Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was one of the late romantic era’s
most appealing, poetic voices, but admittedly not an especially original
one. He did very well things others had already done very well, which along
with his death at age 37 explains his undeserved obscurity.
Coleridge-Taylor’s best music - the
Violin Concerto leaps to
mind - is so gorgeous, tuneful, and immaculately-crafted that his place in
the mainstream repertoire deserves to be secure. Some of this
“undiscovered” piano music belongs on that shortlist.
The three
Cameos, Op. 56 begin the CD with an excellent
summary of Coleridge-Taylor’s style: influences of Dvořák,
American-style melody, and piano writing which is poetic but never
especially taxing. The second
Cameo is probably catchiest, a
humoresque-type encore that would suit someone like Stephen Hough; you can
almost hear the birth of Gershwin’s style. Of the
Valse Suite, Op.
71, it’s again the second which is the standout. These waltzes are
so emotionally varied, and so well-differentiated by Waka Hasegawa, that
they feel like a coherent suite of different works, not just a series of
waltzes.
The most substantial single movement on the disc is a scherzo-style
Moorish Dance, Op. 55, which runs nearly ten minutes. It
doesn’t sound especially Moorish - the excellent booklet essay says it
is “limiting the Arab element to what a British audience would not
find too alien” - but it’s a rhythmically complex, engaging
piece, like a tamer Chopin scherzo. To me the ‘trio’ theme is
very charmingly American. The suite of
Forest Scenes is appealing
enough but not on the same level, despite the composer’s attempt to
inspire himself with titles like “Erstwhile They Ride the Forest
Maiden Acknowledges Her Love.” It’s a reminder that
Coleridge-Taylor wrote a lot of his music to meet the deadlines and pay the
bills.
As mentioned, we’re indebted to Waka Hasegawa for her
sensitive, very capable performances of this music, and the engineers give
Coleridge-Taylor a chance to be heard at his best. The record label,
Metropolis, is also listed as the publisher of this music, but if these are
world premiere recordings, or if the music really has been newly
rediscovered, the booklet does not say so. Possibly a page explaining the
music’s provenance has gone missing from my copy; my booklet is a PDF,
downloaded along with the album from
Clas
sicsOnline, and the pages are all out of order.
So if the late-romantic piano repertoire of Dvořák,
MacDowell, Paderewski, and the encores on those Stephen Hough piano albums
is your kind of thing, give this a try and enjoy it. Pair it with a glass of
wine.
Brian Reinhart