RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Frederick DELIUS (1862-1934)
Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra (1915-16) [21:43]
Violin Concerto (1916) [25:28]
Cello Concerto (1915) [21:23]
Tasmin Little (violin), Paul Watkins (cello)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis
rec. 13-14 October 2010, All Saints Church, Tooting, London
CHANDOS CHSA5094 [68:59]
Those looking for grandiose concertos with mighty perorations and sizzling
soloist virtuosity should look elsewhere. This is for committed Delians happy
to indulge in another sort of less demonstrative beauty. This concerto music,
lyrical and sultry, invites you to step into Delius’s garden of delights
for an hour or so on an imaginary warm sultry afternoon; insects and butterflies
flitting amongst the flowers nodding in the breeze, birds fluttering and singing,
fountains and streams quietly animated - to doze and dream.
Delius’s Double Concerto was premiered on 21 February 1920 with May
and Beatrice Harrison (its dedicatees) and the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra
under the baton of Sir Henry Wood. Work had begun on the Concerto in 1915
when Delius was in England - the composer was temporarily exiled from his
home in Grez-sur-Loing because of the Great War hostilities. During the composition
of the Concerto, Delius had the support and advice of the Harrison sisters.
The classical repertory includes surprisingly few concertos for violin and
cello. The Brahms work - too infrequently performed - springs to mind and
indeed the very first bars of Delius’s lovely Concerto sound quite Brahmsian.
Immediately after, however we are in unmistakeable Delius territory. Tasmin
Little and Paul Watkins, so sympathetic to Delius’s idiom, blend beautifully
in this lovely Concerto of restrained flamboyance, beguiling lyricism and
a stateliness at once ageless and then distantly Elgarian. There is one heartfelt
idea that recalls something of the American spiritual and Delius’s early
Florida experiences.
Delius’s Violin Concerto, ‘For Albert Sammons’, followed
quickly on the heels of the Double Concerto. It was written in 1916 but its
premiere was also delayed by the War until 30 January 1919 with Adrian Boult
conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Like the Double Concerto it is
cast in one movement. Tasmin Little is a dedicated Delian and has undertaken
some interesting research into his life especially the composer’s early
days in Florida. She thus brings an especially committed and understanding
‘voice’ to the Violin Concerto. Her reading is heartfelt and how
exquisitely she phrases that lovely tender main theme.
Delius regarded his Cello Concerto as his personal favourite. It was Beatrice
Harrison who persuaded him to write it for her. It was to be the last work
he was able to complete in his own hand before that devastating illness overtook
him. Beatrice Harrison gave the British premiere in July 1923 and the Concerto
was also heard in Vienna and New York in the early 1920s. Delius’s writing
for the cello soloist was thought to be too ’difficult’ so much
so that Herbert Withers, a renowned cellist of that time effected a few modifications
to make it ‘more playable’. For this recording Paul Watkins sought,
for the most part, to return to Delius’s writing. Watkins, writing in
the album’s booklet notes says, “... the composer suggests very
few phrase marks or bowings ....’Play it as you feel it, and I shall
be content,’ was the composer’s advice to an early interpreter
of the Cello Concerto. I have tried to honour the spirit of these encouraging
words.’ This Concerto is very much in the spirit of the other two concertos
on this CD and it is distinguished with yet another beguiling broad melody.
It ends as Beatrice Harrison suggested in “... the after-glow of the
sun sinking ... the stars emerging and fainting away as the moon rises.”
Sir Andrew Davis draws captivatingly poetic support from the BBC Symphony
Orchestra.
Spellbinding performances of three concertos of languid beauty
Ian Lace
Spellbinding performances of three concertos of languid beauty