Lewis Foreman in his
booklet essay guides the listener through
the lives of Potter and Sterndale Bennett
- as with Vaughan Williams please resist
the temptation to hyphenate!
Mr Foreman tells us
that of Potter's pupils at the Royal
Academy in London, Sterndale Bennett
was the most successful. He was born
in Sheffield but brought up in Cambridge.
The Op. 43 symphony was written in splendid
isolation in the 1860s after a quartet
of symphonies were completed by him
in the 1830s. This same period also
saw the piano concertos - all recorded
years ago on Lyrita and still available
from Harold Moores. (concertos1&3,
concertos
2&5)
The 1867 Symphony sounds
rather like Schubert with infusions
of Weber. It shivers and bristles with
lovely effects including superb antiphonal
dialogue from first and second violins
split by Bostock right and left - Boult
and Handley-style. There is some exciting
writing for the horns which looks forward
well into the new century to Stanford's
Second Piano Concerto. In the two outer
movements it is also possible to discern
the rather tense and eager romanticism
of Parry's neglected First Symphony.
In its first movement it has the harried
overcast angst of Schubert's Unfinished
Symphony.
The following Minuetto is relaxed apart
from some not very stern admonitions
from the brass. The third movement has
a Dvořákian pastoral lilt which
continues with pattering delight into
the Mendelssohn-style Intermezzo. Sturm
und Drang shakes the rafters
of the Rondo finale which again displays
Mendelssohnian traits alongside great
draughts of 'the grand manner' from
Schubert 9. Indeed the Great C major
is bound to be in your mind as you hear
the closing pages.
Sterndale Bennett is
reasonably well known to enthusiasts
who may have some of the previous recordings
on Lyrita or Hyperion. Potter is an
unknown quantity except to those in
the UK who heard the BBC broadcasts
of 1995. That mini-series featured four
of the Potter symphonies in which the
Ulster Orchestra were variously conducted
by Jerzy Maksymiuk, John Carewe and
John Lubbock..
Potter is not afraid,
in this 1826 symphony, to embrace Beethovenian
conflict. However he quickly contrasts
it with an almost Bellinian bel canto
at 3.50 (tr. 6) which he then toys
with fugally before yet more emotional
abrasion is let loose. The andantino
grazioso may well remind us of late
Haydn or the first two Beethoven symphonies.
It ends with hunting horn evocations.
The finale with its rusticity and playfulness
looks to the example of Beethoven's
Pastoral but with an element
of the operatic Wolf Glen.
Both of these nineteenth
century British symphonies are performed
with élan and doughty style.
Where ClassicO have lead the way it
would not surprise me if CPO were to
follow.
Oh and by the way,
if you were wondering, Vol. 13 was the
first two Alan Bush symphonies. [review]
This is a typically
well documented CD and we are indebted
to ClassicO for drawing the curtains
back to let in the light on these two
symphonies. While the most immediately
pleasing of the two is certainly the
Sterndale Bennett it is fascinating
to hear the Potter. I hope that there
will be more from both composers' symphonic
output.
Rob Barnett
note from Michael Greenhalgh
Cipriani Potter isn't altogether an
unknown quantity, though you have to
go back a little. Symphonies 8 and 10
were recorded in 1989 by the Milton
Keynes Chamber Orchestra/Hilary Davan
Wetton. Released on Unicorn-Kanchana
DKP(CD)9091. Admittedly unavailable
for ages.
The
British Symphonic Collection
Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra/Douglas Bostock
for
details
