Peter Donohoe’s recording
of the Rawsthorne Piano Concertos on
Naxos
last year was as good an indicator as
any of the stature of this composer.
The present Lyrita disc stands as the
ideal complement. John McCabe, himself
a notable composer, provides insightful
booklet notes.
Perhaps Rawsthorne’s
finest quality is that his music can
sound recognisably English without moving
towards the idealised indulgence that
can mar music from that country. The
First Symphony (the first performance
of which was conducted by Sir Adrian
Boult) provides ample evidence of this
in the second movement, Lento, while
the first movement is highly energetic,
very inventive and superbly scored.
The predominant 5/8 rhythm of the Scherzo
gives the music a restless, shifting
quality.
The Second Symphony
makes use of a soprano soloist in the
finale (making reference, perhaps, to
Mahler’s Fourth – or Vaughan Williams’
own ‘Pastoral’). The poem, by Henry
Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516-1547) is
reprinted in the booklet. Tracey Chadwell
is excellent, her clarion clarity a
real bonus, and Braithwaite conjures
up the requisite mysterious atmosphere
(there is some superb trumpet playing
during the course of this movement also).
Yet the weight of argument lies in the
first movement, which nevertheless emerges
as gentle and assured. The Scherzo is
labelled ‘Country Dance’ – its lilting
wind phrases are immediately appealing.
The language here is spiky (yet not
so much as to invoke Stravinsky, for
example) and Nicholas Braithwaite ensures
that the LPO are on top form.
The Third Symphony
is the longest of the works on this
disc. Dedicated to the composer’s wife,
Isabel, it is in many ways the finest
of his symphonies. Perhaps surprisingly,
there is a twelve-note row in operation
(as McCabe points out, though, it all
still sounds like Rawsthorne). The first
movement is certainly more challenging
and more complex than anything on the
disc so far. The second movement, too,
speaks of more expressive worlds than
hitherto (and certainly deeper than
its indication, ‘Alla Sarabanda - Andantino’,
might seem to imply). The finale is
a virtuoso tour de force that
the BBC Symphony Orchestra rises magnificently
to: the argument is sometimes quite
thorny and intense.
Well worth hearing
– do try to listen also to the Naxos
Rawsthorne Piano Concertos disc if Rawsthorne’s
music appeals. Highly recommended.
Colin Clarke
The
Lyrita catalogue
abLondon Symphony Orchestra/aSir
John Pritchard, bNicholas Braithwaite;
cBBC Symphony Orchestra/Norman Del
Mar. With bTracey Chadwell (soprano).
