The enterprising Hyperion
label are to be congratulated for providing
us with the opportunity to hear the
first recordings of three of Stanford's
chamber works. This is music that once
heard makes one demand to know why these
works have not been recorded before;
such is the quality of the scores and
standard of performance.
There was clearly a
mutual attraction between the Dublin-born
Stanford and England; the composer adopted
England as his home and he was to spend
the vast majority of his life there.
Going by the number of prestigious academic
honours he received and the knighthood,
the English music establishment was
clearly delighted to accommodate him.
Stanford together with
Parry were major influences in British
music for almost half a century as composers,
conductors, teachers and academics.
Although the prolific Stanford composed
in many genres he is often described
as the ‘father of English Choral Music’
being principally remembered today for
his contribution to sacred choral music.
Stanford is frequently at his very best
in his liturgical works. His settings
of the canticles, hymns, anthems, services
and organ works, are amongst the finest
of their type and are still frequently
performed in Anglican Cathedrals around
the world.
Following the Great
War there was an adverse reaction to
music from composers associated with
the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The
established names now had to compete
with the growing enthusiasm for progressive
composers such as Schoenberg, Berg,
Stravinsky et al. Music had rapidly
moved forward and the English late-romantics
of Stanford’s generation had become
marginalised. His tonal and conservative
music with a well-designed lyricism
soon became unfashionable, so too that
of his contemporaries Parry, Elgar,
Mackenzie, Sullivan, German and Bantock.
Stanford quickly became a victim of
the ‘new fashion’ as he was still composing
music in the manner of an earlier era.
Consequently his music, with the exception
of his liturgical works, moved into
virtual obscurity. After a century we
should now be able to reassess the music
for its innate quality rather than for
the dynamic of the era in which it was
written.
A large proportion
of Stanford’s vast output remains unpublished
with a substantial body of his works
never appearing in concert programmes
and many works having yet to receive
their first recording. Thanks to enterprising
record companies such as Chandos, Naxos
and Hyperion this deficiency is slowly
but surely being remedied. Chandos were
real innovators with their ground-breaking
series under Vernon Handley of the Six
Symphonies CHAN 9279 and
the Six Irish Rhapsodies CHAN
10116X. Naxos have continued this
movement with a recent release of the
premiere recording of the Requiem
on 8.555201-02
(previously on Marco Polo). Hyperion
have joined in with several recordings
including the present disc of chamber
works receiving their premiere recordings.
Overshadowed by the
distinction of his sacred choral works
Stanford is rarely associated with chamber
music although he composed an impressive
total of eight string quartets between
the years of 1891 to 1919. Stanford
seemed to take the responsibility of
writing for the genre very seriously
as he was almost forty before commencing
work on his First String Quartet,
although he had by this time composed
half a dozen chamber pieces for a variety
of instrumental combinations.
It is thought that
the major stimulus for Stanford to compose
his first five string quartets was the
influence of the legendary Hungarian
virtuoso violinist and composer Joseph
Joachim (1831-1907). Joachim had been
a personal mentor to the young Stanford
as had been Mendelssohn to the young
Joachim. Stanford undoubtedly gained
considerable inspiration from the playing
of the distinguished Joachim Quartet
who performed throughout Europe in the
late eighteen-hundreds. In their publicity
notes Hyperion state that, "Both quartets
are serious, big-boned works that show
Stanford’s mastery of the idiom and
ability as a contrapuntist, although
they generally display textures that
are lighter and more transparent than
the thicker palette of Brahms (with
whom Stanford is sometimes compared)".
Throughout these two String Quartets
I cannot escape hearing the considerable
influence of Mendelssohnian charm, optimism,
variety and rich lyricism combined with
Schubertian poetry, emotional expressiveness
and intensity.
String Quartet No
1 in G major, Op. 44
Stanford composed his
First String Quartet in 1891, whilst
on holiday in the popular seaside resort
of Llandudno. The first performance
was given by the CUMS Quartet in Newcastle
in January 1892. The fluent and often
enchanting score was written swiftly
which when hearing the quality of the
music is a testament to Stanford’s impressive
technical and imaginative facility.
The first movement
contains an impressive variety of materials
and textures. Stanford seems in rather
a hurry in this predominantly agitated
and moody Allegro assai. The
Scherzo is complex, stormy and
vigorous, containing only brief episodes
of relative calm. The third movement
Largo is delicate and passionate
at times, yet maintains considerable
restraint; as if chaperoned. Swift,
jaunty, excitable and melodic the spirited
Allegro molto brings the work
to a songful close. In this final movement
there is a recurring eight note theme
(first heard on track 4 between points
0:43 to 0:55) that is virtually identical
to the main theme from the third movement
Scherzo of Schubert’s famous
String Quintet in C major, D.956.
Stanford in his relative
youth became familiar with the chamber
music of the great masters from attending
recitals in Dublin. Furthermore as an
undergraduate at Cambridge, Stanford
was a leading-light in the chamber music
activities of the Cambridge University
Musical Society (CUMS) where the major
works of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann
and Brahms were frequently performed
at their weekly recitals. Stanford certainly
would have known the mainstream chamber
music repertoire intimately and it is
inconceivable that he would not have
been consciously utilising the main
theme from Schubert's String Quintet
in C major; perhaps in homage to the
great Austrian composer.
String Quartet No
2 in A minor, Op. 45 (1891)
It is thought that
the Second String Quartet contains material
planned for but not used in the contemporaneous
First String Quartet. Much of the score
was again composed in fashionable Llandudno
as it seems that Stanford was writing
a proportion of both works almost simultaneously.
Stanford completed the score at Gilling
Rectory in Yorkshire, while staying
with his amateur musician friend Percy
Hudson. The score’s premiere was again
given by the CUMS Quartet, on this occasion
in London at the Prince’s Hall, Piccadilly.
A work of vivid contrasts,
alive with emotion from beginning to
end, this quartet deserves to be a valued
part of the standard chamber music repertoire.
It opens with an uncertain and bemused
mood that fluctuates from strained and
emotional to placid and serious. The
electrifying heights of the Scherzo
movement, marked Prestissimo,
are energised by its effective syncopations.
Notable is the beauty, sobriety and
solemnity of the Andante expressivo
together with brief episodes of
agitation and unrest. The Allegro
molto concluding movement is a light-hearted
romp that ends with an air of placidity
and confidence.
Fantasy for Horn
Quintet in A minor (1922)
Little is known about
the history of the Horn Fantasy,
a late work that Stanford completed
in June 1922. I have been informed by
Jeremy Dibble that the score is complete
along with a less legible set of parts
that he edited before the recording
session. It remains a mystery whether
it was composed especially for particular
performers; whether it was a commission
or a competition entry or whether the
score has ever been performed in public,
private or performed at all. Dibble
in his excellent notes speculates that
the Fantasy might have been written
by Stanford for his students at the
Royal College of Music.
Stanford often composed
with a particular virtuoso performer
or ensemble in mind. In view of the
unusual instrumental combination it
would be of no surprise if the Horn
Fantasy had been composed specifically
for Aubrey Brain (1893-1955) who was
the foremost horn player of the day
and would go on to make his Proms debut
in 1923. Aubrey Brain was the dedicatee
of several works composed for the French
horn; for example the excellent Horn
Quintet, Op. 85 by York Bowen available
on Dutton Epoch CDLX
7115.
It is also possible
that the Horn Fantasy could have
associations with the W.W. Cobbett (1847-1937)
Prize, the series of Phantasy chamber
music competitions that Stanford and
the Worshipful Company of Musicians
encouraged to promote British chamber
music. It was stipulated that the Phantasies
should be in a single movement,
have contrasting sections and be of
moderate dimensions of which the Stanford
Horn Fantasy seems to fit the
criteria. Although I understand that
the panel for the Cobbett competition
always specified the instrumental combination
for each particular year’s competition.
It is known however that Stanford did
write two scores for Clarinet and
String Quartet for the Cobbett Prize
at much the same time.
The Horn Fantasy
is conceived in a single continuous
structure which is divided into five
sections with a central thematic strand
that occurs at several strategic points
and serves as the foundation for other
thematic material. A bold and contrasting
score that easily retains interest and
never outstays its welcome. In short
the work is one of the hidden-gems of
late-romantic chamber music.
The performers of the
Cork-based RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet
seem completely at home in these attractive
and appealing chamber scores that are
all being given their recording premieres.
In the case of the Horn Fantasy,
where the quartet is joined by admirable
horn player Stephen Sterling, it is
possible that this is being performed
for the first time. The style and expressiveness
of the players is impressive throughout.
Their phrasing is rarely less than intelligent,
pervading their interpretations with
a highly appropriate Mendelssohnian
and Schubertian spirit. I did however
feel that the ensemble could have provided
a touch more vitality and bite in the
opening movement of the First Quartet.
I was not entirely convinced by their
tempo implementation and general security
of ensemble in the difficult second
movement of the Second Quartet. The
Hyperion engineers have provided a most
agreeable sound quality and the annotation
from Jeremy Dibble is of the highest
quality.
This is a must-obtain
purchase for all serious chamber music
lovers. I look forward to more volumes
of the Stanford string quartets from
Hyperion. Highly recommended.
Michael Cookson
See also review
by Christopher Howell RECORDING
OF THE MONTH February
RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet 
