Dunhill Quintets
Pastoral, melodic music that nostalgically evokes the the English countryside
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Thomas Frederick Dunhill
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Epoch
Magazine Review Date: 13/2005
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 66
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDLX7152
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Quintet, 'Nitor in adversum' |
Thomas Frederick Dunhill, Composer
Endymion Ensemble Thomas Frederick Dunhill, Composer |
Phantasy Trio |
Thomas Frederick Dunhill, Composer
Endymion Ensemble Thomas Frederick Dunhill, Composer |
Quintet |
Thomas Frederick Dunhill, Composer
Endymion Ensemble Thomas Frederick Dunhill, Composer |
Author: Ivan March
The name of Thomas Dunhill is nostalgic for me as his music featured in my early piano lessons. It was attractively melodic and easily fluent. Now I discover that his chamber music has the same endearing qualities. He is a natural lyricist and fine melodist. His harmony is traditional, but all his own: there is no doubting the ‘Englishness’ of his music. The early, student-days Op 3 Quintet demonstrates this from the opening bars, and indeed at its first performance in 1899 the Musical Times commented on ‘an easy continuity about the composer’s flow of ideas’. A jaunty, folksy quality soon appears in the first movement’s variations. And how naturally Dunhill writes for the clarinet and the horn, especially in the galloping finale.
The Phantasy Trio of 1911 brings a more pastoral melodic warmth with the composer showing a refinement and delicacy in his string writing that is at one with the melodic impulse. Again the secondary theme is memorable, and the piano leads the discourse engagingly, moving into a central scherzando section and on to a passionate climax and finally a gentle, elegiac close.
But is is in the splendid Op 6 Quintet of 1899/1900 that we find the kernel of Dunhill’s inspiration. Subtitled ‘I struggle in adversity’ this brings a muted, English kind of Sturm und Drang. Even the small cloud at the very opening lifts immediately, and the expressive feeling wells up in the underlying ardour of the writing throughout, using the same melodic and harmonic material. The secondary theme of the first movement is totally memorable, and the opening of the Andantino and the melancholy Adagio, which acts as a prelude to the finale, obviously derive from the same melodic source. This is a movement of diverse moods, spirited, nostalgic and constructed with great skill. The performances are excellent, spontaneous, committed and always at home in the locality of the writing. Excellent recording, too. If you love music that breathes the English countryside, you will find it in Dunhill’s chamber music; the Endymion players create just this evocation.
The Phantasy Trio of 1911 brings a more pastoral melodic warmth with the composer showing a refinement and delicacy in his string writing that is at one with the melodic impulse. Again the secondary theme is memorable, and the piano leads the discourse engagingly, moving into a central scherzando section and on to a passionate climax and finally a gentle, elegiac close.
But is is in the splendid Op 6 Quintet of 1899/1900 that we find the kernel of Dunhill’s inspiration. Subtitled ‘I struggle in adversity’ this brings a muted, English kind of Sturm und Drang. Even the small cloud at the very opening lifts immediately, and the expressive feeling wells up in the underlying ardour of the writing throughout, using the same melodic and harmonic material. The secondary theme of the first movement is totally memorable, and the opening of the Andantino and the melancholy Adagio, which acts as a prelude to the finale, obviously derive from the same melodic source. This is a movement of diverse moods, spirited, nostalgic and constructed with great skill. The performances are excellent, spontaneous, committed and always at home in the locality of the writing. Excellent recording, too. If you love music that breathes the English countryside, you will find it in Dunhill’s chamber music; the Endymion players create just this evocation.
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