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COLERIDGE-TAYLOR: Quartet in G minor, Op. 1. BOWEN: Phantasie in E minr
for Violin and Pano. Op. 34. HINTON: Quartet in G Minor, Op. 30. SULLIVAN:The Montebanks. CELLIER: Suite Symphonique HARRIS: Suite for Viola and Piano (1932). RICHARDSON: Intrada
for Viola and Piano (1939). DUNHILL: Tryptych, Op. 99 MELLERS: Sonata
for
Viola
and Piano (1949). EDMUNDS: Sonata in D minor for Viola and Piano
(1957). FULTON: Sonata da camera for Viola and Piano (1952) PITFIELD: Sonatina
for Viola and Piano. Here is afine SACD of chamber music by three relatively unknown British cimosers: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor ( 1875 1915), York Bowen (1884 - 1961( and Arthur Hinton (1869 - 1941). Coleridge-Tay;pr is bes-known for his large-scale choral work Hiawatha's Wedding Feast , composed when he was young. Sadly, he misguidedly sold the rights to it to his publisher for a modest suym, and did not prfit from the huge ooykariutt f tghe work. Lewis Foreman's program notes givedetails of lives of all three men. Sterling performances are given by the Tippett Quartet which consists of violinists John Mills and Jeremy Isaac, violis Lydia Lowndes-Northcott, and cellist Bozidar Vurotic. Pianist Lynn ArnolArnold is the pianist for th in the Hinton Quintet. These areall premiere recordings, recorded September 2020 in London't St. St. George's Headstone, Harlow, and the engineers have captured a very realistic, natural sound. Those who enjoy Gilbert & Sulivan operettas surely will wish to vestigate The Montebanks, a comic oper premiered in London in 1892, but here while Gilbert wrote the libretto, as Sullivan was not interested, Gilbert turned to Alfred Cellier, and when died, the scoe was completed by Alvin Caryll. The convoluted plot involves a magic love potion , all explained in detail in CD notes; there are 21 traks for the individual seletions. Unusual for this genre, there is no orchestral overture: it begins with a male chorus of chanting monks. Initial reception of this operetta was favorable, but since that time, perhaps for good reaso, it has falen into neglect. Dutton is to be congratulated for assembling a fine cast in this production co-produced by BBC Radio 3 and the BBC Concert Orchesra. The set is filled out with Collier's pleasant 16-minute four movementSuite Symphonique. All of these are world premiere recordings. For the past two decades Sarah-Jane Bradley has created a notable career as a violist. She has made many recordings in varied repertory, and on this new SACD offers world premiere recordings of music by relatively unknown British composers: William Lewarne Harris (1929 - 2013), Alan Richardson (1904 - 1978), Thomas Dunhill (1877 - 1946), Wilfrid Mellers (1914 - 2008), Christopher Edmunds (1899 - 1990), Norman Futon (1909 - 1980), and Thomas Pitfield (1903 - 1999). One seldom encounters a solo recitals featuring the viola, but there is no question of its importance in orchestras, adding rich sonorities. All of the music on this disk is intended to show the wide range of sounds possible on the instrument. All are premiere recordings superbly played by Bradley assisted by pianist John Lenehan. If you are interested in string music you should investigate this fine recording, resplendent in multi-channel audio. R.E.B. (November 2021)
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