LAKELAND PICTURES
Piano Music of Herbert HOWELLS and
Armstrong GIBBS.
Alan Cuckston (piano)
SWINSTY FEW 123 CD
£11.00 (including p & p) from Alan Cuckston at Turnham Hall,
Cliffe, Selby, N.Yorks. YO8 6ED
The principal work here is the Lakeland Pictures by Armstrong
Gibbs, eight preludes, written in a gorgeously fluid and tuneful idiom,
depicting Thirlmere, Rydal Beck, Watendlath, Langdale, Borrowdale, Winster,
Wastwater and Tarn Hows, displaying the Lake District in a variety
of scenes and moods. They were composed at Windermere when Gibbs was evacuated
there during the last war, but the manuscript was lost to sight until 1996
and Alan Cuckston gave the first performance at Doncaster Museum & Art
Gallery in March 1999. How splendid to have it on record. Another, earlier,
Gibbs suite, his three movement In the High Alps, is delightful; again
the idiom is late Romantic and generally melodious but with a touch of bitonality
adding spice - the finale, Winter Sport, appears to end with a tumble
on the ski slope! In contrast we have more or less the whole of Herbert
Howells' solo piano output. This again affords varied experiences : a
spirited scherzo Gadabout; two dances reworked from Playford's 17th
Century collection; the pleasing miniature There was a Most Beautiful
Lady (from Country Pageant, written for Armstrong Gibbs' daughter);
the Graingeresque Triumph Tune dedicated to Howells' children, Ursula
and the tragic Michael; Sarum Sketches, dedicated to a Salisbury Cathedral
choirboy and in effect an English Kinderszenen; and two pieces from
Opus 14, a bleak sounding Rhapsody and a rather restrained
Jackanapes. I recommend this release without reservation. The playing
not only has the accomplishment we expect from Mr. Cuckston, but it shows
the genuine affection these pieces demand and deserve. The recordings, made
in 1991 (Howells) and 2000 (Gibbs) are good; the booklet cover carries a
photograph of Derwentwater, not one of Gibbs' Pictures, but delightful.
Philip Scowcroft
