RECORDING OF THE MONTH RECORDING OF THE MONTH BARGAIN OF THE MONTH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS A London Symphony Oboe Concerto £11 post free World-wide RACHMANINOV Elegy, Preludes, Piano concerto 3 £12 post free World-wide CHAUSSON, DEBUSSY RACHMANINOV TRios 2CDs £16 post free World-wide

BUY NOW  AmazonUK   AmazonUS

Gunnar de FRUMERIE (1908-1987) Pastoral Suite for flute and piano Op. 13a (1933) [11.26] Piano Trio No. 1 Op. 7 (1932, rev. 1975) [15.29] Four Etudes for piano Op. 28 [13.32] Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor Op. 23 (1941) [28.24] Mats Widlund (piano) Tobias Carron (flute) Ulrika Jansson (violin) Pascall Siffert (viola) Ulrika Edström (cello) rec. 2-6 Oct 2001, 22 Feb 2002, 21 Aug 2002, Studio 2, Radiohuset, Stockholm. DDD Musica Sveciae Modern Classics No. 13 PHONO SUECIA PSCD 713 [68.51]

Gunnar de Frumerie's music proclaims another Swedish late romantic. His music, when emphatic, sounds like Nielsen. At other times he approximates to late 1940s Alwyn or early Lennox Berkeley as in the case of Berkeley's Cello Concerto and the extraordinarily powerful Nocturne for orchestra. His music is always succinct - not garrulous or meandering The Pastoral Suite is a work of idyllic innocence, nimble joie-de-vivre, lullaby simplicity, and, when at rest, Fauré-like in its sun-warmed cradling. You might well know the piece in the version arranged in 1941 for flute, harp and string orchestra. The Piano Trio No. 1 is from the year before and is rather unforgivingly Bartókian in the first and final movements relaxing for a lovely songlike andante amabile. The concluding allegro con spirito has been influenced by the witchery of the finale of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1. The piece was revised (I suspect substantially) in 1975. The Four Studies for solo piano are all in allegro time and include the muscular bull-in-a-china shop Puck (No.1), a motor-hearted allegretto affabile (not all that ingratiatingly affable, I thought), a quick pulsed Toccata-like allegro and a ruthless allegro vigoroso. The final study is from 1953; the others from 1943-44. The Piano Quartet No. 1 is from 1941. The first movement includes, at 5.20, a dignified almost Iberian courtly curve amid a Ravel-like chatter. The second movement's hoarse and shadowed romantic musing prepares the way for the shivering threat of the intermezzo (tr. 15) and later its business-like determination. De Frumerie relaxes into cheery, sometimes Beethovenian, energy in the final allegro con brio. Unhesitatingly recommended to the legion of admirers of Nielsen, Alwyn and Rózsa - not that de Frumerie is any epigone of any of these people. He is his own man but his often life-enhancing outdoor vision owes a little to each of them. Buy with confidence that this will leave you wanting more de Frumerie. We must hope that the low key Caprice and the higher exposure Phono Suecia will exhaustively record de Frumerie's music. More please ... and soon. Rob Barnett   see also Gunnar de FRUMERIE (1908 - 1987) Cello Concerto   Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage There will be NO VAT Rises [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Return to Index

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.