WELSH CLASSICAL FAVOURITES: Grace
Williams, Walford Davies, Gareth Walters, Trevor Roberts, Alun Hoddinott,
Mervyn Burtch, William Mathias and Ian Parrott.
ROYAL BALLET SINFONIA/Andrew
Parry.
MARCO POLO 8.225048
Marco Polo's British Light Music series has brought many delights and this
latest example is by no means the least attractive. The Royal Ballet Sinfonia,
who do so much excellent work for British Light music, play with skill and
style and the recording is very good. The disc as a whole affords a stimulating
sampling of the wonderfully vigorous and distinctive Welsh tradition in
composition. Apart from Walford Davies Solemn Melody (1908), much the earliest
piece here, perhaps the best known item is Grace Williams' Fantasia on Welsh
Nursery Tunes, attractive melodies, none of them (as Philip Lane's booklet
note points out) well known outside Wales, and beautifully scored: a Welsh
counterpart of Quilter's Children's Overture. For the rest, we have no fewer
than three examples of the cheerful, bustling British concert overture: Gareth
Walters' Primavera, full of the joys of spring, Ian Parrott's Fanfare Overture,
largely based, as the title suggests, on the opening trumpet motif and ending
exuberantly on trumpets, and Mervyn Burtch's Aladdin, which conveys the
excitement and "over the top" character of pantomime. Trevor Roberts' Pastorale
memorably evokes the beauty of the Pembrokeshire countryside; of the three
suites on the CD, both William Mathias's Serenade, early but already
characteristic, and Gareth Walters' Gwent Suite, based on Welsh folk melodies,
were commissioned for Welsh youth orchestras. Alun Hoddinott, whose Welsh
Dances and Investiture Dances are celebrated examples of his lighter style,
is represented here by the deliciously scored Folksong Suite, new to me,
apparently deriving from a 1962 television series and charming in its simplicity.
A rewarding release which it gives me pleasure to recommend.
Reviewer
Philip Scowcroft
