This represents a cannily
put together collection. This is the
first ever issue of these versions of
the North American Square Dance Suite
and the Symphony. They have been
‘in the can’ since the early 1990s.
The Overture was issued in the early
1970s on Lyrita LP SRCS 47 alongside
other ‘Lyrita Lollipops’ by Delius,
Walton and Bliss. Cotillon derives
from a 1980s Lyrita LP: SRCS 115. Both
the overture and Cotillon can
also be heard on a mixed Australian
light music collection on ABC.
Benjamin was Australian
but spent most of his life in the UK
with the odd sojourn in the USA. Lyrita
are renowned for their attention to
neglected British music yet here they
are with the second recording of the
Benjamin symphony. It’s not out of order.
Benjamin was an adopted Brit and his
creativity and career were bound up
with the life of the British Isles.
The disc also serves
to point up two aspects of Benjamin’s
music: the light and the serious. He
wrote many light pieces amongst which
the most famous are the Jamaican
Rumba and San Domingo recently
featured with other light pieces on
ABC Classics. On the other hand he produced
a steady flow of serious works including
operas, concertos for violin and piano,
a Ballade for strings and this Symphony.
Myer Fredman's version
of the Overture to an Italian Comedy
with the RPO is a ‘Lyrita lollipop’
from an early 1970s LP. Joseph Post
on an even earlier ABC CD directs a
performance with rougher edges. It lacks
the zip of the Lyrita and for that matter
of the vintage Frederick Stock/Chicago
version on Biddulph. The work explores
territory familiar from Barber's School
for Scandal overture and two overtures
by Benjamin's friend, Bax: the peppy
Work in Progress and Overture
to a Picaresque Comedy. It is no
surprise to hear that the Benjamin used
this as an overture to his own opera
Prima Donna.
From effervescence
to neo-classicism: Cotillon is
based not too tightly on original eighteenth
century dances. You will know what to
expect if you are familiar with Moeran's
Serenade, Rubbra's Farnaby
Improvisations, the outer movements
of Finzi's violin concerto and the full
orchestral version of Warlock's Capriol
Suite. There’s a dab of Pulcinella
here and a touch of tenderness there.
Patrick Thomas in his ABC recording
is more successful than Del Mar in conveying
the sheer zest of this work. The North
American Square Dance suite – no
doubt recalling his West Coast Pacific
years - is a playful charmer although
its fizz is in some cases a little lacking
in bubble.
The Symphony had its
first commercially issued recording
courtesy of Marco Polo. This was 8.223764.
Dedicated to RVW, this work was a product
of Benjamin’s Vancouver and Oregon years,
written during the summer holidays of
1943, 1944 and 1945. He said that it
was intended: "to mirror the feelings
- the despairs and hopes - of the times
in which I live." It is a classic
war symphony that in the present recording
can at last stand fully tall.
My expectations were
high having first discovered this deeply
impressive piece through a tape of fragmentary
acetates of a truly electrifying performance
(BBCSO/Boult) cutting through the primitive
1940s recording. The symphony itself
is heavy with dark clouds, drama, grimness
and heroism lit with an occasionally
light-hearted spirit. It has something
of the atmosphere of Walton’s First
and VW 4, 5 - a work for which Benjamin
had the highest regard - and 6. One
might loosely associate this work also
with the Hubert Clifford Symphony (Chandos),
the Bernard Herrmann Symphony (Unicorn;
Koch), the Arnell Third (Dutton) and
the Alwyn First (Lyrita, Chandos, Naxos,
Dutton).
The Marco Polo sound
for Lyndon-Gee conveys a natural concert
hall effect with plenty of impact. I
would have preferred though a greater
emphasis on the strings, but, that very
minor quibble aside, this was a satisfying
recording.
Wordsworth’s version
has more choking gravitas and sturdily
emphasised tension – as dark a performance
as I have heard. Mind you my comparison
pool is not large: from the Boult-conducted
(or is it Benjamin or Barbirolli?) fragmented
acetates to the 1980s broadcast by Patrick
Thomas with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
The massively effective expansive gait
of the Lyrita version contrasts with
Lyndon-Gee’s headlong ardour. Wordsworth’s
approach works consistently most especially
in the broad Adagio Appassionato
third movement with its cauldron of
the emotions. Other works’ influence
can be heard including in the first
movement: the Tallis Fantasia (11:30
in I) and the Roy Harris symphonies
of the early 1940s – stigmata also carried
in John Veale’s wonderful First Symphony.
The Benjamin symphony is a most potently
charged work. That sturdy chant-undertow
theme opens the work with a tidal surge.
It also acts in various forms as an
irresistible instigator-hortator throughout
– a truly inspired idea. The finale
is one of rhythmic splendour and brilliance
albeit in dark gemstone hues. True to
symphonic majesty-tragedy the undertow
theme returns to crown the proceedings.
Benjamin’s light and
serious sides are here generously represented
in vivid performances and with superlative
recording qualities to match.
Rob Barnett
The
Lyrita Catalogue
for
details
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Myer Fredman
(overture); London Symphony Orchestra/Nicholas
Braithwaite (Cotillon); London
Philharmonic Orchestra/Barry Wordsworth
(Dance Suite; Symphony) 
