When I first became interested
in classical music there was a rule of thumb presented to neophyte listeners.
It was this: that one both loves Wagner and loathes Brahms or vice
versa. Now I am not going to enter into that particular debate here,
but what I do want to consider is a certain lopsidedness that creeps
into any stylistic discussion of British music.
If a composer has followed
the lead of Wagner he is usually regarded as being somehow progressive
- especially if Tristan has been one of the key influences. Somehow
this is seen as being a recommendation for the composer's music. However
if Brahms is perceived to be the stimulus then the opposite is the case.
We all recall Stanford's words to a young John Ireland – ‘All Brahms
and water, m'bhoy!’ And of course there have been plenty of critics
who have seen Stanford as beholden to the great German. It has also
been said of Parry, Mackenzie and many other late nineteenth/early twentieth
century composers.
Another reviewer of this
present disc makes the statement that with the exception of William
Alwyn, "all of this music wears its Brahmsian heart on its sleeve
at times...". Now to be fair to him he goes on to insist that ‘there
is something profoundly English about each one, which the Primrose players
bring out to heart-warming effect.’ However it seems to me that in
the 21st century the epithet ‘Brahmsian’ need no longer be
regarded as pejorative. In fact a brief study of any CD catalogue will
reveal the astounding fact that Brahms’ chamber music is actually rather
popular.
Yet all these works are
actually much more than Brahms. Each one of these pieces – none of which
can be regarded as the composer’s masterpiece - are rooted firmly in
the English musical tradition. To be fair, this tradition is something
that is rather difficult to define. Is it, for example beholden to plainsong
or Elizabethan lute music? Or perhaps it is folk music? Yet none of
these influences appear to any great extent in these works. But listen
for a moment to the slow movement of the Howells Piano Quartet. sample
There is no doubt that this work conjures up moods and impressions
suggested by the Cotswold landscape rather than the Bavarian forests
or the shores of the Mediterranean. This music is English to the core
– yet it does look back to Stanford and Brahms. This perhaps
is the true genius of these works – they were composed within the ‘prevailing
tradition’ of Western music yet they have a definite but numinous English
feel that can never be accused of being parochial or bucolic. This is
not cow-pat music.
This CD represents an excellent
conspectus of British Piano Quartets – at least from the first half
of the 20th Century. I imagine that two of these works will
be known to the majority of enthusiasts of British chamber music – namely
the Frank Bridge and the Herbert Howells. William Alwyn’s Rhapsody
for Piano Quartet was available on Chandos CHAN 8440 but appears to
have been deleted. The Cyril Scott is presented on a fine Dutton recording:
CDLX 7116. The Bridge is well represented on Helios CDH55063 and Naxos
8.557283.
I do not intend to provide
a detailed analysis or history of any of these pieces – each one of
them deserves study and repeated hearings; further, I am minded to write
at length about the Howells in the near future. Suffice to say that
Howells’ is by far the ‘greatest’ work on this CD. We recall that it
was composed in the middle of the Great War in 1916 at a time when the
composer had been told that he had little time to live: he had been
diagnosed with a heart condition. It could be argued, however that the
wonderful middle movement is valedictory. It is one of the loveliest
things in British music and is one that I would want on my desert island.
The programme notes by Francis
Pott are amongst the most ‘comprehensive’ that I have encountered in
any CD. To be fair much of these notes deal with the composers and chamber
music in general as opposed to the specifics of these works. However
there is a tremendous amount of information - both factual and subjective.
The works are set within the context of British and European chamber
music.
Yet there is one curious
glitch that really had me wondering about the consistency of this massive
essay. Pott states that the Alwyn was composed in 1950. Now I always
believed that this was a pre-war work written around 1938 – so I was
somewhat surprised by this dating.
I checked the entry in Grove
– 1939. I referred to S. Craggs’ and A. Poulton’s: William Alwyn:
a Catalogue of his Music. I looked on the composer website. However
the clincher was William Alwyn himself writing in the programme notes
for the Chandos disc that the date of composition was 1938. So there
are only two possibilities – firstly that Francis Pott got the date
wrong or there is another revision of the work produced in 1950 – which
all the evidence suggests is not the case.
Interestingly, the dates
for the immensely enjoyable Cyril Scott Quartet seem to be a bit awry
as well. The sequence of events for this work were: composed 1899;
premiered in April 1902 at a Classical Chamber Concert in Liverpool;
performed by Fritz Kreisler, Emil Kreuz, Ludwig Lebell and Scott on
12 February 1903 at a Broadwood Concert at St. James Hall, London. Yet
none of this is mentioned in this ‘considerable’ essay. A date of 1900
is given. Full stop.
The sound quality of the
disc is second to none and the playing is all one could imagine from
a group that has named itself after William Primrose (1904-1982) who
was one of the finest violists of the 20th century. The Primrose
Quartet was founded in 2004 by four well known chamber musicians. Amongst
other things they have and are championing ‘under-represented’- British
composers.
Let us hope that there will
be many more British chamber works from Meridian – if they want any
ideas – I have quite a few suggestions up my sleeve!
John France
Sound Excerpts
Bridge Phantasy Piano Quartet
Howells Piano Quartet
Allegro moderato, tranquillo
Lento, molto tranquilo
Allegro molto, energico
Alwyn Rhapsody for Piano Quartet
Scott Quartet
Allegro maestoso con spirito
Andante molto espressivo
Allegretto amabile e sempre con sordini
Finale
BUY NOW
Crotchet
Primrose Piano Quartet (Susanne Stanzeleit - violin; Susie Meszaros, viola;
Bernard Gregor-Smith, cello; John Thwaites, piano)