English Cello Sonatas
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: E(rnest) J(ohn) Moeran, (Charles) Edmund Rubbra, John (Nicholson) Ireland
Label: Marco Polo
Magazine Review Date: 8/1995
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 59
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 8 223718
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Sonata for Cello and Piano |
John (Nicholson) Ireland, Composer
John (Nicholson) Ireland, Composer John York, Piano Raphael Wallfisch, Cello |
Author:
Unlike the concerto, examples of the English cello sonata are not particularly thick on the ground (one thinks also of those by Britten, Rawsthorne, Bax and Truscott) but one would be hard put to it to select a finer trio than the three recorded here. All are products of full maturity, each composer being in his forties or fifties at the time. Moeran's solitary Sonata is arguably his finest and most satisfying work. The music has a dramatic and passionate demeanour – Moeran composed it for his wife of two years, Peers Coetmore, in 1947 – yet its three movements are very diverse, the vigorous finale even seeming to glance towards Bartok. Rubbra's, composed the previous year, bears a more thoughtful aspect, not least in the fast-faster-slow disposition of its three movements. None the less, for all the work's serenity it too possesses an inner steel. Ireland's Sonata (1923) is the only one otherwise available, from Julian Lloyd Webber and John McCabe in a rather mixed recital (ASV, 2/93); if it has not perhaps the same intellectual rigour, Ireland's sonata is still an object lesson in musical construction and balance.
I can think of few cellists better suited temperamentally to this repertoire than Raphael Wallfisch. He has a warmth of tone that I find very appealing and his playing is always deeply musical. He also wears his technique rather more lightly than some of his more abrasive, higher-profile rivals, though he does sound a shade raw in the uppermost register. Pianist John York provides able support, and Gary Cole's recording is clean and natural. Well worth investigating.'
I can think of few cellists better suited temperamentally to this repertoire than Raphael Wallfisch. He has a warmth of tone that I find very appealing and his playing is always deeply musical. He also wears his technique rather more lightly than some of his more abrasive, higher-profile rivals, though he does sound a shade raw in the uppermost register. Pianist John York provides able support, and Gary Cole's recording is clean and natural. Well worth investigating.'
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