The Moeran selection
comes from pre-decimal coinage days;
the Baines a touch after. They both
sound splendid in Lyrita’s accustomedly
fine restorations and they both restore
to the catalogue performances of great
refinement and finesse. Eric Parkin
is something of a hero of the British
piano repertoire and a brand name for
excellence. Here, in the case of the
Baines, he was chartering unknown waters
on disc and he did so in a way that
alerted one to a then pretty much unknown
composer.
The rhythmic hypnosis
generated by Labyrinth (from Silverpoints)
is a tremendous start to the recital.
It helps that this suite, though not
necessarily considered Baines’ finest,
is so varied and absorbing. Water-Pearls
for instance is a felicitous waltz animated
by a nagging left hand figure. And the
Burning Joss-Stick is chordally more
opulent and declamatory. The flowing
lyricism of Paradise Gardens - richly
infused with generous runs – is another
little gem though the recorded sound
is just a touch brittle, especially
in the treble. Coloured Leaves is a
suite of four pieces; the first is a
touch effortful whilst the second is
conversationally jaunty. The third,
Still Day, has some rolling left hand
whilst the last, Purple Heights indeed
reaches some purplish romantic peaks
– urgent, tugging and passionate.
Baines was good, despite
his youth, at ruminatively introspective
pictures – try the Twilight Pieces,
which are suggestive and limpid. And
the last of this group of three, A Pause
for Thought - he wasn’t scared of down-to-eath
titles either – reminds one a little
of the hypnotic allure of Labyrinth.
The powerful unleashing of titan chords
leads to a powerfully, almost extrovert
gloom in The Lone Wreck, one of the
two pieces that make up Tides. The other
is perhaps his best-known piece, Goodnight
to Flamboro’, the passionate ebb and
flow of which never loses its siren
call.
Then there are the
Seven Preludes which wear their inspirations
passionately; Russian in the main. But
the third is a little gem, a rapt song
hinting at the salon. The fourth is
like Scriabin filtered through French
Impressionism, and the last deeply ingrained
in Rachmaninoff and full of energy and
tensile romanticism.
Parkin has since returned
to Baines on Priory – a disc I’ve been
aware of but have never heard. [PRCD550
The Chimes. Paradise Gardens. Seven
Preludes. Coloured Leaves. Silverpoints.
Idyll - Nocturne. Tides. The Naiad.
Etude in F sharp minor.]
In this Lyrita disc
we also find a selection of pieces by
Moeran. Stalham River is probably his
piano masterpiece – a slice of becalmed
impressionism, immensely and infectiously
attractive and also reminiscent of John
Ireland. The White Mountain may be better
known as The Star of the County Down
– and you’ll know that from John McCormack
("Such a coaxing elf, I was ashamed
of meself/For to see I was really there…").
Beautifully played by Parkin. The left
hand folk melody in the Toccata is warmly
brought out and there’s Celtic pensiveness
a-plenty in the innocent-sounding Berceuse.
Bank Holiday (1925) is suitably up-tempo
and jaunty. The Two Legends – legends
of course were central to John Ireland’s
imagination - are rich and evocative.
As with the Baines
Parkin has returned to Moeran more recently
on Ismeron – another disc I’ve been
meaning to hear. For the record he plays
Three Piano Pieces (1919): The Lake
Island, Autumn Woods, At a Horse Fair.
On a May Morning. Three Fancies (1922):
Windmills, Elegy, Burlesque. Two Legends
(1923): A Folk Story, Rune. Theme and
Variations. Stalham River. Toccata.
Irish Love Song. Summer Valley. The
White Mountain. Two Pieces (1933): Prelude,
Berceuse and Bank Holiday [JMSCD2].
The notes are excellent;
Peter Pirie writes on Moeran, and his
biographer Roger Carpenter tells us,
eloquently, all we need to know about
Baines. Rich and evocative music, splendidly
preformed and presented.
Jonathan Woolf
See also reviews
ny Robert
Farr and Rob
Barnett
for details
Eric Parkin (piano) 
