The Danish label Danacord extends its commitment to Delius
by combing the historic market for choice examples of non-Beecham
recordings. The programme contains a good balance of material,
and one is glad to see a couple of Argo LPs in particular.
Constant Lambert recorded some Delius in the early 1940s. He
accompanied Moiseiwitsch in the Piano Concerto and his performance
of this and La Calinda, which opens this Danacord disc,
can be found on Testament SBT1014. Sidney Beer was always rather
sneered at for being a moneyed dilettante but his Irmelin
Prelude holds up pretty well, helped by the superstars of the
ad-hoc National Symphony Orchestra – just listen to the luxury-casting
winds and the strings who seem to have modelled their luscious
portamenti on MGM Studio orchestras from the sound of it; maybe
a smattering of café fiddlers helped too. Recorded in 1941,
this was issued on the last 78 side of Moura Lympany’s recording
of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto conducted by Royalton Kisch
– but not issued until May 1948 - so I suspect most will be
unfamiliar with it. I’d never come across it.
Another rarity is the 1955 Argo of the Caprice and Elegy played
by Anthony Pini, then Beecham’s cello principal in the RPO,
and his regular sonata partner Wilfrid Parry. The Beatrice Harrison
recording is still much better known, from a historic perspective,
and rightly so as it was written for her, but Pini was an outstanding
player and this is a very persuasive performance indeed. Another
outstanding player led Boyd Neel’s string orchestra – namely
Frederick Grinke. Danacord has disinterred the 1938 Decca of
the Air and Dance; they also recorded, three months earlier,
the Two Aquarelles, but the Danacord selection committee
has gone instead for Barbirolli’s 1948 recording instead – a
good compromise – and added A Song of Summer, a fine
performance from 1950, again with the Hallé. Henry Holst and
Gerald Moore recorded the Légende in 1942 for Walter
Legge. It’s also on Testament SBT1014. Holst was in the throes
of a large number of sessions as a member of the Philharmonia
Quartet at the time. It’s probable that Albert Sammons was still
contracted to Decca at the time, as he was the more obvious
choice to record it.
Vocal Argo comes from soprano Joan Stuart and Gordon Watson,
who recorded The Violet and Sweet Venevil in 1955.
The preceding year she had sung Irmelin excerpts with
Beecham, which clearly did her no harm. There’s a trio of stellar
vocal talents on 78; Heddle Nash’s ardent 1934 To the Queen
of My Heart is here (it’s been re-released on CD). He also
recorded Love’s Philosophy but cleverly Danacord has
gone instead for Isobel Baillie’s 1945 Columbia 78. Maggie Teyte’s
1937 Decca of Indian Love Song is here too and very valuably
so.
Evlyn Howard-Jones’s 1929 Columbia of the Three Preludes
for Piano has been reissued on Dutton CDAX8006, which also
had the Five Pieces, and the Dance for Harpsichord.
Orchestrally we find Anthony Collins’s On Hearing the First
Cuckoo in Spring – which is not included in the Belart collection
devoted to his Delius recordings with the LSO (461 7582). Eugène
Goossens’s The Walk to the Paradise Garden comes from
Cincinnati sessions in 1946, issued on a rather rough sounding
RCA Victor, but containing considerable communicative inspiration.
In fact there’s a great deal to interest and stimulate in this
selection. I also commend the biographical notes and in particular
the gap-filling approach to rarer material.
Jonathan Woolf
see also reviews by John
France and Rob
Barnett
Track-listing
La Calinda [3:29]
Hallé Orchestra/Constant Lambert
Recorded 30 July 1941: HMV C3273
Irmelin Prelude [5:03]
National Symphony Orchestra/Sidney Beer
8 June 1944: Decca K1834
Caprice & Elegy [6:43]
Anthony Pini, cello - Wilfrid Parry, piano
1955: Argo RG47
Air and Dance [4:33]
The Boyd Neel String Orchestra
20 October 1938: Decca X147
The Violet [2:32]
Joan Stuart, soprano - Gordon Watson, piano
1955: Argo RG46
Sweet Venevil [2:54]
Joan Stuart, soprano - Gordon Watson, piano
1955: Argo RG46
On hearing the first Cuckoo in Spring [6:18]
London Symphony Orchestra/Anthony Collins
23 & 25 February 1953: Decca LXT2788
Indian Love Song [3:12]
Maggie Teyte, soprano - Rita Mackay, piano
Decca LXT6126
To the Queen of my Heart [3:07]
Heddle Nash, tenor - Gerald Moore, piano
7 December 1934: Columbia SDX7
Love's philosophy [1:48]
Isobel Baillie, soprano - Gerald Moore, piano
31 May 1945: Columbia DB2178
Two Aquarelles (arr. Fenby) [3:49]
Hallé Orchestra/Sir John Barbirolli
1 April 1948: HMV C3864
Three Preludes for piano [3:34]
Evlyn Howard-Jones, piano
4 April 1929: Columbia 5444
The Walk to the Paradise Garden [9:23]
[A Village Romeo and Juliet (arr. Beecham)]
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/Eugène Goossens
14 February 1946: RCA Victor 11-9493
Légende for violin & piano [8:40]
Henry Holst, violin - Gerald Moore, piano
7 August 1942: Columbia DX1094
A Song of Summer [11:02]
Hallé Orchestra/Sir John Barbirolli
2 February 1950: HMV DB9609/70
Performers include Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Eugène Goossens, Constant
Lambert, Isobel Baillie and Heddle Nash.
