Benjamin DALE (1885-1943)
The Romantic Viola
Suite for viola and piano in D major, Op. 2 (1905) [33:11]
Introduction and Andante for six violas, Op. 5 (1911) [10:38]
Phantasy for viola and piano, Op. 4 (1910) [20:05]
Yuko Inoue (viola); Stephen Coombs (piano); RAM Viola Sextet (Yuko
Yuko Inoue (viola); Stephen Coombs (piano); RAM Viola Sextet (Yuko Inoue;
Clifton Harrison; Richard Waters; Wenhong Luo; Tighan Liu; Anna Lusty)
rec. Duke’s Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London, UK, 6, 20, 23 July
2012. DDD
NAXOS 8.573167 [63:54]
I remember a party, over ten years ago, at which I met an elderly lady who
had been a pupil of Benjamin Dale. She spoke very warmly of him as a person
and of his music. She was a pianist and was especially excited about the Piano
Sonata now recognised as a masterpiece. A couple of recordings are available
but I especially like the version by Danny Driver on Hyperion
CDA67827. To my knowledge there are only two other recordings of Dale’s
viola music: Dutton
CDLX7204 and Etcetera KTC1105.
The CD opens with the longest work. I found myself wondering why the composer
had called it a Suite, and not a Sonata. I came up with no real reason
but ‘Sonatina’ would certainly not have been suitable. A Suite
tends towards shorter and possibly lighter music, even accompanied by a set
of titles or descriptions and perhaps with ideas taken from an opera. Anyway
it rarely tends towards the abstract although something personal and emotional
may lie behind the notes. The Dale Suite is in three movements and
is a substantial construction, rare if not unique in the viola repertoire
of the time. Lionel Tertis was the recipient of the Suite - part of his quest
to put “the viola on the map”. Interestingly Dale calls his big
opening movement a Prelude. It is in the form of a Fantasy with a constantly
developing set of strong melodies. The middle section of the second movement,
Romance, and the dance-like first subject of the Finale have a distinctly
Celtic, one may even say Baxian feel. There’s also a touch of modality.
The other ideas are definitely set in a Romantic world and we are speaking
Rachmaninov here. The finale’s second subject is awash with effulgent
harmonies and a wide-ranging viola line. It’s odd to think that when
first performed this extrovert Finale which brings this virtuoso work to a
happy and exuberant conclusion, was not played. The work then ended with the
soft airs of the Romance and I can quite see how that might work. However
this last movement suffers from no ‘finale problem’ and comes
off brilliantly.
Dale was held captive in Germany during World War One but on his return composed
very little. Why was that? Perhaps like, Ivor Gurney, he was psychologically
scarred. However, it might have been because he realised that the musical
world, with which he may have had little contact during that time, had changed
almost overnight and his style was no longer congenial to the new epoch. That
said, it should not be forgotten that there is also the large-scale, gorgeously
nostalgic Violin Sonata of 1926.
ThePhantasy form which had been resurrected due to the Cobbett Prize
in the early years of the century had produced some outstanding works, not
least the ones by Frank Bridge. Twelve minutes was the suggested length. Dale,
who liked to think on a bigger scale, wrote his single movement work in 1910
and it lasts twenty minutes. A young music student of mine commented after
hearing Dale’s Phantasy that “It’s the viola masterwork
Elgar never composed”. It’s true that some passages have the ‘nobilmente’
feel and the drive of Elgar, but the slow introduction on the piano and the
wonderful opening folk-like melody which is quite modal and which returns
towards the end after the faster music, is more in tune with Vaughan Williams
with a Gallic accent. Yuko Inoue who plays with such beauty and commitment
also comments in her excellent booklet essay on how Lionel Tertis, who with
Dale’s great friend York Bowen premiered the work, may well have made
some adjustments to the viola writing. It’s not quite clear how many,
if any, have been retained for this recording.
In between these two vast works lies one of the great joys of this disc: the
Introduction and Andante for Six Violas. Not only is the music superb
and captivating throughout its glorious ten minutes but also it has been recorded
by six wonderful, young viola players from the Royal Academy (pictured within).
They are perfectly in tune with this music although they can hardly have known
it for long. Dale introduces, right from the start, some dramatic effects
such as a powerful tremolando, the use of ponticello and harmonics and bowing
alongside pizzicato. He even asks the sixth viola to tune down the bottom
string a perfect fourth to accommodate the ending low A flat. This work is
magnanimous and romantic in mood but also quite English. It’s a good
advert for Dale, for the viola and for such promising and youthful players.
No wonder Dale’s teacher Frederick Corder pronounced the work a masterpiece.
All of the performances are quite superb and in my view it would be difficult
to find them bettered. It seems that this CD emerged out of a Viola Festival
that Yuko Inoue directed in 2011. It offered young players a chance to show
their abilities and included much forgotten, brand new or little known repertoire.
This took place at the RAM and is certainly should be a regular event.
Gary Higginson
And a further review ...
Here are two substantial works for viola and piano juxtaposed with a ten minute
piece for six violas. Lionel Tertis inspired these works. They're all from
the first decade of the last century and are the fruit of the free-ranging
late-romantic tendency seemingly fostered or focused by the Royal Academy
of Music.
Benjamin Dale's flame guttered early after burning high on the sort of oxygen
that sustained the likes of Paul Corder, Arnold Bax and York Bowen. Their
music - each sui generis - favoured Liszt, Tchaikovsky and the Russian
nationalists. They embraced wild, woolly, moody, instinctive and rhapsodic
where the scions of Parry and Stanford at the RCM drank deep Brahmsian draughts.
The Suite is a meaty three movement work from Dale's very short list of works.
The moody Fantasy-Prelude recalls the dark and psychologically spidery
rhapsodising of the Bax Viola Sonata. The Romance is more liberated
and passionate and flies high and wide, at times suggestive of Korngold. It
too feels a pull towards slowly shifting shadows but often spins most tender
romance. This can be heard at 08:01 in II which has a lovingly spun melody
of which Yuko Inoue is a sensitive and eloquent advocate. She finds this again
in the Finale. Where other composers might have termed this work a Sonata
Dale opted for the more romantically accommodating Suite - a typically unbuttoned
RAM choice. Not that Dale did not write sonatas. After all the most famous
or least obscure of his works is his epic piano sonata dedicated to York Bowen.
The Introduction and Andante for six violas is another serious work
spun from the same cloth as the Bax Rhapsody for viola and orchestra.
It makes for an agreeable melos - just in case you were wondering. It sounds,
from the title and specification, to be an academic one-off. So it might have
been but let me just emphasise that that this is a most fascinating piece
of romantic-impressionist writing. The prospects of hearing it in concert
may be rare but this recording gives you a chance to revel in its exultant
almost Viennese density of melody and its touching power to communicate.
Finally comes the Cobbett work, the Phantasy for viola and piano. It’s
in one single twenty minute span. It was premiered by Dale and Bowen and began
life with an even more Baxian title: ‘Ballade’. The work begins
in supernatural and dank mode but shifts in atmosphere as good Phantasies
should. It moves from sinister to serenading to imaginative flights which
lean into Kreislerian succulence.
Liner-notes, recording and performances serve these romantic early twentieth
century works very well indeed.
Rob Barnett
Benjamin Dale - a reassessment by Christopher Foreman
Support us financially by purchasing this disc from |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |