Classico extend their
Heritage and Legacy series under
Douglas Bostock ever onwards with the
second volume. That said only one work
here will be unfamiliar; Bliss’s Pyanepsion
is actually the final movement of his
A Colour Symphony, which was separately
published. Only the Austin will be unfamiliar
and his Symphony represents the heart
of this enterprising if occasionally
flawed disc.
Flawed because the
surrounding performances don’t quite
measure up and the Austin reveals only
too well the accumulation of source
material that has seeped into its thematic
construction. Fascinating to hear and
to reflect upon them but ultimately
unsatisfactory in strictly musical terms.
But if we begin with the Elgar one has
to concede that there is a huge amount
of orchestral detail audible in Bostock’s
In the South from the harp and
trombone rasps onwards. His is a very
pliant and rubato-rich performance with
a very slow second subject; the heat
haze is eventful and the nature painting
emerges well. The lower brass are caught
in all richness in their pounding passages
and the Canto Popolare is not at all
overtly expressive; rather it’s understated
and touching. But overall things do
hang fire a bit and the sense of journeying
and cumulative power is never really
conveyed. Much the same is true of MacCunn’s
The Land of the Mountain and the
Flood, which has rightly garnered
a fair few recordings now. Attractively
cast, quite discreetly avuncular and
sporting excellent lower string shading
this also holds back just a mite. The
Bliss receives a strong and convincing
reading, the two fugues clearly and
objectively played.
Austin’s Symphony was
premiered in 1913 but was only recently
rediscovered – the fascinating details
are in the well-informed and extensive
booklet notes majorly by Lewis Foreman
and with additions by Martin Lee-Browne.
Baritone, arranger, administrator and
composer Austin was acquainted with
the up and coming British composers
of the time, meeting the Frankfurt Gang
members, teaching Beecham in Liverpool,
giving the British premiere of Delius’s
Sea Drift and singing much more
contemporary music (Debussy, Strauss,
Schoenberg). The symphony is cast in
one movement but it falls into four
distinct sections and plays for some
half an hour. It opens with Debussian
wash and fine work for the winds, the
oboe and string writing from 4.00 onwards
strongly suggestive of Delius. The compound
of impressionism and Scriabinesque intensity
is fruitful and attractive though the
transition section (7.08) is quite abrupt
and rather stout of cast. In the Allegro
moderato section the wind arabesques
and louring lower brass and percussion
take on an increasingly verveful animation
– some strong quasi-Holstian elements
at play here. But the string cantilena
of the Andante con moto section is beautiful
(was it this to which Percy Grainger
was referring when in 1911 he wrote
to Balfour Gardiner "Austin has just
come back from Ireland very fit, with
splendid sketches for what he calls
a Symphonic Lark, and a tune in it is
ravishing.") The string waves, cuckoo
calls and Delian haze are all finely
orchestrated, as is the finale section.
This however has VW’s A London Symphony
(1911) etched all over it from the
brass and chimes to the occasionally
rather tritely worked out conclusion,
for which only Austin can take responsibility.
If the Austin is more
a tapestry of influences than a coherent
symphonic statement it loses little
in subjective interest. Many admirers
of this period in British music making
will want to hear it and they will,
irrespective of other considerations,
find it a fascinating listen.
Jonathan Woolf
See Volume
1
This
disc is also available on the RLPO's
own label RLPOLive RLCD501
Crotchet
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Douglas
Bostock 
