Wow!
What an enjoyable disc — never be put
off by a dull CD picture.
Here,
one might imagine that we were listening
to some newly discovered and inspired
music by Mendelssohn. The romantic overtures
are scintillating and radiate considerable
warmth. Such apparent similarities to
Mendelssohn become clear when one reads
in the notes that Sterndale Bennett
had a fascination and close association
with the master.
The
composer’s life makes interesting reading.
The death of his father - when William
was aged two - had, unexpectedly, proved
a good turn because his grandparents
had lifted him from the depressing gloom
of industrial Sheffield where he was
born and taken him to the rural elegance
of Cambridge where he grew up. In a
forward-looking educational environment
the young William prospered with a good
start in life. This led to a successful
career in music and eventually turned
full circle when he came back to Cambridge
as a professor at the University. From
what we hear in this music, one wonders
how such a talented composer could have
become so neglected? The compositions
are skillfully written with stirring
rhythms and lush orchestration.
Having
had no previous access to this composer
I decided to put it in context by listening
to other works. The only recordings
I could find were also issued on the
Lyrita label: Piano Concertos 1 and
4 on SRCD
204,
and Piano Concertos 2 and 5 on SRCD
205
with Malcolm Binns and the Philharmonia
under Nicholas Braithwaite. Although
imaginatively written and well crafted
as the concertos 2 and 5 undoubtedly
were, I found this disc to be more inspired.
See Colin Clarke’s Concerto reviews
linked above.
Three
of the four Sterndale Bennett overtures
deal with the fantasy world of spirits
and fairies popular in the mid 19th
Century. Weber had his Oberon
and Der Freischütz; Mendelssohn
had his A Midsummer’s Night Dream
and dabbled with an unfinished Loreley
legend (Op.98); Lortzing his Undine;
Offenbach his Les fées du
Rhin, and Wallace with his Lurline.
I could go on. This was a period when
Europe enjoyed fantasy tales of rustic
folklore and when even serious-minded
members of the establishment believed
in the existence of the ‘little people’.
The
May Queen is a pageant - called
‘A Pastoral’ by Bennett and its writer
Chorley - which is full of rustic charm
with amorous interaction between the
May Queen and her suitor. It involves
a fight between Robin Hood and the Queen’s
Lover before the real Queen Beth arrives
and shuns Robin, Captain of the Foresters,
for his outrage. Calm is restored in
a short finale. The work, printed in
a Novello Edition includes a piano version
of the overture exactly as it is played
in the full score used here. The piece
is gushing with energy and engaging
choppy rhythms that must have been ‘modern’
for the time. It is a pity that some
of the tracery played by the first violins
is masked by other sections of the orchestra,
but this doesn’t detract unduly.
The
Wood Nymphs, an earlier work,
is more inspired. A tranquil hymn-like
opening flows into a gentle and endearing
tripping measure provided by staccato
woodwind - so appropriate for such dainty
creatures with fluttering wings. The
music is bright and contains purposeful
thematic content, punctuated by rousing
chords that promote power. Bennett uses
his orchestral forces well. It seems
to me that here A Midsummer’s Night’s
Dream meets Iolanthe’s ‘Tripping
hither’.
Of
the overtures, I think The Naiades
is the longest and most spectacularly
written with its good imagery, haunting
melody lines and frothy, skipping rhythms.
Opening with a lush, seductive main
theme - not unlike one I remember from
Marschner’s Der Vampyr - the
piece moves forward with meaningful
purpose and gain in energy. A linking
pizzicato effect favoured by the German
School has been heard in a Beethoven
symphony.
Parisina,
the earliest piece is heavier in character
than the overtures although it opens
with an initial gentleness. Gathering
twists and turns eventually lead to
a stabilizing plateau. Pleasant as it
is, this is the least maturely constructed
work even though the piece underwent
many revisions after the first performance.
Nevertheless it contains elements that
sparkle.
The
Symphony in G minor is
a light yet endearing symphonic work.
In fact Bennett himself referred to
it as his Overture-Symphonique
when in its original three movement
form. He then added a fourth movement
and dropped any reference to ‘Overture’.
Its lightness remains and he could have
been mocked as Tchaikovsky had been
over giving such a light work the formal
title of ‘Symphony’ even if its symphonic
form is correct.
Nevertheless,
the work is spectacularly atmospheric
with a swirling, sturdy theme pervading
the first movement. This depicts a river
representing ‘the waves of life’. I
just wonder if Smetana had ever heard
the work because it holds similarities
in wind and string sections to his tone
poem, The Moldau or Vltava
(1874). The middle movement, a Minuet
and Rondo is lifted from a previous
piece written as a Cambridge Installation
Ode. This has elegant charm while
the following Larghetto stirs the emotions
and conveys an idyllic longing.
Amazingly,
the last movement was written on the
train from London to Cambridge - about
1½ hours in those days. The catchy swirling
theme of the scherzo owes something
to Hungarian influence. The urgency
shown in this movement is maintained
until it reaches an unexpected finish,
without the usual recapitulation or
coda.
The
recording is stunning with the agile
Philharmonic and Philharmonia on form.
Special mention should be made of the
wonderful Philharmonic’s brass section
in the Symphony’s 2nd movement
where their sonic blend is superb. Throughout,
the scores are sensitively read by Braithwaite
and he is successful in teasing out
good dynamics from the excellent forces
around him.
The
notes are in English only.
Raymond
Walker
See
also review by Rob Barnett
for details
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Nicholas
Braithwaite 
