A shrewd programme, excellently realized by performers and studio crew alike. None of these three fine chamber offerings is, strictly speaking, otherwise represented in the current listings. Why the qualification in that last sentence? Well, Vernon Handley and the Sydney SO on a rewarding all-Goossens anthology from ABC Classics (7/96) have already given us the Concertino in its alternative (1929) version for double string orchestra. Chandos now offer us the piece in its original 1928 guise for string octet. In my review of the Handley CD I waxed lyrical about the Concertino, and this dedicated new rendering from the ASMF Chamber Ensemble has merely deepened my admiration and affection for the work.
The high-quality invention and effortless craft so strikingly evident in the Concertino also illuminate Goossens’s elegantly structured Phantasy Sextet of 1923. As Paul Hindmarsh’s exemplary booklet-essay relates, both the latter and Bridge’s Sextet were performed in September 1923 as part of the Berkshire Festival of Chamber Music in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, organized by the wealthy benefactor, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. Due to ever-increasing conducting commitments, Goossens only just completed his commission in time and eventually missed its world premiere by a matter of hours (his hectic schedule meant that, as soon as the festival had concluded, he travelled southwards to take up his first international post as chief of George Eastman’s Rochester orchestra). What an impressive composition it is, too. Consistently fertile, tightly knit and confidently conceived for the medium, the Phantasy Sextet can only enhance the growing reputation of this remarkable figure.
Up until now, I had never honestly rated the Sextet (1906-12) as one of Bridge’s stronger achievements. This new Chandos account shows how wrong I was. Unlike Goossens’s essay (which is scored for three violins, one viola and two cellos), Bridge’s Sextet is laid out for the more traditional line-up comprising pairs of each instrument. Cast in three movements and lasting some 27 minutes, it is at once the most ambitious and sumptuous of the composer’s early chamber offerings. Perhaps the most striking music can be found in the central Andante con moto, a wistfully lilting threnody which itself frames a brief scherzo of nervy propulsion. As usual with Bridge, the elegant formal design, captivating lyrical flow and satisfying cogency on view yield enormous pleasure.
Splendid playing; impeccable sound and balance. The producer, I note, was Paul Spicer – better known these days as Musical Director of the Finzi Singers, but formerly a member of BBC Pebble Mill’s Music Department. An admirable issue.'