Havergal BRIAN (1876-1972)
The Complete Songbook - Vol.1
Three Songs for Contralto or Baritone Op. 6 (Sorrow song [3.57] The message
[2.01] Farewell [5.29])
Little Sleeper Op. 13a [5.29]
John Dowland’s Fancy [2.48]
Three Contemporary Songs (A faery song Op. 13c [2.06] The soul of steel [4.30]
Since love is dead [2.34])
Legend for violin and piano [6.52]
Three Elizabethan songs (When icicles hang by the wall [2.11] Care-charmer
sleep [4/21] Take, O, take those lips away [1.05])
Three Unison Songs: he mountain and the squirrel [1.24] The lost doll [1.24]
What does little birdie say [1.25])
Three Illuminations (The boys and the pastille [1.46] The butterfly's waltz
[1.24] Venus and a bobby [2.57])
Soliloquy Upon a Dead Child Op.l3a [5.29]
Three Songs for tenor Op.l3b (Day and night [5.02] When I lie ill [3.08] If
I could speak [2.38])
Mark Stone (baritone): Jonathan Stone (violin): Sholto Kynoch (piano)
rec. 25-26 August 2011, Potton Hall, Suffolk. DDD
STONE RECORDS 5060192780154 [68:40]
Havergal Brian’s songs haven’t had the attention on disc that
they deserve. Concentration has largely focused, for obvious reasons, on his
significant symphonic canvass of works led by the you-know-what symphony.
Unlike The Gothic the songs are on a wholly reduced scale, nakedly
employing voice and piano. They reveal another Brian, sometimes not a very
predictable or even recognisable Brian.
This recital by Mark Stone and pianist Sholto Kynoch makes a good case for
this body of work to be taken seriously. They make a most effective team,
enjoying the melancholy moments as much as those clearly predicated on a fully
orchestral view of the keyboard writing. Since the pieces span a quarter of
a century of Brian’s compositional life we can trace his development
with a degree of clarity. There is the early tristesse of Sorrow song
or the eager intensity of The message with its fizzing textual scorn
and hints of Elgar.
In response to a previous, unsympathetic review of this disc, a contributor
to this site’s message board suggested that listeners acquaint themselves
with the old recording of some Brian songs made by Brian Rayner Cook and pianist
Roger Vignoles [Toccata TOCC0005]. I don’t have the CD transfer but
I do have the LP from which it derives, recorded for Auracle (AUC1003). As
suggested, I did listen. What I hear is a contrast of interpretations, as
one might have predicted, where the same songs are covered. To take these
early songs first: in Sorrow song Stone is neither as full toned nor
quite a passionate as Rayner Cook. But he is a touch more conversational.
In The message Rayner Cook and Vignoles take a somewhat more relaxed
tempo with more explicit rubato. Arguably, they find more scorn, though there’s
less headlong rush. Both catch the intensity and anguish of The soul of
steel very well and I wouldn’t care to adjudicate between them.
In Since love is dead Stone is quicker, more direct, whilst Rayner
Cook is more thoughtfully paced; once again both convince on their own terms.
So it goes. But I would say that I prefer Rayner Cook’s rhythmic zest
and uplift in When icicles hang by the wall: Stone strikes me as a
touch bluff here. There’s also a touch less rigidity and more affection
in the older pairing’s phrasing in Take, O, take those lips away.
Here I’d certainly prefer Rayner Cook and Vignoles.
Little Sleeper Op. 13a is a hypnotic little prayer, John Dowland’s
Fancy a solo piano piece full of Brianesque drollery. The Three Unison
Songs show us Brian’s lighter side - and he did have a lighter side
- whilst When I lie ill gives us a solid march tempo.
We also have the bonus of the Legend, for violin and piano played by
Jonathan Stone and Kynoch.
The booklet has been beautifully laid out and designed. Good to have full
texts on such attractive paper too and in such a well judged font though it
is a little undersized. Upping the point size would bring better clarity,
especially as the poetry is set in italics.
Finally, what should you do if you have the Toccata and are puzzled by this
new disc? Should you get it for the songs that are new to disc? If you are
sympathetic to Brian, then I’d say yes, most certainly. I happen to
prefer the Rayner Cook/Vignoles interpretations on the whole, for tonal, technical
and interpretative reasons, but I don’t always prefer them, and not
really by so very much. I think this exploratory first disc in the Brian series
is well worth a listen.
Jonathan Woolf
This exploratory first disc in the Brian series is well worth a listen.
see also review by Em
Marshall-Luck