This is a
very attractive compilation, combining
some of Delius’s most celebrated miniatures
with some genuine rarities. The programme
is cunningly designed, starting and
finishing with pieces of a lively, capricious
nature, enclosing some of the more poetically-titled
works. The Marche Caprice of
track 1 is a little gem, especially
when played with the alert phrasing
and articulation that Lloyd-Jones and
the RSNO demonstrate here.
Then follow the ‘Three
Small Tone Poems’; I particularly love
Winter Night, not only for its
cheery main section complete with jingles,
but also for its unforgettably beautiful
string melody in the central episode.
American Rhapsody
(track 5) is a novelty; composed
in 1896 but never performed in Delius’s
lifetime. It is a sort of sketch for
Appalachia, the large-scale choral
and orchestral work that followed in
1902. It is fascinating to hear material
that either recurs verbatim in the later
work, or is reworked, as in the case
of the horn melody which begins the
work. It also begins Appalachia,
but just one of its notes has
been changed in the later piece, giving
it a more satisfying profile. The Rhapsody
also contains noisily exuberant march
music, featuring the tune Yankee
Doodle, which, perhaps inevitably,
made me think of Charles Ives.
Two of Delius’s most
famous works follow: The Walk to
the Paradise Garden and On Hearing
the first Cuckoo in Spring, and
each is given a lovingly stylish reading.
The recorded sound is excellent, with
clear balance and just sufficient ambience.
Lloyd-Jones secures some really fine
playing from the Scottish orchestra,
whose woodwind soloists are on particularly
fine form.
The disc concludes
with the Fantastic Dance composed
with the aid of Eric Fenby; a short
work that turned out to be the composer’s
final composition. It has a strongly
French flavour – the very opening seems
to have stolen in from Ravel’s La
Valse - but quickly develops into
something more characteristic of Delius.
On the other hand, slight though the
work is, it is interesting and perhaps
ironic that this last utterance from
a composer so strongly associated with
a ‘dying fall’ should conclude with
such brilliance and glitter. The final
chord is an ambiguous one, the same
major/minor added 6th with
which Mahler finished Das Lied von
der Erde; make of that what you
will!
This is a fine CD;
beautifully played and recorded. It
has plenty for the Delius connoisseur,
yet would make a great introduction
for somebody wishing to become acquainted
with the composer’s work.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
see also review
by Ian Lace
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/David Lloyd-Jones
