Ernest John MOERAN (1894-1950)
The complete piano music & works by his English and Irish contemporaries
see end of review for details
Duncan Honeybourne (piano)
rec. 27-28 December 2012, Turner Sims Concert Hall, University of Southampton
EM RECORDS EMR CD012-013 [76:19 + 78:40]
According to the comprehensive booklet notes that accompany this disc, Moeran
himself held his piano music in little regard. I must admit that I have also
found this wonderful composer’s piano output less striking and personal
than his superb chamber and orchestral works. This absorbing two CD set is
therefore especially valuable and it has two points strongly in its favour;
firstly the persuasive advocacy of Duncan Honeybourne - who clearly loves
this music); and secondly the placing of Moeran’s piano works within
the broader context of the English and Irish keyboard writing of the time.
The results are illuminating and have certainly led me to rethink my attitude
to this neglected music.
The principal rival in this repertoire is Eric Parkin, who recorded a splendidly
played Lyrita disc in the early seventies with a selection of Moeran works
(now
reissued with pieces by William Baines). He then created a new CD of Moeran
works in the mid nineties (on the J. Martin Stafford label: JMSCD2),
but the later release, although having the advantage of tucking all the piano
works onto a single disc, was marginally less successful in terms of performance.
Duncan Honeybourne’s speeds tend to be a touch slower than Eric Parkin’s.
This heightens the dreamy atmosphere of many of these pieces to great effect.
The performance of “Stalham River” is a notable success and Honeybourne
is also excellent in the poetic Delius-like musings of “Summer Valley”.
The latter is beautifully played and preferable to Parkin’s rather wooden
account on his later Stafford disc. The “Toccata” is less hectic
than the two Parkin renditions and Honeybourne manages to find the melancholy
lurking behind the notes. The “Three Fancies” are amongst the
best known of Moeran’s keyboard works and Honeybourne’s performance
does full justice to these attractive miniatures.
Moeran’s “Two Legends” are perhaps his most impressive piano
music. Parkin (Lyrita) has a slight edge here, as his performance is a touch
more dramatic, with climaxes more sharply etched. Parkin (again on Lyrita)
is also marginally preferable in the well-known “Bank Holiday”,
his direct approach generating plenty of excitement. Otherwise, Honeybourne
is in a class of his own, and his account of the “Theme and Variations”
(Moeran’s most substantial piano work) is unsurpassed on disc.
I would rate this new two CD set as the best complete recording of Moeran’s
piano output.
William Baines could be described as the John Keats of English piano music.
Short-lived, intensely poetic and precociously brilliant, he arguably achieved
more by the age of twenty-three than any other British composer. Perhaps his
only rival in this respect is another Yorkshireman, Kenneth Leighton. His
“Seven Preludes” are a masterly achievement and it is astonishing
that Baines completed them at the age of nineteen. They are given a gorgeous
performance here. Eric Parkin (Lyrita) is more dramatic in the Fourth Prelude
but Honeybourne has the advantage in the moving Third and Fifth Preludes.
Both performances are essential listening. I would really like to hear Duncan
Honeybourne play a complete Baines disc, as there is so much of this magnificent
composer’s music that lies buried - how about one or two of his Piano
Sonatas? While we are on the subject of Baines, when will we get to hear a
professionally played recording of his Symphony, which the distinguished critic
Peter J. Pirie rated so highly?
I loved the “Prelude, Minuet and Reel” by Thomas Pitfield. I had
heard of this composer but this is the first time I have had the fortune to
encounter his music. What a find! The performance of this delicious work is
beyond praise; a truly sparkling rendition. The Vaughan Williams pieces are
better known and are played beautifully here, particularly “The Lake
in the Mountains”. Herbert Howells’ late Sonatina is more abrasive
in idiom than the other pieces; Honeybourne gets to the heart of this elusive
piece in a very well-judged reading. Howells is also represented by his “The
“Chosen” Tune”, which is extremely moving as performed here.
The Ronald Swaffield pieces are charmingly old-fashioned; his “Intermezzo
alla Pastorale”, here receiving its debut on disc, is distinctly Brahmsian.
Another work receiving its premiere recording is the Aloys Fleischmann Suite
for Piano, which is notably distinctive and individual in style. Lyrical
ideas are successfully balanced with slightly harder-edged material to make
this a fine introduction to Fleischmann’s output.
This disc is very well recorded and, as usual with EM Records, has excellent
documentation. Lovers of British music and indeed lovers of piano music generally
will want to have this CD.
David Jennings
www.davidjenningscomposer.co.uk
Lovers of British music and indeed lovers of piano music generally will want
to have this CD.
Review Index: EJ Moeran
Track listing
Ernest John MOERAN (1894-1950)
Stalham River (1921) [6:26]
Theme and Variations (1920) [14:18]
Herbert HOWELLS (1892-1983)
Sonatina for Piano (1971) [13:33]
E.J. MOERAN
Two Folksong Arrangements (1926-1927) [7:42]
Aloys FLEISCHMANN (1910-1992)
Sreath do Phiano (Suite for Piano) (1933) [11:50]
Ronald SWAFFIELD (1889-1962)
Rapallo [4:05]
Sailing Along [2:06]
Intermezzo alla Pastorale [3:14]
E.J. MOERAN
Two Legends (1923) [11:22]
Herbert HOWELLS
The “Chosen” Tune (1920) [1:43]
E.J. MOERAN
Three Piano Pieces (1919) [13:28]
On a May Morning (1921) [3:55]
Thomas PITFIELD (1903-1999)
Prelude, Minuet and Reel (1931) [7:35]
E.J. MOERAN
Three Fancies (1922) [9:38]
William BAINES (1899-1922)
Seven Preludes (1919) [14:46]
Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
Hymn Tune Prelude on ‘Song 13’ (Gibbons) (1928) [3:00]
The Lake in the Mountains (1947) [3:55]
E.J. MOERAN
Toccata (1921) [5:49]
Summer Valley (1925) [7:05]
Bank Holiday (1925) [2:33]
Two Pieces (1933) [6:56]
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