Daniel JONES (1912-1993)
Symphony No.3 (1951) [28:29]
Symphony No.5 (1958) [39:33]
BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra/Bryden Thomson
rec. 1990, BBC studio recording
Reviewed as downloaded from press preview
LYRITA SRCD.390
[68:03]
I am going to make an assumption, at the outset of this review, that those
who already know and love Daniel Jones’ music (and who have been collecting
Lyrita’s series of releases of his music) need only hear that this latest
release is well up to standard with good BBC sound buffed up for release
and fine committed performances. For everybody else (which included myself
before preparing this review), it might be helpful to provide some kind of
introduction to this fascinating but neglected composer. So brace yourself
for a distinctly novice guide to the music of Daniel Jones!
I will begin with a highly subjective response. Initially, I struggled a
little to get a foothold in this densely complex music, where things seemed
to be going on that I could only dimly grasp. I could understand and
appreciate the technical and structural aspects of the music but not yet
why they mattered. A sentence from an article by Kenneth Loveland quoted by
Paul Conway in his helpful and comprehensive liner notes to this release
gave me a way in: “The Fifth symphony was written at Jones’s home on the
outskirts of Swansea high up on the Gower Peninsula in a room looking down
on Oystermouth Castle and out over Swansea Bay.”
I have never had the pleasure of visiting the Gower peninsula but
looking at photographs of it online, something clicked for me in terms of
the character of his music. I am not saying that Jones wrote nature music
but, in my subjective way, I began to hear something of the character of the
landscape in the music, particularly the fifth symphony recorded
here. Think of the indirect relationship between Sibelius’ symphonies and
the landscape of Finland and you might get some idea of what I have in
mind. I do not believe any music is wholly abstract and Jones, based on
public statements, clearly believed that the most important aspects of his
symphonies were the feelings they enshrined.
Continuing this subjective line, Jones’ music is not elemental in the way
Sibelius’ can be but it does have its own quiet grandeur. As I listened, I
imagined myself exploring the hidden coves of the Gower. This is music that
most definitely requires repeated and careful listening before it reveals
its particular pleasures. On the surface, these are sturdy, well-made
orchestral works of a mostly tonal nature. The reader is, however, encouraged
to go further.
I won’t rehearse here the facts of Daniel Jones’ life and career but refer
you to Hubert Culot’s excellent and thorough
profile
here on MusicWeb.
A good place to start would be the second movement of the Fifth symphony, a
scherzo in all but name. Jones’ orchestration is not flashy or particularly
innovative but it is done with considerable craft. There is a wry wit here
that belies the somewhat austere exterior of both works on this disc. This
sounds rather like a Midsummer Night’s Dream with the darkness left in. It
teems with inventive ways of developing the material. A more sombre trio
section adds light and, above all, shade to the return of the scherzo
material. Continuing my fantasy of the Gower peninsula, I wonder if those
are its birds I hear in the woodwind writing? If so, the dark heavy brass
would be its rocks and cliffs.
On the debit side, Jones does have a tendency to turn somewhat
kapellmeisterisch at times. Both finales tend a little to longwindedness as
the composer feels the need to work through every last ounce of the
material’s potential. Related to this, there is little concession to the
merely entertaining which can feel a little hairshirt at times. But these
are minor quibbles with so much to enjoy.
Of the two performances on this disc, the Fifth seems to better capture the
subtle strengths of this music. There are moments of ragged ensemble on
both but the interpretation of the Third seems somewhat tentative in
places, as though the performers were still feeling their way in to this
highly complex music.
The opening movement of the Third is a very fine piece of writing, full of
mystery, drama and ingenious detail and I felt that it was a little
under-dramatised here. The Fifth is a more direct score and as a result
Thomson and his band seem to have assimilated it better in what was,
presumably, a fairly tight rehearsal schedule. Aside from the enchanting
scherzo already mentioned, it has a noble, sadly elegiac slow movement. The
orchestra’s woodwinds are more than a match for the plangent, haunting
woodwind writing in both symphonies.
Thomson is a sensible and sensitive guide to this music, rather less
dramatic than in his excellent, underrated Vaughan Williams cycle on Chandos
(CHAN9087 -
review - and separately) but again
I suspect that is a consequence of lack of opportunities to perform this
music. The paradox here is that without adequate rehearsal time and
sufficient numbers of performances, performers are going to struggle to
really grab the listener, but unless they do grab the listener, adequate
rehearsal time and sufficient numbers of performances will not be
forthcoming. Recordings like this are a crucial way of breaking out of that
paradox and Lyrita and ultimately the BBC are to be thanked wholeheartedly
for taking a risk on this music. As for the listener, there is no risk –
this music is a real treat!
David McDade
Daniel Jones on Lyrita:
Symphonies Nos. 1 and 10 SRCD.358 Recording of the Month - review;
Symphonies Nos. 2 and 11 SRCD.364 -
review;
Symphonies Nos. 4, 7 and 8 SRCD.329 -
review;
Symphonies Nos. 6 and 9; The Country beyond the Stars SRCD.326 -
review -
review;
Dance Fantasy (with other Welsh dance music) SRCD.334 -
review -
review -
review
