.
In 1979 I heard a deeply impressive broadcast of Green Bushes by the
ECO and Steuart Bedford. In September 1982 I caught a further Bedford broadcast
of ten songs from The Jungle Book with Neil Jenkins (he of Lyrita Finzi
songs fame) with the English Sinfonia and the BBC Northern Singers. After
this a tape exchange with Mike Rostron gave me access to good FM quality cassettes
of most of the BBC’s 1960s Grainger broadcasts including some no-holds-barred
performances of the two piano works by Lisa Fuchsova and Paul Hamburger. This
was consolidated by Thames Publishing’s first edition of The Grainger
Companion edited by Lewis Foreman. The The New Grainger Companion
as edited by Penelope Thwaites is now out from Boydell & Brewer - and very good it is too.
I should briefly mention that Penelope Thwaites with John Lavender recorded
the Grainger two piano music across four Pearl CDs (SHE-CD 9611, 9623, 9631)
in the mid 1980s - all now deleted, more’s the pity. She can be heard
in three discs of the music for piano solo on Chandos CHAN 9895, 9919 and
10205.
The present Hyperion disc comprises 14 short pieces and all eleven episodes
that comprise the Jungle Book set. These works are for voice, either
solo or full choral, all with various configurations of instrumental support.
These ensembles are often richly specified. The sea shanty, Shallow Brown
is heard here in its full panoply for harmonium, four guitars, two mandolas,
two mandolins, two ukuleles, piccolo, three clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoon,
contrabassoon, two alto saxophones, horn, strings, piano, baritone and choir.
Grainger was famous for the variety of versions of each of his pieces - some
very simple - voice and piano and others more extravagant and with a peppering
of ‘unconventional’ instruments including guitar, harp and baritone
saxophone. The saxophones lend an abrasive grunt to the end of the Peora Hunt.
Grainger’s spiced and often deeply masculine settings encompass every
step between Delian ecstasy and thuddingly rhythmic emphasis. The latter can
be heard in The Hunting Song of the Seeonee Pack. Strange how his handling
of the voices for me keeps making connection with Bantock’s choral invention
in Omar Khayyam. His penchant for sentimentality can be heard in Goodbye
to Love which sounds rather as if he might have heard Mahler’s Adagietto.
Libby Crabtree’s clarion silver illuminates so many of these tracks
including The Only Son, The sprig of Thyme (with the then unheard
of James Gilchrist) and Died for Love. The latter’s simple string
accompaniment recalls Warlock’s pristine medieval settings. The harmonium’s
elderflower wheeze is also a hallmark of these settings and you can hear it
making its discreet obeisance in The Power of Love sung inwardly by
John Mark Ainsley. Melancholy and introspection is maintained by Ainsley in
Willow Willow with violin, strings and harp. David Wilson-Johnson takes
centre-stage for The Three Ravens with choir, a wind nonet and that
signature harmonium. The running of Shindand is another Kipling setting
this time for male voices a cappella. Grainger also made an arrangement of
this piece for five cellos. The affecting Love Song of Har Dyal is
for soprano (Libby Crabtree), strings, piano, harmonium, oboe and bassoon.
This Eastern mood scena is subtly yet vividly coloured - night, the desert,
the camels and the bazaar. The scoring for this version dates from 1958.
The generous notes are by Grainger expert Barry Peter Ould and include the
sung texts alongside the commentary for each text.
To sum up: generous timing, discoveries, Delian gauzy harmonies, tangy instrumentation,
sentimentality, aureate vocal light, succinct and touching settings. Match
this with the other Hyperion Grainger Polyphony disc (CDH55236), the Britten/Grainger
Decca brace now on Eloquence and a smattering of the Chandos Grainger Edition
and you have the makings of a strong Grainger collection.
Rob Barnett
Generous timing, discoveries, Delian gauzy harmonies, tangy instrumentation,
sentimentality, aureate vocal light, succinct and touching settings.
Tracklisting
Shallow Brown [6:04]
David Wilson-Johnson (baritone)
Jungle Book
1: The fall of the stone [2:11]
2: Morning song in the jungle [2:50]
3: Night-song in the jungle [0:48]
4: The Inuit [2:17]
5: The beaches of Lukannon [3:23]
6: Red Dog [1:11]
John Mark Ainsley (tenor)
7: The peora hunt [0:40]
8: Hunting-song of the Seeonee pack [1:19]
9: Tiger! Tiger! [1:19]
John Mark Ainsley (tenor)
10: The only son [4:40]
Libby Crabtree (soprano), John Mark Ainsley (tenor)
11: Mowgli's song against people [3:41]
David Wilson-Johnson (baritone), James Gilchrist (tenor)
Good-bye to love [3:54] arr. Alan Gibbs (b.1932)
John Mark Ainsley (tenor)
Died for love [1:24]
Libby Crabtree (soprano)
The power of love [4:53]
John Mark Ainsley (tenor)
The Rival Brothers [1:03]
Six dukes went afishin' [2:19]
The sprig of thyme [2:35] arr. Dana Perna (b.1958)
Libby Crabtree (soprano), James Gilchrist (tenor)
Willow, willow [3:57]
John Mark Ainsley (tenor)
Recessional [3:58]
Lord Maxwell's goodnight [2:48] arr. David Tall (b.1941)
John Mark Ainsley (tenor)
The Three Ravens [4:02]
David Wilson-Johnson (baritone)
The running of shindand [1:41]
Early one morning [2:51] arr. David Tall (b.1941)
David Wilson-Johnson (baritone), Libby Crabtree (soprano)
The love song of Har Dyal [2:14]
Lesley Jane Rogers (soprano)
My love's in Germanie [3:57]
Libby Crabtree (soprano)