Premiers &Encores
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SRCD.318 STEREO ADD DDD * PREMIERS HENRY HUGO PIERSON (1815-1873) 1 Macbeth, symphonic poem Op. 54 (1859) * (20’34”) ALAN RAWSTHORNE (1905-1971) &ENCORES 2 Fantasy Overture. Cortèges (1945) * (14’34”) DAVID MORGAN (1933-1988) Rawsthorne Cortèges Contrasts (1974) ** (21’47”) 3 1st Movement: Lento e solenne — (16’23”) Morgan Contrasts Presto misterioso ma con malizia 4 2nd Movement: Allegro energico (5’24”) Pierson Macbeth FRANCIS CHAGRIN (1905-1972) Chagrin • Arnold • Warlock 5 Concert Overture. Helter Skelter (1949) *** (6’46”) PETER WARLOCK (1894-1930) 6 Serenade for Strings (1922) † (7’44”) MALCOLM ARNOLD (1921-2006) 7 Comedy Overture . Beckus the Dandipratt (1943) †† (7’52”) (79’22”) * Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth ** Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley *** London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by John Pritchard London Philharmonic Orchestra † London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Braithwaite London Symphony Orchestra †† London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Braithwaite Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The above individual timings will normally each include two pauses. One before the beginning of each movement or work, and one after the end. John Pritchard * ൿ 2007 ** ൿ 1978 † ൿ 1985 †† *** ൿ 1979 The copyright in these sound recordings is owned by Lyrita Recorded Edition, England Nicholas Braithwaite This compilation and digital remastering ൿ 2007 Lyrita Recorded Edition, England © 2007 Lyrita Recorded Edition, England. Made in the UK Vernon Handley LYRITA RECORDED EDITION. Produced under an exclusive license from Lyrita Barry Wordsworth by Wyastone Estate Ltd, PO Box 87, Monmouth, NP25 3WX, UK Other works by ALAN RAWSTHORNE available on Lyrita: Symphonies 1, 2 & 3 London Philharmonic Orchestra / BBC Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Sir John Pritchard / Nicholas Braithwaite / Norman Del Mar …………………SRCD.291 Overture Street Corner, Piano Concertos 1 & 2, Symphonic Studies Malcolm Binns, piano, London Philharmonic Orchestra / London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Pritchard / Nicholas Braithwaite …………………………………………SRCD.255 Divertimento for Chamber Orchestra English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Norman Del Mar ………………………………………………………………………..SRCD.257 Other works by MALCOLM ARNOLD available on Lyrita: Symphony No. 4 Op. 71 London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Arnold ……………………..………..SRCD.200 English Dances – Set 1 Op. 27, Set 2 Op. 33, Solitaire, Sarabande & Polka, Irish Dances Op. 126, Scottish Dances Op. 59, Cornish Dances Op. 91 London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Arnold ……………………………….SRCD.201 Concerto no. 2 for Horn and Strings, Op. 58 David Pyatt, horn, London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Braithwaite …SRCD. 316 Sinfonietta No. 1 Op. 48 London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Braithwaite ……………………………..SRCD.257 Other works by PETER WARLOCK available on Lyrita: An Old Song London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult ………………………………SRCD.24 5 WARNING Copyright subsists in all Lyrita Recordings. Any unauthorised broadcasting. public performance, copying, rental or re-recording thereof in any manner whatsoever will constitute an infringement of such copyright. In the United Kingdom licences for the use of recordings for public performance may be obtained from Phonographic Performance Ltd., 1 Upper James Street, London, W1F 9DE 11 www.lyrita.co.uk HENRY HUGO PIERSON Macbeth, Symphonic Poem Op. 54 Notes © 2007 Lyrita Recorded Edition, England The reputation of Harrow and Cambridge-educated Henry Hugo Pierson (born Cover: istock photo Henry Hugh Pearson) rests chiefly on a large number of songs with piano accompaniment, though his output also includes works on a more substantial Original recording of David Morgan’s Contrasts was made with the financial support of the scale, including three unpublished operas, an oratorio, Jerusalem , performed at JOHNSON WAX ARTS FOUNDATION and the RVW TRUST. the 1852 Norwich Festival, and incidental music to the second part of Faust (1854). Morgan Pierson studied music in Leipzig and spent most of his adult life in Germany, even Recording location and date: April 1976, Kingsway Hall, London changing his name to sound more Teutonic. Yet he frequently found inspiration in English poetry and drama, especially Shakespeare, as in his Hamlet, marche Chagrin Recording location and date: January 1976, Kingsway Hall, London funèbre for piano, and three late orchestral works, the concert overtures As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet and the more substantial symphonic poem Macbeth Warlock (1859). Recording location and date: August 1978, Kingsway Hall, London Pierson showered the score of Macbeth with copious quotations and stage Arnold directions in German, though the listener need have no prior knowledge of this Recording location and date: September 1978, Watford Town Hall . detailed programme to appreciate the symphonic poem ’s dramatic inspiration. A Digital Remastering Engineer: Simon Gibson grave and ominous slow unison theme, dripping with portent, headed ‘Hours dreadful and things strange’ introduces the three witches. A lively Scottish-style march, graced with snap rhythms, accompanies Macbeth and his soldiers onto the blasted heath. Timorous tremolo strings herald the three witches’ ‘All hail!’ predictions, each characterised in turn (on trombone, clarinet and cornet, respectively); the First Witch’s prediction assumes great importance throughout the rest of the piece as a doom-laden motto-theme. Another significant recurring motif derives from the start of a gentle and appealing melody, appearing initially on clarinet, depicting Lady Macbeth: an incongruous piece of musical casting. Brisk fluctuations in tone and colour reflect the abundant superscriptions in the score of celebrated quotations: ‘If it were done when ‘tis done…’ appears over skulking strings, whilst ‘Is this a dagger…’ launches an extended passage dominated by staccato triplets. A substantial, eccentric Witches’ Dance enlivens the work’s central section with its quirky changes of rhythm and melodic twists and 10 3 turns. The final pages are packed with incident, including a rakish March for the austere textures of Arnold’s haunting Ninth Symphony (1986): the roots of his English army, the death of Lady Macbeth and a swift but fierce battle ( con brio , impressive symphonic legacy are planted in Beckus as firmly as those of Andrjez tutta forza ). The quiet, resigned ending incorporates brief references to work’s Panufnik in the Polish master’s Tragic Overture of 1940. opening theme and the First Witch’s ‘All hail!’ PAUL CONWAY Writing in the Musical Times on 1 June 1881, Archer Gurney described Henry Hugo Pierson as “a composer of peculiar power, a tone-poet, if ever there was one”. That “peculiar power” drives Macbeth , with its Berliozian splashes of orchestral colour, restless fluctuating rhythms and episodic construction overlaid with recurring motto themes. Pierson is in his element charting the rapidly shifting musical landscapes, cutting from one graphically illustrated scene and character to another with an almost cinematic sensibility. In his latest Grove entry on Pierson, Nicholas Temperley singles out Macbeth , along with the incidental music to Faust , as “the most successful” of Pierson’s large-scale works. It is to be hoped this recording’s release will reawaken interest in a highly individual and progressive talent. ALAN RAWSTHORNE Fantasy Overture. Cortèges In the ‘Britain, Scandinavia and the Netherlands’ edition of the ‘Twentieth Century Composers’ series, Humphrey Searle commented on Alan Rawsthorne: “I feel that his contribution to English music is as important as that of any composer working in England today, and that this will be realized more and more as time goes by.” In the thirty five years since Searle wrote those words, Rawsthorne’s music has been better served on disc than in the concert hall, but such fine orchestral works as his Symphonic Studies, two piano concertos, two violin concertos and three symphonies are merely awaiting champions to bring them before the public once again. Dedicated to Constant Lambert, Cortèges was commissioned by the BBC and premiered by the London Symphony Orchestra under Basil Cameron at the 1945 Proms. The title alludes to “processions”, and we are presented with two distinct, 4 9 PETER WARLOCK but thematically connected examples. An imposing introductory passage hints at Serenade for Strings the main subjects of both processions, the first of which is a noble Adagio , whose Though the Capriol Suite (1926) is Peter Warlock’s most celebrated work for string solemn tread and major/minor ambiguities evoke the opening funeral march from orchestra, his earlier Serenade is a work of subtle, elusive distinction. It was written Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. The strings’ melancholy lament, answered by between 1921 and 1922 and published in 1923, dedicated “to Frederick Delius on keening woodwind, is haunting and poignant, subtly combining the epic with the his sixtieth birthday”. Warlock audibly pays tribute to his dedicatee with rich intimate as William Walton did in the funeral march from his incidental music Delian harmonies achieved through frequent divisi writing and lavish double- (1947) for Laurence Olivier’s film of Hamlet . stopping. Yet when the texture becomes spare and fragile, Warlock’s gently melancholic voice is revealed. The main themes, dominated by their 12/8 rhythms By contrast, the second procession is a brilliant