MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

 

  AmazonUK   AmazonUS

Trevor Barnard – A Piano Odyssey
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)

Two Part Invention No.1 in C major BWV772 [1:30]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)

Moment Musical in F minor D780 No.3 [1:46]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)

Bagatelle in A flat major op.33 No.7 [2:01]
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)

Lied ohne Worte in E major op.19 No.1 [2:41]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)

Arabesque op.18 [6:40]
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849)

Fantaisie-impromptu in C sharp minor op.66 [6:00]
Polonaise in A major op.40 No.1 [5:54]
Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)

Lyric Pieces op.43: Little Bird [1:40] Erotikon [2:45]
Sergei RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)

Prelude in C sharp minor op.3 No.2 [4:19]
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)

Children's Corner: The Snow is Dancing [3:04]
Isaac ALBÉNIZ (1860-1909)

Tango No.2 -Espana op.165 [3:04]
Béla BARTÓK (1881-1945)

Mikrokosmos volume 1: In Dorian Mode [1:03]
Mikrokosmos volume 6: Dance in Bulgarian Rhythm No.6 [2:10]
George GERSHWIN (1898-1937)

Prelude No.2 [3:40]
Margaret SUTHERLAND (1897-1984)

Chorale Prelude - 'Herzliebster Jesu' (1933) [2:33]
Chorale Prelude - 'Jesu Meine Freude' (1935) [3:00]
Peter SCULTHORPE (b.1929)

Sonatina (1954) [6:41]
Nigel BUTTERLEY (b.1935)

Arioso (1960) [2:28]
Comment on a Popular Song (1960) [1:16]
Michael BERTRAM (b.1935)

Five Pieces: Kinetic No.3 (1984) [4:32]
Tim DARGAVILLE (b.1962)

Night Song (1997) [4:47]
Felix WERDER (b.1922)

Spring - No.2 from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience (1985) [3:00]
Trevor Barnard (piano)
rec. c.1978 except Grieg and Butterley Arioso, previously unissued, here by arrangement with ABC; Sutherland and Butterley Comment and Werder issued on Divine Art 25005, 1996; Bertram and Dargeville issued on Divine Art 25017, 2001
DIVERSIONS DDV 24125 [76:47]
Experience Classicsonline



This disc has something of an unusual and complicated genesis. A large part of it derives from a World Record Club LP issued in 1978 called An Introduction to Piano Music. To this we have a number of more recent things which reflect Trevor Barnard’s many years of residence in Australia. So the Grieg and Butterley Arioso derive from undated ABC sessions and the Sutherland Chorale Preludes, the Butterley Comment and Werder’s Spring come from a previously issued Divine Art disc. In similar fashion the Bertram and Dargeville pieces were also issued by Divine Art – see the head note for the exact release numbers in case of confusion. Divine Art 25005 by the way is called Bach Transcriptions and Australian piano music.

So a rather complicated back-story precedes this release. But irrespective of that I’m sure many British music enthusiasts will remember Barnard’s epic recording of the Bliss Concerto with Malcolm Sargent in 1962 – now on Divine Art 24106 – as well as the same composer’s sonata, which is coupled with Busoni’s 24 Preludes on the same label [25011]. Divine Art has stood by its man with commendable diligence and assiduity.

Barnard’s Piano Odyssey is thus a rather bipartite affair but it makes for an enjoyable if not quite Homeric journey. I found the Australian works the most exciting performances. Margaret Sutherland’s Chorale Preludes, especially 'Herzliebster Jesu', are nobly grave utterances well worth the care Barnard spends on them. Sculthorpe’s 1954 Sonatina is a sonorously skittish work that circles in and around itself with increasingly power and agility. The finale is a trafficky, perky affair. Barnard warns of the work’s "severe bitonality" but it sounds wonderfully refreshing in this reading. Nigel Butterley’s Arioso has Bachian inflections whilst his Comment on a Popular Song, which happens to be Click go the Shears, offers a fine, tense contrast. Michael Betram offers some hyperactive minimalism whilst Tim Dargeville gives us a reflective, sonorous last night in the life of Ned Kelly. To end the Australian segment there’s the atonal and not especially endearing Spring by the German-born Felix Werder.

His WRC LP selection starts with Bach – the Two Part Invention in C major that sings less than, say, Craig Sheppard’s performance. It continues through Schubert’s Moment Musical in F minor – too many fiddly rubatos – and embraces a poetic but rather deadpan Schumann Toccata. Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp minor also sports some divisive and line bending rubati. Albéniz’s Tango is rather laid back and doesn’t evince much Iberian colour.

So the primary focus will be the exploration of Australian music that makes up the latter part of the disc. Barnard’s playing of the central repertoire back in the 1970s was certainly efficient but not especially distinctive and he was prone to some mannered moments.

Recording quality is consistent despite the vagaries of dates and locations and the notes are helpful.

Jonathan Woolf




 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.