Searle Symphony No 2; Still Symphony Nos 3 & 4
Suffocating serialism and stuffy school symphonies from Searle and Still
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Humphrey Searle, Robert Still
Label: Lyrita
Magazine Review Date: 11/2009
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
Stereo
ADD
Catalogue Number: SRCD285
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 3 |
Robert Still, Composer
Eugene Goossens, Conductor London Symphony Orchestra Robert Still, Composer |
Symphony No. 4 |
Robert Still, Composer
Myer Fredman, Conductor Robert Still, Composer Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Symphony No. 2 |
Humphrey Searle, Composer
Humphrey Searle, Composer Josef Krips, Conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra |
Author: Philip_Clark
The dilemma: serialism opens channels into structural labyrinths that are alien to traditional symphonic rhetoric. Searle’s masterful Third, Fourth and Fifth symphonies solved that undermining problem by gradually pushing conventional form to the margins, defining a structure specific to each work. The Second attempts to graft serial workings-out onto the contours of tonal music. Some of the material is magnificent. The harmonic spectrum outlined in the opening moments is rich in possibility. The pacy finale touches harmonic ecstasy. But Searle’s dogged determination to make this a symphony – contrived recapitulations, strangely incongruous cadences and second-hand gesturing – suffocates the open-ended potential of his material.
Alun Francis’s 1995 performance (CPO) was a workmanlike and slick but Joseph Krips and a well drilled LPO in 1973 offer something more soulful. The two symphonies by Eton music master Robert Still are core Lyrita territory but it’s dispiriting to find a composer seriously peddling stuffy cod-Elgar in 1960 and ’64. Hearing these works confirms that Eton’s greatest musical legacy is another Humphrey: Lyttelton.
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