Richard Rodney Bennett Diversions, etc
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Richard Rodney Bennett
Label: Classics
Magazine Review Date: 6/1997
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 64
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 37341-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Diversions |
Richard Rodney Bennett, Composer
James DePreist, Conductor Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra Richard Rodney Bennett, Composer |
| Concerto for Violin and Orchestra |
Richard Rodney Bennett, Composer
James DePreist, Conductor Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra Richard Rodney Bennett, Composer Vadim Gluzman, Violin |
| Symphony No. 3 |
Richard Rodney Bennett, Composer
James DePreist, Conductor Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra Richard Rodney Bennett, Composer |
Author: Edward Greenfield
It is shocking that not one of Richard Rodney Bennett’s three symphonies is currently listed on the Gramophone Database, though the first two did appear on LP at various times. All the more reason to be grateful to Koch and non-British performers for offering excellent performances of three later works, recorded in very full, well-balanced sound. The minor penalty is that the booklet-notes, informative though they are, will strike English readers as odd in places – as for example a description of the Three Choirs Festival (which commissioned the Third Symphony), as “a proceeding of mostly choral performances on a grand scale each summer at England’s Worcester Cathedral and environs”.
The earliest of the three works is the Violin Concerto of 1975, a period when Bennett was bringing the idiom of his concert works closer to that of his highly successful film music, embracing tonality more firmly, where earlier he was more uncompromising in his serialism. Not that the nature of Bennett’s lyricism altered greatly. If I have a problem with both the concerto and the symphony, it is that for all the heartfelt warmth of the melodic writing, it does not stick in the memory, even the odd phrase, though repetition helps, and the tautness of Bennett’s argument is never in doubt.
Though the first of the two substantial movements of the concerto is marked Allegro, it only intermittently gives the impression of being fast. After a bold, brassy orchestral gesture the violinist enters and launches into a reflective solo, establishing the predominant mood. The second movement, Andante lento, is more clearly contemplative, and in both, the young Ukrainian-born soloist (b.1973), Vadim Gluzman, plays superbly; his expressive warmth, technical command and flawless intonation have one wanting to hear much more of him on disc.
James DePreist is most persuasive, too, both in the concerto and in the other two works, drawing well-drilled, strongly committed playing from the Monte Carlo Philharmonic. The Third Symphony, dating from 1987, is in three compact movements, marked Andante, Allegretto and Adagio, and there too the feeling is of a predominantly reflective work, bleaker than before. If the main emotional weight is conveyed in the passionate first movement, the melancholy final Adagio erupts too, if more briefly. After these two works the energy and directness of the Diversions of 1990 is all the more attractive, for here you have a set of variations lasting 19 minutes, brilliantly scored, based on a sort of Irish jig theme, which Bennett varies in ever more inventive ways, sustaining the length well. This is a totally unproblematic, approachable work which has left serialism far behind. It is placed first on the disc, which should encourage the newcomer to Bennett’s music to work at the two more demanding works. I hope DePreist and the Monte Carlo orchestra will be persuaded to fill more gaps in the catalogue.'
The earliest of the three works is the Violin Concerto of 1975, a period when Bennett was bringing the idiom of his concert works closer to that of his highly successful film music, embracing tonality more firmly, where earlier he was more uncompromising in his serialism. Not that the nature of Bennett’s lyricism altered greatly. If I have a problem with both the concerto and the symphony, it is that for all the heartfelt warmth of the melodic writing, it does not stick in the memory, even the odd phrase, though repetition helps, and the tautness of Bennett’s argument is never in doubt.
Though the first of the two substantial movements of the concerto is marked Allegro, it only intermittently gives the impression of being fast. After a bold, brassy orchestral gesture the violinist enters and launches into a reflective solo, establishing the predominant mood. The second movement, Andante lento, is more clearly contemplative, and in both, the young Ukrainian-born soloist (b.1973), Vadim Gluzman, plays superbly; his expressive warmth, technical command and flawless intonation have one wanting to hear much more of him on disc.
James DePreist is most persuasive, too, both in the concerto and in the other two works, drawing well-drilled, strongly committed playing from the Monte Carlo Philharmonic. The Third Symphony, dating from 1987, is in three compact movements, marked Andante, Allegretto and Adagio, and there too the feeling is of a predominantly reflective work, bleaker than before. If the main emotional weight is conveyed in the passionate first movement, the melancholy final Adagio erupts too, if more briefly. After these two works the energy and directness of the Diversions of 1990 is all the more attractive, for here you have a set of variations lasting 19 minutes, brilliantly scored, based on a sort of Irish jig theme, which Bennett varies in ever more inventive ways, sustaining the length well. This is a totally unproblematic, approachable work which has left serialism far behind. It is placed first on the disc, which should encourage the newcomer to Bennett’s music to work at the two more demanding works. I hope DePreist and the Monte Carlo orchestra will be persuaded to fill more gaps in the catalogue.'
Richard Rodney Bennett Diversions, etc
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