What a fine addition to the series this is!
The glorious Cliffe is relatively familiar now, thanks to last year's BBC broadcast of it which featured the same conductor and soloist, but with a different orchestra. This recording, though, seems to me to be at the same time both more heroically robust in the outer movements and more passionate in the middle one. It's a work of real stature and couldn't have a more persuasive performance than it gets here.
For me, though, the surprise is the two d'Erlanger pieces. For an amateur composer to have produced two works of such melodic beauty, delicacy and refinement is achievement enough. Yet the Concerto, whilst nothing like as masculine a piece as Cliffe's, still has plenty of vigour and excitement and its slow movement is a dream. Both it and the Poëme never lapse into the sugary sweetness that the generous supply of memorable melodies and transparent orchestral writing might imply. Lovely stuff.
My copy's on its way. More anon...
Just picked up a news flash that all Royal Mail vans within a 20 mile radius of the Howe residence have been hi-jacked this morning.
Dash and dagnabit!
Good job my postie likes carrying my packages and parcels!
Quote from: Alan Howe on Tuesday 01 February 2011, 18:46
Good job my postie likes carrying my packages and parcels!
There's a Terry Pratchett quote to be invoked here, I know it.
Received but not had chance to listen to properly yet but did notice in the programme notes that D'Erlanger also wrote a Concerto Symphonique for piano and orchestra! Wonder what the chances of this appearing in the RPC series are??
Rob
and an Andante symphonique op.18 for cello and orchestra perhaps as filler for the cello series if the orchestral score is still somewhere.
The Cliffe VC is much the best work on the CD: it is, as Mark has indicated, a simply glorious work, with a never-ending flood of wonderfully expressive and personal invention. The d'Erlanger VC is nothing like as deep, but it's quite lovely in its own way - and the short Poème very beautiful. If there were ever such a thing as a must-have disc, this would be it!
The whole disc is an absolute joy from beginning to end - great repertoire choice, superb performances, first-class engineering and exemplary presentation - a truly great addition to the Hyperion discography (falls off chair overcome with effusive gratitude).
Now if we could only have the two Symphonies, The Triumph of Alcestis and Cloud and Sunshine from Hyperion ... :)
Each time I listen to Cliffe's magnificent VC I get the goose bumps. I get the same sensation while listening to his wonderful Symphony. We can only hope that his 2nd will be released in the very near future. Gosh, this genius composer wrote only 6 works.
Quoteand an Andante symphonique op.18 for cello and orchestra perhaps as filler for the cello series if the orchestral score is still somewhere.
There is also a Ballade for cello and orchestra by d'Erlanger. The score & parts of the Andante Symphonique are in Fleisher, while those for the Ballade and the Concerto Symphonique for piano & orchestra are listed in Schott's Hire catalogue. I should add that the Concerto Symphonique is not as well-written as the VC - it tends to sprawl somewhat and d'Erlanger is given to some note-spinning without really getting anywhere. That said, however, there is a great deal to enjoy in the work and I would love to hear it recorded by a really good pianist, committed to this sort of repertoire.
d'Erlanger also used a nickname Fred Regnal- for lighter composition maybe? Not sure.
What's interesting about Graffin's interpretation of the Cliffe VC is that, over time, it has become more expansive, thus bringing the work closer to the world of, say, Elgar. Fascinating.
It was heart-warming to hear this disc featured on CD Review this morning - such prominent exposure is invaluable. :)
Actually, the Cliffe VC got a rather luke-warm response on CDR this morning. Shame - it's a stronger piece than the d'Erlanger, delightful though that is.
However, on the strength of the reviewer's evident enthusiasm for the d'Erlanger, no doubt many people will purchase the disc and be won over by the Frederic Cliffe concerto. Radio programmes such as this show the power of media exposure - I've just ordered the Klughardt! ;D
Off-topic, but you'll enjoy the Klughardt CD. Marvellous stuff, well-known in its day, and an important rediscovery in the form of the meaty VC. Meanwhile, back at the Hyperion ranch...
Back on topic :), I can quite understand why the BBC reviewer was bowled over by the d'Erlanger at the expense of the Cliffe. It is such an attractive work. I do think that the Cliffe is the stronger piece by some way, but the glittering allure of the d'Erlanger on first hearing is hard to resist. Putting the two pieces together on the same CD makes for a fascinating comparison.
Spot-on, Mark. Which shows the dangers of reviewers airing their opinions in public without having devoted sufficient time in order to grasp a piece of unfamiliar music properly. Thus the d'Erlanger VC - the more showy piece - is considered superior to the Cliffe - the more substantial piece. Oh, the dangers of the perceived need for instant authoritative opinions in an impatient and superficial age...
As I said in an email to my co-conspirator, Patrick Meadows, "The other pieces on the disc (the Concerto and a 'Poeme' by Baron
Frederic d'Erlanger) are schmalzily ear-tickling in their own way and the concerto, while it has some nice tunes and some felicitous bits of orchestration, is a ramshackle, jerry-built affair; it sounds pretty impressive until you hear the Cliffe Concerto (which comes last on the disc) and then you realise that one was a real composer and the other just a very gifted dilettante". And so say all of us, it seems!
Absolutely right, Lionel. Now tell us about Cliffe 2...
Your wish is my command, Alan! Cliffe wrote his second symphony in 1892, and it was first performed at the Leeds Festival in that year under Sir Arthur Sullivan, Cliffe's former composition teacher and the Festival Director between 1880 and 1898. Jürgen Schaarwächter, in his essay about Cliffe's symphonic music on Musicweb-international.com, tells us that it was also performed at Bournemouth on 13 November 1902, but that he has been unable to detect any later performances. Given the quality of the work, this is astonishing. As far as Patrick and I are aware, our edition represents its first publication and printing. The MS is housed in the library of the RCM.
The movements are entitled, respectively: At Sunset, Night, Fairy Revels, and Morning. 'At Sunset' is a powerfully refulgent picture – it has real sweep and richness that might, at some moments, make listeners think they are hearing something of Delius (the two composers were born not many miles apart, of course). 'Night' starts and finishes quietly mysterious but in between there is a good deal of sinister rustling and chirruping produced by the use of some orchestral techniques which, although definitely pre-Bartok, are surprisingly modern for the time! While 'Fairy Revels' can't avoid some Mendelssohnian overtones (the principal tempo being Presto leggierissimo), the repeated alternations of metre would have had Felix reaching for the sal volatile (and which must have kept Sir Arthur on his toes). There is a representation of sunrise at the start of 'Morning' but it only lasts 19 bars (marked Poco lento) and Cliffe is obviously keen to be up and doing since thereafter the movement bustles brightly along in a hive of activity (with scarcely a hint of a minor key shadow) until a final Maestoso peroration rounds matters off.
The piece (especially the finale) needed some editorial work to get it into a performable shape – there were some cuts, which we have opened out, and emendations in hands other than Cliffe's (some of them involving trumpets in startlingly vulgar taste) which we've removed! I hope everyone will have the opportunity to hear this gorgeous piece and while we all know how long the lead-times on recording can be, I have fingers crossed for a performance or two sometime soon.
Lionel, I can remember few posts which have given me more pleasure. Thanks so much for such a full and vibrant picture of the work. Now to hear it!
I entirely echo Mark's comments, Lionel. Thank you!
What a very fine post! (And a model to us all.) It contains a beautifully vivid account of the music yet without being at all 'technical'. I shall be thinking much of this work, and hope that we shall hear it in the not too far future.
I'm blushing, gentlemen!
QuoteI can remember few posts which have given me more pleasure. Thanks so much for such a full and vibrant picture of the work.
Hear, hear! A labour of love - and one which I fervently hope is crowned with a fine performance, AND recording.