Daniel
Jones wrote fourteen symphonies
between 1944 and 1992. There are useful
notes to this disc and they are, as
usual, in English only. The writer Lyn
Davies groups the symphonies into three
groups: 1-5 (in the late-romantic tradition
– the First plays for just short of
an hour); 6-9 (characterised by structural
experimentation); 10-13 (still tonal
but minimalist in approach – concentrated
and essential rather in the reduced
manner of Alwyn 5 and Rubbra 10 and
11 though in a different soundworld).
The BBC have over the
years broadcast two complete cycles
of these symphonies from studio sessions
in the 1950s-1990s. The conductors included
Charles Groves, Erich Bergel, Bryden
Thomson (not ‘Thompson’ as it is shown
in the insert notes), Owain Arwel Hughes,
Richard Hickox and John Carewe. I recall
being first captivated by Jones’s symphonies
through broadcasts, which I still have
on tape, of the BBC Welsh conducted
by the composer in symphonies 8 and
9. The Eighth made a particular and
memorable impact on me and I approached
this CD with high expectations.
The Fourth Symphony
was a National Eisteddfod commission
in memory of the composer’s friend Dylan
Thomas. In fact Jones contributed a
foreword to Thomas’s collected poems.
Jones also provided the music for the
famous Richard Burton broadcast of Under
Milk Wood. The composer wrote about
their relationship in the book: My
Friend Dylan Thomas. The Symphony
is in three substantial movements which
project a sense of the epic, of the
nostalgic and the tragic – the raw stuff
of symphonies. It bears some resemblance
to the style of William Alwyn especially
in the finale. Lyn Davies refers to
the work as the composer’s "‘Fern
Hill’ Symphony where both composer and
poet are ‘… young and easy in the mercy
of his means’." The final bars
bring us back to the wisp of a theme
and the slow stutter of the opening
movement.
The Seventh Symphony
is in five movements though tracked
as four – the last two share a track.
It was an RPO commission. Its approach
to tonality is comparatively conservative
although the romantic tonality of the
Fourth Symphony is moderated by a citrus
edge with an effect similar to Rawsthorne’s
orchestral style. That said there are
still many extremely romantic episodes
of a type which Rawsthorne would have
avoided like the plague. The Scherzando
makes playful use of xylophone and
flashes along like a will o’ the wisp.
The Solenne fourth movement and
conjoined Con brio fifth open
with a Bergian-sour note cell and then
move directly into a forthright deeply
romantic sighing statement for the strings.
The work ends in jagged rhythmic angularity.
The Eighth Symphony
is from the same year as the Seventh
but was a commission for the Swansea
Festival. It was written in memory of
another of the composer’s close friends,
the conductor Warwick Braithwaite who
had died in 1971. That sense of the
epic can be heard in the first of the
five movements as well as Jones’ fascination
with percussion sonorities – he wrote
a sonata for three kettle drums. An
orchestral piano and extensive percussion
is deployed in the Scherzando with
its dour yet powerful blend of Martinů
and Walton. That piano returns
again to help create a slow-wheeling
vortex as well as moments of defiance
in the Capriccioso. The penultimate
Doloroso is superbly done with
drum-roll under a thoughtful horn line
and a dankly melancholy Moeran-like
atmosphere. The finale is playful and
then grasps triumph in the final F major
blaze.
I hope that the release
of this disc will prompt the Welsh cultural
authorities to support recordings of
the remaining unrecorded symphonies
as well as the Cello Concerto broadcast
by Tim Hugh in 1996 and the Violin Concerto
championed by Ronald Thomas in 1980.
Then there are other deserving works:
The Cloud Messenger, Ieuneuctid
Overture, Dobra Niva, Sinfonietta
and Salute to Dylan Thomas.
Jones’ Saint Peter oratorio also
merits attention but then so does Arwel
Hughes’ Dewi Sant.
Rob Barnett
Also Available on Lyrita
SRCD.326
Daniel
Jones Symphonies Nos. 6, 9
for details
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Charles
Groves* 
Sound
Sample 
