Frank BRIDGE (1879-1940)
Piano Quintet in D minor, H49a (1904-05 rev. 1912) [29:25]
Cyril SCOTT (1879-1970)
Piano Quintet No. 1 (1924) [37:37]
Raphael Terroni (piano)
Bingham String Quartet (Steve Bingham (violin), Mark Messenger (violin), Brenda
Stewart (viola), Miriam Lowbury (cello))
rec. 1989 St. Silas the Martyr Church, Chalk Farm, London, UK
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY BMS442CD [67:02]
This is a welcome reissue from the British Music Society. The recordings were
originally released on audio cassette in 1990. The Bingham was formed in 1985
at the Royal Academy of Music and established itself as one of the leading
string quartets in the UK. Founder and leader Steve Bingham and violist Brenda
Stuart who feature on these 1989 recordings still play in the quartet today.
Their pianist on this occasion Raphael Terroni who was renowned for his commitment
to British music sadly died in 2012 - a great loss.
I am always keen to listen to chamber music from such fascinating English
composers as Frank Bridge and Cyril Scott. They were born in the same year.
Bridge’s music was firmly conservative but Scott was open to European
developments. From the 1920s Bridge’s writing became more progressive;
described in some quarters as radical. By comparison Scott who had studied
at the Hoch Conservatory in Germany was more overtly pioneering as a composer.
He was described by Eugene Goossens as “the father of modern British
music.” There are a number of precedents for Bridge and Scott writing
their piano quintets. Both composers would certainly have known those by Schumann
and Brahms, and maybe the Saint-Saëns and the Franck. In addition Bridge’s
composition teacher at the Royal College of Music, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford
had written one to considerable acclaim in 1886 as had Samuel Coleridge-Taylor,
a fellow Royal College of Music student in 1893. It has also been put forward
that Joseph Holbrooke’s Piano Quintet ‘Diabolique’
Op.44 (1904) was a major source of inspiration behind both Bridge and Scott
writing their piano quintets.
Brighton-born composer and violist Frank Bridge is still best known these
days as Britten’s composition teacher rather than for his own compositions.
A distinguished chamber player, Bridge wrote an especially fine body of chamber
music and also works for solo piano, songs, orchestra, choir and some incidental
music. There were no symphonies, cantatas (excepting A Prayer), oratorios
or ballets but he did write an opera The
Christmas Rose. Bridge seems shamefully neglected yet his works are
heard from time to time. In recent years he has been served especially well
on record by Chandos and Naxos.
Lasting just under thirty minutes to perform here the Piano Quintet in
D minor was written in 1904/05 as a four movement score. Bridge revised
it extensively in 1912 compressing it into three. The opening movement surges
with the weight of aching passion. The emotion in the central movement is
so intense that it feels as if it might overwhelm although it is counterbalanced
by a central section of darting exuberance. Within the burning passion of
the Finale: Allegro energico the players convey an undercurrent
of deep anguish.
An alternative account of the Bridge Piano Quintet played by the Tippett
Quartet with pianist Ashley Wass was recorded in 2009 at London on Naxos 8.572474
(c/w Bax Piano Quintet). This cannot quite match the match sheer weight
of emotion that the Bingham/Terroni provide although their playing has greater
security of ensemble and improved string intonation. I found the sound quality
of the Bingham/Terroni account slightly more satisfying than the Tippett Quartet
which seemed exceedingly close and rather fierce in the forte passages.
Incidentally both accounts were recorded at St. Silas the Martyr Church, Chalk
Farm.
Cyril Scott has the Chandos
(no fewer than four discs of his orchestral music) and Dutton
Epoch labels in particular to thank for a number of fine recordings including
Dutton’s superb cycle of his piano works as championed by Leslie De’Ath
(CDLX 7150; 7155; 7166; 7224 and 7183) not to mention Dutton’s CDs of
his violin sonatas (CDLX 7200) and string quartets (CDLX 7138).
Desmond Scott, the composer’s son who runs the Cyril
Scott website, informs me that almost all of the major works have now
received recordings including some of the earlier works that Scott had rejected
as immature such as the Symphony No. 1 in G major from 1899. Future
releases on Dutton Epoch are the Piano Concerto (1900) played by pianist
Peter Donohoe, the Cello Concerto (1902) with Raphael Wallfisch as
soloist and the incidental music to Pelléas and Melisande played
by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Martin Yates. Still to receive recordings
are numerous songs and a number of choral works notably the substantial secular
oratorio Hymn of Unity (1947).
Completed in 1924 it seems that Scott’s Piano Quintet No. 1 might
have originated as early as 1904/05 from a piano sextet. Dedicated to pianist
Evlyn Howard-Jones this considerable score lasts here almost forty minutes.
In this account the opening movement’s forceful writing includes craggy
rhythmic lines and unremittingly shifting tempi. This is uncompromising music
concerned more with mood than melody. An intensely restless feel imbues the
short Scherzo-like second movement and the Adagio is intense
and highly unsettling. Episodes of calm in the Finale are short-lived.
Lyricism often threatens to break free from the concentrated, weighty and
moody writing.
The balance between piano and strings is notoriously difficult to perfect.
On this BMS recording the engineers achieve a most satisfying result although
the intonation of the Bingham string players feels slightly uncomfortable
at times. There is a most agreeable recording of Scott’s Piano Quintet
No. 1 played by the London Piano Quartet with violinist Marilyn Taylor
recorded in 2001 at London on Dutton
Epoch CDLX 7116 (c/w Piano Quartet, Op. 16). Although glowingly
played I didn’t feel that the London Piano Quartet/Taylor quite generated
the amount of passion that I wanted compared to the Bingham/Terroni account.
This British Music Society disc is a most welcome addition to the CD catalogue.
This is playing that is sincere, vital, passionate and highly responsive to
the demands of these scores.
Michael Cookson
This is playing that is sincere, vital, passionate and highly responsive to
the demands of these scores.
see also review by John France (March 2013 Recording of the Month)
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