This is the second issue in the Chandos cycle of Parry's orchestral and choral works in which Matthias Bamert is conducting the London Philharmonic (Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 were reviewed in January). It is splendid to hear this neglected music so sensitively and enthusiastically interpreted by a non-British conductor. Although two of the works on this disc—the Fifth Symphony and the Elegy for Brahms—have been previously recorded for EMI in 1978 by Boult with the same orchestra (11/87—nla), I have no hesitation in declaring that these are finer performances and interpretations. Boult loved Parry's music, but Bamert finds more passion and mystery in it. Sir Adrian seemed more concerned with its structure, trusting that the emotion would emerge of its own accord, as no doubt it would have done if he had been younger and fitter when he made his recording.
Bamert's treatment of the symphony is broader and particularly impressive in the slow movement, sub-titled ''Love'', in which allusions to Liszt and Tchaikovsky may surprise those who still hold a stereotyped view of Parry. The finale (''Now'') ends with a Lisztian transformation of the work's opening theme, but before that it is Elgar's example that the ear detects. Liszt is called to mind also in the two-part tone-poem From Death to Life, composed in 1914. The quality of the invention here is, in my opinion, less striking than in the symphony.
The Elegy for Brahms must be one of the finest tributes paid by one composer to another. Although it contains subtle quotations from Brahms's works (including the famous tune of the First Symphony's finale), it does not sound particularly Brahmsian. Bamert conducts it superbly and the orchestra plays all three works with thrilling conviction. Parry's cause is advanced by advocacy of this calibre.'