According to the comprehensive booklet notes that accompany this
disc, Moeran himself held his piano music in little regard. I must
admit that I have also found this wonderful composer’s piano
output less striking and personal than his superb chamber and orchestral
works. This absorbing two CD set is therefore especially valuable
and it has two points strongly in its favour; firstly the persuasive
advocacy of Duncan Honeybourne - who clearly loves this music); and
secondly the placing of Moeran’s piano works within the broader
context of the English and Irish keyboard writing of the time. The
results are illuminating and have certainly led me to rethink my attitude
to this neglected music.
The principal rival in this repertoire is Eric Parkin, who recorded
a splendidly played Lyrita disc in the early seventies with a selection
of Moeran works (
now
reissued with pieces by William Baines). He then created a new
CD of Moeran works in the mid nineties (on the J. Martin Stafford
label:
JMSCD2), but
the later release, although having the advantage of tucking all the
piano works onto a single disc, was marginally less successful in
terms of performance.
Duncan Honeybourne’s speeds tend to be a touch slower than Eric
Parkin’s. This heightens the dreamy atmosphere of many of these
pieces to great effect. The performance of “Stalham River”
is a notable success and Honeybourne is also excellent in the poetic
Delius-like musings of “Summer Valley”. The latter is
beautifully played and preferable to Parkin’s rather wooden
account on his later Stafford disc. The “Toccata” is less
hectic than the two Parkin renditions and Honeybourne manages to find
the melancholy lurking behind the notes. The “Three Fancies”
are amongst the best known of Moeran’s keyboard works and Honeybourne’s
performance does full justice to these attractive miniatures.
Moeran’s “Two Legends” are perhaps his most impressive
piano music. Parkin (Lyrita) has a slight edge here, as his performance
is a touch more dramatic, with climaxes more sharply etched. Parkin
(again on Lyrita) is also marginally preferable in the well-known
“Bank Holiday”, his direct approach generating plenty
of excitement. Otherwise, Honeybourne is in a class of his own, and
his account of the “Theme and Variations” (Moeran’s
most substantial piano work) is unsurpassed on disc.
I would rate this new two CD set as the best complete recording of
Moeran’s piano output.
William Baines could be described as the John Keats of English piano
music. Short-lived, intensely poetic and precociously brilliant, he
arguably achieved more by the age of twenty-three than any other British
composer. Perhaps his only rival in this respect is another Yorkshireman,
Kenneth Leighton. His “Seven Preludes” are a masterly
achievement and it is astonishing that Baines completed them at the
age of nineteen. They are given a gorgeous performance here. Eric
Parkin (Lyrita) is more dramatic in the Fourth Prelude but Honeybourne
has the advantage in the moving Third and Fifth Preludes. Both performances
are essential listening. I would really like to hear Duncan Honeybourne
play a complete Baines disc, as there is so much of this magnificent
composer’s music that lies buried - how about one or two of
his Piano Sonatas? While we are on the subject of Baines, when will
we get to hear a professionally played recording of his Symphony,
which the distinguished critic Peter J. Pirie rated so highly?
I loved the “Prelude, Minuet and Reel” by Thomas Pitfield.
I had heard of this composer but this is the first time I have had
the fortune to encounter his music. What a find! The performance of
this delicious work is beyond praise; a truly sparkling rendition.
The Vaughan Williams pieces are better known and are played beautifully
here, particularly “The Lake in the Mountains”. Herbert
Howells’ late Sonatina is more abrasive in idiom than the other
pieces; Honeybourne gets to the heart of this elusive piece in a very
well-judged reading. Howells is also represented by his “The
“Chosen” Tune”, which is extremely moving as performed
here. The Ronald Swaffield pieces are charmingly old-fashioned; his
“Intermezzo alla Pastorale”, here receiving its debut
on disc, is distinctly Brahmsian. Another work receiving its premiere
recording is the Aloys Fleischmann
Suite for Piano, which is
notably distinctive and individual in style. Lyrical ideas are successfully
balanced with slightly harder-edged material to make this a fine introduction
to Fleischmann’s output.
This disc is very well recorded and, as usual with EM Records, has
excellent documentation. Lovers of British music and indeed lovers
of piano music generally will want to have this CD.
David Jennings
www.davidjenningscomposer.co.uk
Review Index: EJ Moeran
Track listing
Ernest John MOERAN (1894-1950)
Stalham River (1921) [6:26]
Theme and Variations (1920) [14:18]
Herbert HOWELLS (1892-1983)
Sonatina for Piano (1971) [13:33]
E.J. MOERAN
Two Folksong Arrangements (1926-1927) [7:42]
Aloys FLEISCHMANN (1910-1992)
Sreath do Phiano (Suite for Piano) (1933) [11:50]
Ronald SWAFFIELD (1889-1962)
Rapallo [4:05]
Sailing Along [2:06]
Intermezzo alla Pastorale [3:14]
E.J. MOERAN
Two Legends (1923) [11:22]
Herbert HOWELLS
The “Chosen” Tune (1920) [1:43]
E.J. MOERAN
Three Piano Pieces (1919) [13:28]
On a May Morning (1921) [3:55]
Thomas PITFIELD (1903-1999)
Prelude, Minuet and Reel (1931) [7:35]
E.J. MOERAN
Three Fancies (1922) [9:38]
William BAINES (1899-1922)
Seven Preludes (1919) [14:46]
Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
Hymn Tune Prelude on ‘Song 13’ (Gibbons) (1928) [3:00]
The Lake in the Mountains (1947) [3:55]
E.J. MOERAN
Toccata (1921) [5:49]
Summer Valley (1925) [7:05]
Bank Holiday (1925) [2:33]
Two Pieces (1933) [6:56]
