Baillie & Yandell impress in striking Crosse, restless Fauré, and lyrical Ravel

Cellist Alexander Baillie studied with André Navarra and Jacqueline du Pré, and has had an extensive career as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher, and has recently returned to the UK after his tenure as Professor of Cello at the Hochschule für Musik in Bremen. On his recent disc with First Hand Records, he was joined by pianist Nigel Yandell, who has an equally varied career, as soloist, collaborative pianist and teacher. Both worked with the London Sinfonietta, and it was their partnership that led to the desire to realise a new performing edition of Gordon Crosse’s (1937-2021) Wanderings. The work was originally recorded by Baillie with pianist Andrew Ball when it was composer back in 1983. This revival was originally intended for Crosse’s 80^th birthday in 2017, but delays and then COVID delayed the project, and sadly Crosse died aged 83 in 2021. Crosse had a relatively successful period in the 1960s and 1970s, writing choral and operatic works for the Three Choirs Festival and Sadlers Wells, as well as orchestral, chamber and vocal pieces. He moved into computer programming and music technology, but returned to composition later, completing four more symphonies and four more string quartets.

 

Crosse’s Wavesongs is a fascinating work which begins with a long introduction, Deep Sea. From empty space, glassy cello harmonics emerge, with rumbles and a persistent semitone pattern. It’s so quiet and mysterious, it’s initially hard to discern what’s happening, and low piano tolls hint of something in the distant depths of the ocean. Slow movement on both instruments develops, with fluttering from the cello and changing from the piano. Sea Shanty then emerges, with a lilting melody developing on the cello. Agitated repetition on the piano is taken over by the cello, building to wild piano scales and high wailing from the cello in Troubled Waves. Storm which follows is actually quieter, with rumbling turbulence, before piano strikes of lightening break through. The swinging shanty rhythms return over relentless movement in Cruel Sea, before calm arrives in Aria, cluster chords releasing into a soothingly harmonic melody. Turbulence returns in Tempest, with wild running piano scales and violent cello explosions. By now, the cello is screaming in its upper registers against repeated high piano notes in Lost at Sea. Homeward Bound is spiky and fragmentary with slithering, glassy cello. A train-like rhythm gets going, and there’s little let-up, until the piano slows first, and finally they both stop. Calm returns in Peace and Enlightenment, and the high cello harmonics of the very opening are back. Everything slows, with a final cry of the shanty tune from the cello, and quiet piano chords bringing the journey to a close. This is a highly effective piece, with evocative use of both instruments, and Baillie and Yandell’s performance is engaging, making coherent sense of this complicated and ever shifting score. 

 

First on the disc comes a rendition of Fauré’s Cello Sonata No. 1. Both of his sonatas for the instrument came from the latter period of his life, when he was plagued by distortion of sound and increasing deafness. The first Cello Sonata, from 1917, is a compact work of three movements. The jumpy, impetuous start sets the mood of restlessness, and lyricism when it comes has edgy harmonic twists, meaning the music never relaxes. Despite the intensity, Baillie is never too weighty, and Yandell rises to the demanding persistence of the piano part. The central Andante is warmer, and here Baillie’s lyricism is underpinned by delicate chords from Yandell. The sense of turbulence from the opening movement creeps in, and the middle of the movement moves into wistful sadness. The Finale has greater drive, and a conversation dances along between the two instruments. Baillie’s melodic line sings, if occasionally becoming a little astringent at the top, and both drive through to a spirited, joyful finish. 

 

They end their recording with an arrangement for cello and piano of Ravel’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor. This was a very early work, but was not published until 1975. It works very well on the cello, particularly in the wistful, wandering opening, with the piano responding with rippling textures. There are lots of lyrical lines for the cello, and plenty of rhapsodic development of the material from both instruments. Emphatic octaves from the cello lead to a yearning climax, then as the opening materials returns, substantially transformed, a more relaxed, summery mood is established, leading to a light, major key conclusion. Baillie and Yandell make a great case for this arrangement here.

 

The two French works provide an interesting contrast to the striking work by Crosse, and allow Baillie and Yandell to demonstrate their command in varied repertoire for cello and piano.

Various. 2023. Fauré, Crosse, Ravel. Alexander Baillie, Nigel Yandell. Compact Disc. First Hand Records FHR152.