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English Music for Viola and Piano
William Lewarne HARRIS (1929-2013)
Suite for viola and piano (1952) [10:46]
Alan RICHARDSON (1904-1978)
Intrada for viola and piano (1939) [4:34]
Thomas DUNHILL (1877-1946)
Triptych, Three Impressions for viola and orchestra Op 99 (1942 arr. 1945) [14:15]
Wilfrid MELLERS (1914-2008)
Sonata for viola and piano (1949) [19:17]
Christopher EDMUNDS (1899-1990)
Sonata in D minor for viola and piano (1957) [13:28]
Norman FULTON (1909-1980)
Sonata da camera for viola and piano (1952) [13:35]
Thomas PITFIELD (1903-1999)
Sonatina for viola and piano (1947) [6:58]
Sarah-Jane Bradley (viola)
John Lenehan (piano)
rec. November 2020, St George’s Headstone, Harrow, UK
DUTTON EPOCH CDLX7390 SACD [82:42]

This really interesting and unusual programme of substantial viola and piano works is the brainchild of the disc’s producer Michael Ponder. In his day, Ponder was an excellent violist himself and the music here is from Ponder’s own collection which in turn he inherited from Winifred Copperwheat. Copperwheat studied at the Royal Academy of Music (where she latterly taught) under Lionel Tertis. Tertis’ name is the most enduringly famous British violist of the first half of the 20^th Century but part of the value of this disc is to remind listeners of other equally celebrated players – Watson Forbes and Bernard Shore to name but two.

As a concept this CD is interesting but that would count for little if it were not as well played as it is by Sarah-Jane Bradley and John Lenehan. Unlike some recitals of unfamiliar music, nearly the entire disc comprises substantial works – all receiving their World Premiere recordings - that are both musically and technically demanding. Even for a player of Bradley’s stature, this is a big ‘learn’ and we must be grateful for the investment time and effort that this represents. John Lenehan is equally impressive as co-performer and they are backed up by an excellent SACD multi-channel recording. I listened to the stereo SACD layer and was very impressed by the natural sound-stage with both instruments ideally balanced and positioned within a pleasingly realistic concert acoustic – unfussily demonstration quality sound.

Of the seven composers represented on this disc only Thomas Dunhill and Thomas Pitfield have any significant (a relative term) recorded presence previously. But as Ponder writes in the liner note; “What becomes apparent from the lovingly prepared performances on this disc, is just how good all this music is..... the range of styles is extraordinary. One can only wonder at the other music by these composers”. Just so – indeed I would go further and say there are a couple of works here that deserve to be part of the ‘standard’ viola repertoire they are so fine. The disc opens with the Suite for Viola and Piano by William Lewarne Harris. Harris won the Tertis Prize at the Royal College of Music for this work while a student which is not surprising at all. The three movements last a combined length of around ten minutes but this is wonderfully confident and apt writing for both instruments. This is immediately apparent from the opening bars of the first movement Poco Vivace. Given its student provenance there is no shame in hearing the occasional influence of more established composers such as Walton or even a faint echo of folk-song. The central Siciliano ‘La Morte [sic] de Procris is an absolute gem - a gently lilting lament. This movement also highlights a particular feature of Bradley’s playing that is evident throughout – the evenness of her tone production is exceptional. Many of these works exploit the very highest register of the viola which Bradley plays with not just total technical security but also a beautifully sweet open tone. At the other end of the instrument’s range the benefits of the rich C string are clear but again without the tubbiness that can affect some performances.

Alan Richardson’s Intrada is the disc’s only self-contained short work. But in its 4:34 span Richardson packs a remarkable amount of musical incident. In two sections a stately Maestoso contrasts with a nimble and playful Allegro vivace – played with easy virtuosity by Bradley. Richardson is a name quite unknown to me – he taught piano at the RAM up until his death in 1978. Wikipedia lists a substantial catalogue of chamber and keyboard music. Another piece well-worth hearing. I must admit to having a slightly guarded opinion of Thomas Dunhill. By over twenty years he is the oldest composer represented on this disc. Born in 1877 Dunhill belong to that golden generation of “English Musical Renaissance” composers that includes Bax, Holst, Bridge, Bantock and Vaughan Williams to name a handful. Dunhill’s music is always beautifully crafted and attractive. But alongside the aforementioned composers to my ear it lacks that extra spark of individuality and genius. Also, even within the relatively conservative world of British music, Dunhill is a backward looking voice. Tantalisingly the Triptych Op.99 recorded here is the piano reduction version of his Three Impressions for Viola & Orchestra premiered by Tertis at the 1942 Proms accompanied by Sir Adrian Boult and the BBC SO. The liner says that the orchestral parts were lost following that premiere and has never been heard since. I wonder if lost means destroyed in the War? For sure this is an attractive work – most impressive in the first movement Andante con moto ma tranquillo. But the “pastoral idyll” style lies just a bit too anonymously across the work as a whole – there is the sneaking feeling that other composers occupied a very similar emotional and musical landscape to this but did it better. Dunhill wrote a substantial amount of educational and amateur-targeted music and I must admit I feel that is where his strength lies; well-crafted yet unpretentious scores. All that said, I cannot imagine better advocacy than that given here by Bradley and Lenehan and certainly it would be a delight if the original orchestral version surfaced.

The essential conservatism of the Dunhill is thrown into sharp relief when juxtaposed with Wilfrid Mellers’ Viola Sonata which follows it on the disc and was written just four years after the Dunhill. Immediately here is a probing and deeply impressive score. The work opens with an austere Lento with the very highest register of the viola tested with some angular and impassioned writing. There is a Shostakovichian intensity and starkness to this writing that is both instantly engaging and very impressive. Likewise the following Allegro agitato is turbulent and unsettled with the demanding writing for both players performed here with commanding skill. The work closes with another pensive movement – here marked Molto adagio although the music seems to have banished most of night terrors present in the central Rondo allowing the movement a steady stately progress that results in a conclusion which achieves a final tranquillity towards which the whole work has been striving. I have to say on a disc of impressive music this is the work that has made the greatest impact.

Mellers was a remarkable character – he initially studied English which he latterly taught at York University where he then subsequently set up and ran the same University’s music department which became in the late 1970’s one of the most highly regarded and innovative music departments in the UK. He wrote extensively on music of all disciplines and many of his books are still fascinating and often challenging reads. As it happens he was the external examiner for my own music degree in the early 1980’s! In the midst of all this academic and literary brilliance his own work as a composer has become rather obscured. At a single stroke this Sonata tears down this veil of ignorance and makes me intrigued to hear what else he wrote. Mellers was in his mid thirties by the time he wrote this work so it is clearly the music of a composer who has found his own voice. Not only is this a satisfyingly well-proportioned work but it is confidently individual. Certainly the influences that there are seem more European in general rather than English which simply reflects that Mellers was part of that generation of composers who came after the initial phase of the Renaissance which saw folk music and ‘early’ music as a significant source of musical liberation.

But if the Mellers Sonata made a major impact, then Christopher Edmunds’ Viola Sonata in D minor is not far behind. Edmunds studied with Bantock at the Birmingham School of Music and spent most of his working life there ultimately succeeding Bantock as Principal in 1945. This is a compact work and one that has a more modest musical and emotional scale. But again it hard not to be impressed by the sheer skill of the composition and its range – more highly expressive and responsive playing from Bradley underlining the wistful neo-Romanticism of this very attractive score. Of course in the late 1950’s it was probably this very neo-romantic style that condemned Edmunds’ music to the scrap-heap for being too old-fashioned and backward-looking. Sixty years later it seems absurd that music of this quality could be ignored for in effect ideological reasons. Edmunds’ archive is held by the University of Birmingham and includes three symphonies, four operas(!), ten choral works and twenty five chamber works. A tiny handful of works have been published including this string sonata but clearly the bulk of his work lies forgotten. There is an impressive performance on YouTube of a Piano Sonata in B minor. Interestingly this work occupies a very different emotional landscape to the current Viola Sonata. The piano work has a Baxian stormy virtuosity and also appeared on a two-disc set from EM Records which I have not heard – the YouTube seems to be a different performance albeit by the same pianist from the CD. Biographical information about Edmunds is frustratingly scarce. There’s The Bellman that was performed at the Proms in 1929 and 1931, the 1938 Piano Sonata, his career as principal of the Birmingham School which he left in 1956, this Viola Sonata from 1957 and then just about nothing except the year of his death as recently as 1990.

Michael Ponder’s connection with the next work; Norman Fulton’s Sonata da camera is a close one. Ponder studied harmony with Fulton at the RAM in the 1960’s with the composer asking Ponder to perform this Sonata at a concert in Kent – with the composer at the keyboard. Ponder suggests that this was the last time the work was performed prior to this recording. Another compact but highly effective work, its total neglect is simply mystifying. Fulton’s musical language is closer to Mellers’ Euro-centric style rather than the pastoralism of Dunhill. But, as with all the music performed here, tonality is key [pardon the pun!]. As implied by the title, this has a deliberately modest scale and range but within that self-imposed limitation this is beautifully crafted.

The scale of Thomas Pitfield’s Viola Sonatina is slighter still. As mentioned before, by the standards of fame on this disc, Pitfield is one of the best-known composers represented here. This little two-movement sonatina is a quirky, good humoured work with the piano writing in particular spry and articulate. There is no emotional journey in this piece comparable to that found elsewhere – just a pair of enjoyably contrasted and engaging movements. Again both Bradley and Lenehan show an unerring understanding and feel for the music which brings the disc to an energetic and entertaining conclusion.

Do not let the unfamiliarity of the composers named here put you off from sampling this disc. Every single work offers music of real worth and interest and I cannot imagine these excellent, skilled and sensitive performances ever being bettered. The remarkably generous running time of over eighty minutes is anther bonus. Finally, add the excellence of the Dutton production and engineering and the result is a passion-project from Michael Ponder that is a triumphant success.

Nick Barnard

Previous review: Jonathan Woolf