The Frank Bridge Piano Quintet H49a is a masterpiece of European chamber
music. However, based on the work’s general lack of acceptance amongst
chamber music enthusiasts, it could be argued that my view has not yet
caught on. I guess that for every one listener who gets to grips with
this work, a hundred will tune into the examples by Brahms and Schumann.
Yet whatever the relevant performance statistics, this is a fine work
that is well-constructed, romantic and moving. It deserves all success.
The liner-notes examine the incarnation of this piece (and the Scott)
in considerable detail, however it is essential to realise the present
work H49a is in fact a major revision of an earlier work dating back
to 1904. This was not a minor tinker of a “muscular, four-movement work,
with a huge piano part, brim full of musical ideas” but a complete restructuring.
For example, the original’s second and third movements were recast into
the long middle movement of the present work. Frank Bridge introduced
a cyclic element by revisiting a number of themes from the first movement
into the ‘allegro energico’ which concludes the piece.
One ‘peg’ to help put this work into context is the fact that there
was a personal significance for the composer. He was dealing with the
temporary absence of his wife-to-be Ethel Sinclair who was then staying
in Australia. So there is found a sense of longing that balances the
general romantic optimism of the music.
This Piano Quintet is successful at a number of levels – its complexity,
the post-romantic soundscape and the sheer technical complexity of the
entire score. I wrote in my review of the Hyperion version of this Piano
Quintet that it was “fresh, enjoyable, moving and deserving of greater
popularity. It is rapidly becoming a favourite of mine from the considerable
catalogue of Frank Bridge’s chamber music”. I have still not changed
this view.
I do not wish to get into a discussion about the genesis of the Cyril
Scott Piano Quintet. The liner-notes advise that it is even more complex
than the Frank Bridge work! Apparently the ‘received wisdom’ is ‘far
from consistent’ with varying shades of opinion emanating from the pens
of Scott’s original biographer, Eaglefield Hull, the performer, composer
and musicologist David Wordsworth and the musicologist Lewis Foreman.
Ian Parratt, who knew Scott personally, has also had his view about
the gestation of this work.
The best bet would appear to be that the Quintet began life as a piano
or string sextet which had been composed around 1904-5. The date of
its first performance is also shrouded in mystery.
Henry Haddow, one of the adjudicators of the Carnegie UK Trust’s Publication
Scheme which subsequently published the piece, suggested that the Quintet
‘is a queer work’. Vaughan Williams, also on the committee, wrote that
this work was ‘very long and rhapsodic and has no particular tune.’
However he followed this negative suggestion by noting that ‘it still
has power and passion and ought to rank high.’ Yet the final opinion
of the committee was that the quintet was ‘strong, vigorous, rugged,
and written with obvious mastery of its resources and its medium.’ This
judgement concluded by suggesting that it was ‘a notable addition to
our repertory of chamber music.’
Many years later, T
he Times reviewer of the 2001 Dutton Epoch
recording of this quintet suggested that ‘unless the listener is allergic
to rhapsodic burblings and music couched in the grand manner without
quite the substance to back it up’ this work would cause no pain. It
is a view that I disagree with. I guess it all comes down to the aesthetic
judgement as to whether the listener equates rambling with rhapsodic.
However, the final word goes to Edwin Evans writing in Musical America
in 1920 – he suggested that [Scott] is more concerned with the adornment
of the building than with such things as supports and girders. And,
be it said at once, his sense of ornament is exceptionally acute and
inventive.’
My own take on this is that Scott’s Quintet is an earnest work that
deserves attention. The sheer variety of instrumental texture and rhythmic
activity far outweighs any formal deficiencies.
This CD, which was recorded back in 1989, acts as a fitting memorial
to Raphael (Ray) Terroni who died at the relatively young age of 67
in August 2012. Terroni was a genuine all-round musician. He was a teacher
– both private and at the London College of Music, an examiner, a festival
director, an administrator and as the liner notes suggest, a ‘crusader
for a vast range of music, both known for which he never lost his acquisitive
enthusiasm and (particularly) unknown repertoire which he explored discerningly
and promoted tirelessly.’ Terroni has made a number of innovative recordings
including music by Lennox Berkeley, Eugene Goossens, Cyril Scott, Kenneth
Leighton, Josef Holbrooke, Arnold Cooke, Arthur Butterworth and Eric
Coates. At least eight CDs of his performances are currently listed
in the Arkiv catalogue. He makes an impressive and technically demanding
contribution to this present CD.
The Bingham String Quartet plays with imagination and sympathy on both
these works. This group is still going strong after 22 years. However
the second violinist and the cellist have changed since this recording
was made.
I have no complaints about the excellent liner-notes written by Giles
Easterbrook. It is a detailed study of the context, the genesis and
the revisions of both works with a strong musical analysis to lead the
listener through both these massive, complex works. He has also set
the scene, as it were, by giving a thumbnail sketch of the genre – beginning
with Schumann’s ‘pioneering masterpiece’ and developing the trajectory
by way of Brahms, Franck, Fauré and Bartók. One of my own particular
favourites that he mentions in passing is the great Quintet in D minor
by Stanford dating from 1886.
As part of my review of this present CD I listened to extracts from
the competition. The Bridge is represented by Ashley Wass and the Tippett
String Quartet on Naxos, Daniel Tong (Bridge) and Philip Fowke (Scott)
and the London Bridge Ensemble on Dutton, Piers Lane and the Goldner
String Quartet on Hyperion and finally Michael Dussek with the Bridge
Quartet on Somm. Each of these recordings has impressed me over the
years. All of them approach both works with technical prowess and an
innate sympathy and understanding which reflects the very different
sound-worlds of these two fine works. I am not going to plump for a
favourite, save to say that all of them, to my ear at any rate,
are worthy interpretations of these works. The present Terroni/Bingham
Quartet is an important addition to the catalogue.
John France
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