Set in Silver
Chamber Ensemble of London/Peter Fisher (solo violin)
rec. Coombehurst Studio, Kingston University, London, 10-11 January
2005
EM RECORDS EMRCD032/3 [62:19 + 64:06]
One of the discs in this twofer has already been released, whilst the
other is new. It’s the first one, issued on Campion Cameo 20145 and called
‘English Music for Strings’ taped back at the beginning of 2006, that’s
making a somewhat unexpected reappearance. In the potentially inflating
acoustic of All Saints, Tooting in London violinist Peter Fisher directs the
Chamber Ensemble of London in an hour-plus programme of varied British
works. If we allow for the fact that John Dankworth was still alive when it
was released, four contemporary composers were represented, which is a good
haul.
They play Avison’s Concerto in A in a stylish way though I find the
acoustic a bit billowy. A theorbo is added to the string mix and the
soloistic moments in the Aria finale are well taken. Purcell’s Chacony in G
minor may be a warhorse but it’s taken here at a good lick. Clive Jenkins is
the first of the Moderns. His Pastoral and Allegro is a very
attractive piece, a kind of modern concerto grosso featuring a ‘galloping
ponies’ Allegro inspired by a herd of Dartmoor ponies. Those curious to
investigate Jenkins further should listen to his Five Pieces for Clarinet
and Piano on Cala – a delight from beginning to end. Walton’s Two Pieces
from Henry V make their accustomed effect. Paul Lewis’ Rosa
Mundi is rather beautiful and cast in the familiar tradition of
melancholic English string music.
The longest piece in the disc is Dankworth’s Mariposas, which is
a concertone or concertante piece in contemporary style. It seems to encode
the styles of four Jazz violinists – Stuff Smith, Joe Venuti, Stephane
Grappelli and Ray Nance – but it’s not really a character study and though
vivacious, not a jazz piece. The slow section at 5:10 is possibly inspired
by Nance’s romanticist credentials and here Fisher opens up his vibrato
prefacing a fast pizzicato-backed finale that feels fresh and oozes
self-confidence. Harold Darke’s Meditation on Brother James’ Air
translates well from organ to string ensemble in this arrangement. It sounds rather like VW’s Dives and Lazarus. Nigel
Brooks’s To My Love is a very sensitive Adagio for Strings
dedicated to his late wife. Bill Thorp has done the arranging honours for
Elgar’s Salut d’amour – the bass line is a bit over-emphatic – and
there’s a pleasant piece by Frank Bridge to close.
Just under a decade later the same forces have recorded a programme to
pair with the earlier one. This time the recording location is Coombehurst
Studio, Kingston University – a new venue to me. The acoustic is very
different. All Saints is inflationary. This one is much dryer and less
atmospheric. They go for a contemporary of Avison’s in the shape of John
Christopher Smith, whose overture to The Fairies again features a
theorbo. The concluding March is the most gripping part of this
four-movement overture. There’s another in the form of increasingly-popular
Richard Mudge whose Concerto No.5 is an example of the best in bold British
late-Baroque. There’s a premiere recording of contemporary composer Marsha
de Thornley Head’s Aria, a baroque study. John Ireland’s two pieces
are salon-sentiment sweet arrangements by Graham Parlett. The performances
are affectionate but a touch too cloying. Jenkins has arranged Delius’s
Légende from its more familiar violin-and-piano version. There’s a
witty Tros an Treys – premiere recording – by Andrew M. Wilson
suffused with West Country terpsichorean brio. Jenkins sends us on our way
with two contrasting pieces, a swing-meets-Tango Thames Reflections
and a slinky Tarte au Citron and again these are first-ever
recordings.
EMR tends to separate the Life from the Music in the booklet notes, so
biographies of all composers are to be found grouped together in one block
preceding some lines about the music. I’d rather have it done together,
composer by composer, as navigation between the two sections gets cumbersome
– but that’s an individual matter, I suppose. These are predominantly
lighter pieces, though they are adeptly programmed running from Baroque to
the (light) music of our time. Nothing is at all challenging, threatening or
cussed.
Jonathan Woolf
Contents
CD 1
Charles AVISON (1709-1770)
Concerto in A,
Op.9 No. 11 [7:17]
Henry PURCELL (1658-1695)
Chacony in G minor for
strings (realised, Britten 1947/48) [6:37]
Clive JENKINS (b.1938)
Pastorale and Allegro
[7:23]
William WALTON (1902-1983)
Two Pieces for Strings from
‘Henry V’ - Passacaglia: Death of Falstaff; Touch Her Soft Lips and
Part (1943/44) [5:24]
Paul LEWIS (b.1943)
Rosa Mundi (2002) [4:20]
John DANKWORTH (1927-2010)
Mariposas (1996)
[10:49]
Harold DARKE (1888-1976)
Meditation on Brother James’s Air [6:34]
Nigel BROOKS (b.1936)
To My Love (Adagio
for Strings) [5:18]
Edward ELGAR (1857-1934)
Salut d’Amour
(1888) [3:12]
Frank BRIDGE (1879-1941)
A Christmas Dance
(Sir Roger de Coverley) (1922) [4:21]
Chamber Ensemble of London/Peter Fisher (solo violin)
rec. All Saints Church, Tooting, 31 January, 1 February 2006
CD 2
John Christopher SMITH (1712-1795)
Overture to The Fairies (1754) [9:29]
Marsha de Thornley HEAD (b.1944)
Aria [8:33]
Richard MUDGE (1718-1763)
Concerto No.5 in B flat major (1749) [11:30]
John IRELAND (1879-1962)
Cavatina (1904) arr. Graham Parlett [5:56]
Bagatelle (1911) arr. Graham Parlett [2:52]
Frederick DELIUS (1862-1934)
Légende (1895) [9:28]
Andrew M WILSON (b.1960)
Tros an Treys, Op.153 (2012) [7:42]
Clive JENKINS (b.1938)
Thames Reflections [3:12]
Tarte au Citron [4:29]
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