Comparative review
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Mar04/hurlstone.htm
William Hurlstone was
a major "up-and-coming" composer
at the turn of the 18/19 century, but
after his death at the age of thirty
he was little heard of, except among
wind players. This situation was alleviated
by the release of several recordings
by Lyrita in the late ’seventies and
early ’eighties. The recording under
discussion here, however, was one of
the Lyrita CDs made in the nineties
and has recently been reissued.
Hurlstone’s Variations
on an Original Theme was written
when the composer was only twenty and
still a student at the RCM. While there
are heavy echoes of Brahms and Parry
it already illustrates his ability with
variation form, which he would demonstrate
again. The theme and first variations
must have sounded almost baroque to
the work’s original listeners, but the
fourth and fifth variations betray the
Brahms influence. The composer removed
the sixth variation from the original
score but it is played here and along
with the following two variations shows
the composer’s growing melodic ability
and his talent for getting the sound
he wants from an orchestra. The C-minor
tenth variation is brooding while the
eleventh is autumnal, with imaginative
use of variation technique. In the last
two or three variations and the finale
Hurlstone truly shows his originality.
He would have gone far had he lived
and these Variations do not suffer by
a comparison with the contemporary sets
by Elgar and Parry.
The "Hungarian"
Variations date from three years
later than the "Original"
and comprise a shorter and slighter
work. Brahms and Parry still loom on
the horizon to some degree and I doubt
that Brahms would have found the theme
very Hungarian. But there have been
some major changes since 1896: the orchestration
is even more assured and the composer’s
technique and melodic ability have both
grown, as is evidenced in the ninth
and tenth variations. The eighth variation
sounds the most Hungarian, but at the
same time reminds one of GRS
in the Enigma Variations. The
extensive final variation is the most
imaginative and like the last part of
the Variations on an Original Theme
shows a composer who is destined for
great things.
A year after the "Hungarian"
Variations Hurlstone wrote music for
a version of the Snow White story
entitled The Magic Mirror,
although it was not performed until
1904. This was his most popular piece
through the short remainder of his life
and for some years afterward. It represents
another advance over the previously-discussed
pieces and could be considered his first
mature orchestral work. Here Hurlstone
shows a marked talent for musical characterization
and a real sense of drama. Each of the
characters is perfectly caught in the
music. The opening section sounds a
little like Edward German, but a German
who is both more serious and more capable.
Snow White in the Woods is charming
and shows that Hurlstone is not immune
to French influences. The title of the
third section March of the Dwarfs
might sound like Grieg or MacDowell,
but is not that at all, being quite
witty and original. I enjoyed the fourth
and fifth sections the most. Snow
White’s Death Sleep is charming,
a little like Fauré’s Dolly
and where one might expect the music
for the Prince to be stentorian or martial
Hurlstone accomplishes something very
different with clever orchestration.
The Intermezzo is similar to
Snow White’s Death Sleep
in mood, but more dramatic. The Witch
has an impressive demise, but that
is only part of what happens in the
last section which adroitly sums up
the entire story and makes one wish
there were more.
The recordings Nicholas
Braithwaite made for Lyrita in the 1990s
have to count as some of the best he’s
ever done. This CD is no exception:
he has total command of the orchestra
and great understanding of how to make
Hurlstone’s sometimes sentimental music
sound as powerfully as it can. The sound
quality is also typical of Lyritas of
the 1990s: not rich, but better than
serviceable. A ground-breaking disc
when it first appeared and very welcome
back now.
William Kreindler
see also review
by Colin Clarke
Lyrita
Catalogue
London Philharmonic Orchestra; Nicholas Braithwaite
(conductor) 
for
details 
