This is the one I have
been waiting for. From the moment that
the rumour mill hinted that a Lyrita
recording of these two ‘lost’ works
was on the cards, I have been impatient
to get to grips with them.
Ever since finding
a copy of ‘The Music Review’ for February
1964 I have been aware that Stanford
wrote a Third Piano Concerto.
What Frederick Hudson in his ‘A Catalogue
of Works of Charles Villiers Stanford’
does not hint at is the existence of
a Cello Concerto. He does not
explore the ‘early’ works in any detail.
However a brief examination of Grove
reveals a number of concerted works
that have been lost, suppressed or ignored.
There is an early Rondo for Cello
and Orchestra, a ‘Zero’ Piano
Concerto written in 1874 and a Violin
Concerto from the following year.
However Grove does mention the present
Cello Concerto. It is dated 1880
and suggests that the slow movement
was the only part to have been given
a performance some four years later.
It is unpublished.
I have long been a
fan of Stanford’s Second Piano Concerto,
having first heard it in the Lyrita
recording produced on vinyl back in
1985. It has become one of my ‘Desert
Island Discs’. I have introduced the
work to a number of people who have
invariably been impressed. My usual
‘spiel’ before playing the work is to
tell them that if this work had been
by Rachmaninov it would have been featured
at a thousand concerts worldwide every
year. The fact that it is by an Irishman
who has a reputation for being as ‘dry
as dust’ has ensured that it has been
roundly ignored by virtually all the
movers and shakers in the musical world.
In 1993 Stanford enthusiasts
were able to hear the First Piano
Concerto in G major which had been
written in 1894. Although not as satisfying
and downright romantic as its successor
it was a great find. It is certainly
a lighter-weight work, yet it is full
of good tunes and attractive working
out of the material. It never tires
or bores the listener.
So it was with considerable
apprehension that I loaded the Third
Concerto in Eb into the CD player.
Would it fulfil my expectations?
The short answer is
that it did! There will be ample time
in the coming months for reviewers to
produce a detailed analysis of this
Concerto: to decide its relative
merits and demerits. However at this
stage I want to make three statements
about this work. Firstly we are lucky
to be able to approach this work in
the early years of the 21st
century. If this recording had been
released in the 1950s, 1960s or 1970s
it would have been ridiculed. It is
a romantic work: Stanford certainly
wears his heart on his sleeve. It is
possible to note a dozen influences
and references all of which would have
led critics of a previous generation
to dismiss the work as derivative. Scratch
the surface and we find Brahms, Rachmaninov,
Rubinstein and a host of others. Bearing
in mind that this work was composed
in 1919 there are no nods to serialism,
jazz or neo-classicism. This is retro
music and rightly so. It only since
Chandos began to release the Stanford
Symphonies and other orchestral
works that we have been able to appreciate
the composer for what he is. He is not
dry as dust: he is not hidebound by
musical pedantry – but a great romantic
with a Capital R who was never afraid
to write a good tune or to tug at the
heart strings. Stanford’s music is warm-hearted
as well as being well written and formally
sound.
Secondly, the present
Third Piano Concerto is a great
work. To me it is not quite as successful
as the Second, but it is only
fair to point out that I have known
the latter work for twenty years: the
former I have listened to twice. The
Third Concerto is full of good
tunes. The balance of ‘first’ and ‘second’
subjects in the opening movement is
absolutely perfect. There is a surprising
depth in the enigmatic middle movement
and a splendid closing ‘allegro’. There
are moments in this work that bring
tears to the eyes: much of the piano’s
musings can only be described as ‘heart-easing.’
This is a lovers’ concerto as well as
a flamboyant display of technical virtuosity.
Thirdly, we have to
thank the late and great Geoffrey Bush
for realising this work for the present
generation. The original existed only
in a two-piano version. Bush brought
his skill as a composer and as an enthusiast
for the music of Stanford to bear on
this concerto. It is a huge success
and has been 100% worthwhile.
The Cello Concerto
in D minor is quite a different
work to the Piano Concerto of
1919. The former work was written when
the composer was 28 years old and nods
to Dvořák.
Lewis Foreman in his excellent programme
notes writes that “Stanford (at that
time) was to all intents and purposes
a pan-German composer with regional
accent, though that accent was not yet
Irish.”
Stanford has an excellent
understanding of the relationship between
the soloist and the orchestra. At no
time in this work does it threaten to
overpower the cellist. In fact it acts
much more as an accompanist than as
a competitor. The most obvious thing
about this composition is the seeming
cornucopia of tunes. The cello part
just keeps unfolding and expanding before
our ears. The first movement is in sonata
form, but there is no sense of the inevitable
or the obvious. Each statement of each
theme is perfectly balanced and timed.
I believe that this first movement is
the true heart of the work. The second
movement is perhaps a ‘ballad:’ it is
written as ‘molto adagio.’ This is beautiful
music. I cannot care a jot that critics
will play ‘hunt the allusion’. It is
a truly wonderful exploration of slow
and reflective material. Just accept
that there is little in the way of ‘Celtic’
twilight here – it is more Lough Neagh
or the Wicklow Hills or some ancient
Irish legend seen through the eyes of
a German!
Mr Foreman, rightly
I think, sees the last movement as a
precursor of Stanford’s later closing
movements where he used Irish dance
rhythms. Of course it is also easy to
see this music as an Anglo-Irish response
to the great contemporary Slavonic
Dances
by Dvořák.
On two hearings I am
impressed. The Cello Concerto in
D minor may not be a masterpiece:
it may not rival Elgar's later work
but it is a fine essay using a musical
language that was close to hand. I hope
that as this work becomes better known
it will join that very small repertoire
of fine British Cello Concertos that
have a permanent place in the heart
of all enthusiasts of British music.
I need hardly add that
the playing on this disc is stunning.
The sound quality is beholden to no-one
and the programme notes are extremely
helpful.
This CD is a must for
all enthusiasts of Stanford’s music.
I guarantee that it will not disappoint:
in fact it will inspire you and make
you want to explore the music of this
Great Man in much more detail. And that
can be no bad thing!
John France
for details
Alexander Baillie (cello); Malcolm Binns
(piano) 
