Oboe chamber gems from Adrian Wilson and Ensemble 360 in Sheffield

Adrian Wilson
© Andy Brown

Ensemble 360

Adrian Wilson (oboe)

Tim Horton (piano)

Benjamin Nabarro (violin)

Claudia Ajmone-Marsan (violin)

Rachel Roberts (viola)

Gemma Rosefield (cello)

Friday 14 May, 1pm

Live-streamed performance

Sheffield Chamber Music Festival/Music in the Round

Crucible Studio, Sheffield

★★★★

Edwin York Bowen (1884-1961): Sonata for Oboe and Piano, Op. 85

Gerald Finzi (1901-1956): Interlude for Oboe and String Quartet in A minor, Op. 21

Arnold Bax (1883-1953): Oboe Quintet

Adrian Wilson
© Andy Brown

Bowen:

'Adrian Wilson’s bright yet supple tones were matched by warmth from Tim Horton on the piano'.

Finzi:

'Wilson’s wailing cadenza-like passage was answered with ... impassioned playing from the strings'.

'A warm yet suitably introspective performance'.

Bax:

'The spirit was infectious, with Wilson keeping them on the straight and narrow of the jig with precise articulation'.

Read my full review on Bachtrack here.

CD Reviews - May 2014

The Gould Piano Trio have released a third volume in their series of Beethoven Piano Trios – but in fact this disc is a little different, in that there is only one single movement here (the Variations on ‘Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu’) that is performed by the full Gould Piano Trio.  The other two works on offer here, the Op. 11 and Op. 38 Trios, are for clarinet, cello and piano – so the Trio’s founder, violinist Lucy Gould gets a bit of a rest, replaced by clarinetist Robert Plane.  Once again, these are live recordings, recorded in 2012 at St George’s, Bristol.  The Op. 38 Trio is actually Beethoven’s own arrangement of his Op. 20 Septet, one of his most successful chamber works.  It is more like a serenade, with real variety across its six movements.  The Scherzo which follows the central set of variations is full of energy, and following a slow introduction, the finale really takes off with rousing Presto.  This is Beethoven in playful mode, and the players are clearly having fun here.  The Op. 11 Trio was in fact written first for the clarinet, cello & piano combination, but it was published with an additional violin part too.  It is a light, almost lyrical work, and the duet in the Adagio is particularly well suited to the clarinet and cello, with a beautiful tone from Plane here.  In between, we have the Variations, with the humour of the original popular song (‘I am the tailor cockatoo’) exploited throughout.  Whilst none of the works here are the most profound of Beethoven’s output, these spirited live recordings do full justice to their lighter, joyful nature.  One minor point – the otherwise informative notes by Robert Matthew-Walker are slightly confusingly written as if Op. 11 is performed in its version with violin, rather than clarinet.

Beethoven, L. v. 2014. The Complete Piano Trios - Vol. 3. Robert Plane, Gould Piano Trio. Compact Disc. Somm SOMMCD 0135.

The same forces have also recorded a survey of chamber works by York Bowen (1884-1961).  This time, the forces are slightly more varied, with Robert Plane accompanied by the Gould’s pianist, Benjamin Frith for Bowen’s Clarinet Sonata, and then the Gould string players, Lucy Gould & Alice Neary, are joined by Mia Cooper (violin) and David Adams (viola), with Plane this time on bass clarinet for Bowen’s Phantasy Quintet.  The rest of the disc is given over to the Gould Piano Trio by themselves, with the Piano Trio in E minor, the single movement Rhapsody Trio, and another single movement from an unfinished Piano Trio in D minor, which the Goulds have edited and prepared for performance.  Bowen’s music is unashamedly Romantic, and whilst he was incredibly successful in the early twentieth century, his rejection of the changing styles of more modern contemporaries meant that slowly his music fell out of favour, and by the end of the last century, his repertoire was largely forgotten.  The works on this disc here are definitely within a very distinct late-romantic idiom, with an obvious line back to Brahms, and a strong flavour of Rachmaninov (Bowen was even referred to in his day as the ‘English Rachmaninov’). This is perhaps most evident in his Piano Trio in E minor, a towering work, with a particularly virtuosic piano part, of which Frith demonstrates full command here.  The Phantasy Quintet is an equally impressive work, and Bowen makes imaginative yet unobtrusive use of the bass clarinet, blending it with the string textures expertly.  The Clarinet Sonata which opens the disc again demonstrates Bowen’s skill at creating a seamless flow through his compositions, and for all the virtuosity required here from both clarinet and piano (amply supplied by Plane & Frith), this is a remarkably coherent work which deserves more hearings.  Plane and the Gould Piano Trio have worked together extensively, and this is highly evident in their consummate performances on both of these discs.

Bowen, Y. 2014. Chamber Works. Robert Plane, Mia Cooper, David Adams, Gould Piano Trio. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10805.

Late last year, as part of their 40^th birthday celebrations, The Tallis Scholars released a magnificent recording of the Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas by John Taverner (c1490-1545).  This is an incredibly challenging yet incredibly beautiful work, lasting just over forty minutes.  In six voices, the parts have enormous ranges, stretching the singers and requiring remarkable stamina to perform.  Taverner’s writing here is hugely architectural, and this further requires sustained intensity, which director Peter Phillips extracts from the 13 singers performing here.   As ever, the blend is impeccable, and the unfailing continuity of line is impressive.  The Benedictus is a perfect example of Taverner’s ability to stretch his settings of the text, and the setting of the ‘in nomine’ here became the basis of many other composers’ settings, such was its regard.  The remainder of the disc is given over to three settings of the Magnificat, for four, five and six voices.  They couldn’t be more varied in their settings, with the four-voice the most dramatic and imitative, and the five-voice is the most subtle, almost soothing.  In the six-voice, understandably, Taverner makes greater use of variety of textures, with complex passages for all six parts contrasted with sections for fewer voices.  Overall, this disc demonstrates the technical brilliance and profound depth of Taverner’s writing, and The Tallis Scholars have chosen a fitting way to celebrate their forty years of bringing such music to our ears.  Long may this continue.

Taverner, J. 2013. Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas. The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips. Compact Disc. Gimell CDGIM 045.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, May 2014)

CD Reviews - January 2014

Brothers Paul and Huw Watkins continue their survey of British Works for Cello and Piano, with Sonatas from York Bowen (1884-1961), Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953) and John Ireland (1879-1962).  All three were written for the same cellist, Beatrice Harrison, and composed within three years of each other (1921-23).  Sometimes known as ‘the English Rachmaninov’, Bowen’s Sonata is full of rich and virtuosic writing for both instruments, yet he also shows great subtlety, especially in his use of a recurring bell-like figure, which he makes use of in each of the three movements.  The rhapsodic central slow movement provides the emotional heart here, and the energetic finale brings the work to a dramatic close.  Bax’s Sonata is the most substantial of the three works here, coming in at just over half an hour long.  For the central slow movement, Bax reuses music from an earlier symphonic poem, Spring Fire, and the writing is particularly expressive and evocative.  He rounds the work off with a lively, folk-inspired dance.  Rather than driving straight to a lively finish, however, Bax places an Epilogue before the final climax, giving him the opportunity to pull together threads from the whole sonata, creating a very satisfying conclusion.  Ireland’s Sonata finishes the disc here, and in contrast, it is more contained and concise.  In fact much of the sonata’s musical material is derived from just a few of the cello’s opening bars.  This economical use of material creates an intensity that is particularly noticeable in the slow movement, with both players getting to play its beautiful singing melody.  The finale is somewhat brief, but highly virtuosic, with a dashing finish.  The Watkins brothers inhabit this music convincingly, certainly making one wonder why these works are not heard more often.  I enjoyed this second volume even more than the first, so await a third with anticipation.

Various. 2013. British Works for Cello and Piano, Volume 2. Paul Watkins, Huw Watkins. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10792.

A couple of years ago I enjoyed discovering the Piano Quartets of Romanian composer George Enescu (1881-1955) performed by the Schubert Ensemble.  They have returned with another disc of his chamber music, with his Piano Quintet, the Piano Trio, and a brief Aria and Scherzino for solo violin, accompanied by a sextet ensemble.  As with the first disc, I find his music intriguing and difficult to pin down.  There are influences of his French teachers Jules Massenet, and especially Gabriel Fauré, and one can also sense the influences of his time studying and performing as a young man in Vienna.  But somehow the combination of these influences with his strong use of Romanian folk melodies and idioms create a highly individual and fascinating sound world.  His writing for the violin is particularly strong, and he was a highly accomplished violinist and teacher, counting Yehudi Menuhin amongst his pupils.  The Piano Quintet is the most substantial work on offer here, and it was unknown in Enescu’s lifetime – in fact he never even heard it performed.  It was only discovered and performed in the 1960s.  The structure is in itself interesting, with essentially two large-scale parts, each further split into two, to create its four movements.  The music moves from extremes of intensity and darkness (particularly in the slow second movement) to lightness and dance-like folksiness, as in the opening to the third movement.  The Piano Trio has complex origins, being completed from Enescu’s original manuscript by Pascal Bentoiu, considered the authority on Enescu’s music.  Furthermore, the Schubert Ensemble has further revised the edition as a result of their process of exploration of this music, and there are some interesting notes on this process with the CD.  In this Trio, Enescu manages to balance an overarching structure with allowing space for expression and evolving musical ideas.  The set of variations, which forms the middle movement, is particularly inventive, and the influence of folk music is again never far away.  The Schubert Ensemble is joined by Romanian violinist Remus Azoitei for the solo part in the youthful Aria and Scherzino that closes the disc.  Here again one can hear the combined influences of Vienna and Paris, with luscious melodies and gorgeously intense harmonies.  The Schubert Ensemble has clearly fallen in love with this music, and on the basis of these two discs, so have I. 

Enescu, G. 2013. Piano Trio, Piano Quintet, Aria and Scherzino. Remus Azotei, Schubert Ensemble. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10790.

(These reviews first appeared in GScene, January 2014)