Talk about a Game of
Two Halves! Many music-lovers will know
Arthur Benjamin’s Jamaican Rumba
and they may also have heard some more
of his lighter music. Broadly speaking,
that’s the type of fare that’s on offer
for the first thirty-two minutes or
so of this CD – and nothing wrong with
that when the music is so enjoyable.
But when we get to Track 20 we encounter
music of a very different type in the
shape of Benjamin’s substantial and
serious Symphony.
I’d only encountered
one of these pieces before, the infectious
Overture to an Italian Comedy. Frederick
Stock and the Chicago Symphony recorded
this as long ago as 1941. If the CD
is still in print it’s on Biddulph WHL
016 and the disc is of huge interest
as it also contains the first complete
recording of Vaughan Williams’s London
Symphony and Heifetz in the Walton
Violin Concerto, playing the
original version of the score before
Walton revised it. Stock’s reading of
the Benjamin overture is a very good
one but Fredman’s is even finer, having
more bounce and vitality. This is music
that wears a real smile from start to
finish and Fredman’s breezy performance
should win many new friends for the
piece.
The two suites of dances
are just as delightful. The title of
Cotillon is incorrectly given
on the jewel case, I think. In his excellent
booklet notes Calum MacDonald refers
to its subtitle as A Suite of English
Dance Tunes and I think that must
be correct since all the dances used
by Benjamin are indeed English.
There are nine dances in all and only
one lasts for more than two minutes.
The fourth dance, Love’s Triumph,
the longest of the set, is really gracious.
Of the sixth dance, The Charmer,
I need only say the title is completely
apt and Argyle makes a rumbustious
conclusion to a thoroughly enjoyable
suite.
The recording of North
American Square Dance Suite has
been unpublished until now. Again there
are nine short movements and this time
the material is American and Canadian
fiddle tunes. The longest piece is He
piped so sweet [3:26], which here
becomes a lovely pastoral idyll. Pigeon
on the pier is a lively movement,
which more than doffs a cap in the direction
of Copland. The gently flowing Calder
Fair features a lovely violin solo.
The whole suite is most engaging and
is performed with wit and sparkle by
the LPO under Barry Wordsworth.
These same artists
also give us Benjamin’s Symphony. I
don’t know when the recording was made
but as it hasn’t been issued until now
it was pipped to the post, at least
as a "first available recording",
by a performance on the Marco Polo label.
I haven’t heard that performance so
this was my first encounter with the
symphony and I was bowled over by it.
It was composed while Benjamin was living
and working in North America and it
was first performed by Barbirolli and
the Hallé at the 1948 Cheltenham
Festival.
Much of the music is
dark-hued and Benjamin’s orchestration
is often weighted towards the bass end
of the orchestra. There’s a telling
use of percussion and the writing for
brass consistently compels attention
– the horn parts in particular become
increasingly important and, I suspect,
challenging to play as the symphony
unfolds.
The first movement
begins darkly with an angular theme
for clarinet, which then passes to the
oboe, all atop severe writing for the
lower strings. The sonorities alone,
to say nothing of the thematic material
and harmonic language, tell us that
this is music of purpose and substance.
Time and again Benjamin’s scoring catches
the ear. One example is his use of bass
pedal points around 4:00. Even more
telling is the section between 4:51
and 5:31 where writing for massed strings
is punctuated by chords on hand-stopped
horns, to which sometimes timpani rolls
add menace. This is a passage of craggy
grandeur and it’s arresting. That material
is revisited towards the end of the
movement but this time it’s much more
fully scored.
The scherzo that follows
begins in mysterious half-light. The
music gradually picks up momentum and
volume. As it does so it also acquires
a degree of ferocity and menace. This
is spiky, uncomfortable music and it
provides a real test for the players
– which the LPO passes with flying colours.
If the first movement
was imposing then the slow movement
is even more impressive. Marked Adagio
Appassionato, it’s aptly described
by Calum MacDonald as the "expressive
core" of the symphony. Beginning
with a long, angular string threnody
this movement is serious stuff. The
power of the music is both cumulative
and sustained. For me it’s a deeply
impressive stretch of musical thought
that’s become even more impressive with
each hearing. It’s indeed passionate
– though darkly so – and the two soft
major key string chords with which the
movement concludes are almost a surprise
after the turbulent writing that has
gone before.
The finale gets off
to an explosive start and then, at last,
Benjamin gives us some extrovert, even
ebullient, music. The movement is packed
with energy and rhythmic drive. Around
6:00 there’s a passage of grandeur before
a dash for the symphony’s emphatic finish.
After hearing this
deeply felt, resourcefully scored symphony
several times I’m left wondering, above
all, why we haven’t heard much more
of it over the years. When one thinks
of some of the safe, repetitive programming
in which concert halls, radio stations
and record companies have taken refuge
for so many years – to say nothing of
some of the more pretentious contemporary
offerings – the neglect of a strong,
eloquent work such as this is not just
a mystery, it’s a scandal. But then
one could say the same of the symphonic
works of Arnold and Rubbra to name but
two other important British composers.
I acknowledge that Benjamin was Australian
but much of his career was based in
Britain. Lyrita put us greatly in their
debt by issuing recordings such as this.
Though the work was
previously unknown to me and I have
not had access to a score the performance
of the symphony seems to me to be absolutely
first class. The playing burns with
conviction and the performance is captured
in splendid sound. Barry Wordsworth
conducts with complete belief in the
music and gives it all the space it
needs to make its proper rhetorical
effect. His control of pacing and dynamics
is most impressive and climaxes are
thrust home with satisfying power. This
is an intense performance of an intense
symphony.
This is an absolutely
superb issue and I count the symphony
as a major discovery. This disc will
certainly feature on my shortlist of
recordings of the year.
John Quinn
See also review
by Rob
Barnett
RECORDING OF
THE MONTH
for
details
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Myer Fredman
(overture); London Symphony Orchestra/Nicholas
Braithwaite (Cotillon); London
Philharmonic Orchestra/Barry Wordsworth
(Dance Suite; Symphony) 
