Frank Bridge violin sonata
Steve Emerson
during the recent thread. Far as I can tell he's declining archiving at
present. I'm sure no one else did.
What I find currently available are Blakely/McAslan on Continuum,
couplings two works by Britten and several additional Bridge items; and
Jardon/Jardon, couplings Rawsthorne and Britten; no add'l Bridge.
Samples of both sound promising. Jardon/Jardon manage to do the sonata
three minutes faster than the others.
Any recommendations?
The piano sonata, with Peter Jacobs via that multi-pianists Brit music
compilation at BRO, has been a joy, so thanks to all who recommended it.
This is on the same label as Blakely/McAslan, fwiw.
TIA,
SE.
Alan Cooper
news:emersn-51170F....@nnrp-virt.nntp.sonic.net:
> I can't remember whether JR posted anything about recordings of
> this during the recent thread. Far as I can tell he's declining
> archiving at present. I'm sure no one else did.
>
> What I find currently available are Blakely/McAslan on
> Continuum, couplings two works by Britten and several additional
> Bridge items; and Jardon/Jardon, couplings Rawsthorne and
> Britten; no add'l Bridge. Samples of both sound promising.
> Jardon/Jardon manage to do the sonata three minutes faster than
> the others.
>
> Any recommendations?
I think McAslan is generally terrific--one of those outstanding musicians who
doesn't seem to have attained celebtrity status. She's a great specialist in
British repertoire. Have you heard her recordings of Clarke and Elgar, for
example? Since I haven't heard the Jardons, however, I can't compare them with
McAslan. The Violin Sonata is pleasant enough, I suppose, but far from my
favorite Bridge, fwiw--certainly not in a class with the Piano Sonata, the last
two String Quartets, or the Piano Trio #2 among other things. Allegro's sale on
Lyrita, incidentally, ends today, and as one would expect, there are a few
desirable Bridge items on offer. No Violin Sonata, though.
AC
Steve Emerson
Alan Cooper <amco...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
> The Violin Sonata is pleasant enough, I suppose, but far from my
> favorite Bridge, fwiw--certainly not in a class with the Piano
> Sonata, the last two String Quartets, or the Piano Trio #2 among
> other things.
Recommendations for this last, the piano trio? The Hyperion people?
(Chez BRO.)
Thanks, Alan.
SE.
Steve Emerson
<b2db4ded-f20a-4476...@w37g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
JR <jr5...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Steve,
>
> The hyper-alert Jardon sisters play this most curious of English
> Expressionist curiosities with quicksilver responsiveness, telepathic
> coordination, and classical discipline (but not classical restraint),
> and the resulting performance has the perilous elegance of Peggy
> Fleming skating away on the thin ice of the new day. The tone of the
> violin is a bit too lean and bright for my taste, but it doesn't
> bother me unless I go out of my way to focus on it. McAslan & Blakely
> give a thick, dark, brooding, ultra-expressionist account that is very
> well played in its more obsessed but less varied way. I like both but
> favor the Jardon sisters for their greater variety and transparency,
> which allows more of the work's intricacies to emerge. There's no
> need to trust my judgment, however, as you can hear free and complete
> streams of both recordings at Rhapsody.com. The Web page for the
> Jardon album was all screwed up the last I checked, but the Sonata
> stream can be accessed from the artists' page:
>
> http://www.rhapsody.com/mireille-jardon-lydia-jardon
>
> http://www.rhapsody.com/lorraine-mcaslan-john-blakely
>
> The Rawsthorne Violin Sonata is the most interesting of the
> couplings. Its elegantly rarefied and un-rhetorical music disappears
> into the background with the slightest inattention on the part of the
> listener: one minute you're listening to it, the next minute you're in
> the kitchen grabbing a beer and a bag of cheese puffs, having totally
> forgotten that the music is playing. If you can maintain focus and
> keep your mind off of dinner, however, you'll find that Rawsthorne's
> Sonata is really quite a good piece: a deftly Romantic work of
> Stravinskian neoclassical economy and transparency (often sounding
> like the shy and elusive cousin of Duo Concertant) haunted at times by
> a ghostly Shostakovich-like presence, most strongly in the wistfully
> sardonic waltz of the Allegretto second movement. The fast and
> vigorous yet still light and transparent Toccata third movement sounds
> a bit out of place to me, however, being almost too forthright and un-
> elusive in character. With the Epilogue final movement, the music
> doesn't so much come to an end as evaporate into the ether. The
> Jardon sisters give it a superb performance.
Ahh, terrific report; thank you, JR. I listened to most of the
McAslan/Blakely via Rhapsody, after numerous false starts, but got
nowhere with Jardon/Jardon. Which is OK. I think I'll opt for them in
light of your remarks and what I heard of M/B, which certainly had its
merits. Greater variety sounds like the right idea. Rawsthorne sounds
worth hearing too.
SE.
Alan Cooper
I have the Lyrita and Pearl recordings, and have not heard the Hyperion/Helios group.
Does the Dartington Trio comprise members of the Dartington Ensemble, who have
recorded some excellent Martinu? For the Bridge, the Tunnell Trio on Lyrita is the
better of the two that I have, but the Pearl (also at BRO) is a worthy performance,
and it is coupled with the Cello Sonata, the first movement of which is one of
Bridge's loveliest pieces, imo.
AC
Alan Cooper
> In article
> <b2db4ded-f20a-4476...@w37g2000prg.googlegroups.co
JR's description of Rawsthorne is a riot, and spot on in my experience. I enjoy
his music, but the mind does wander easily. Stravinsky here, Bartok there, a dab
of Shostakovich or Hindemith, but not quite identifiable as any of the above. The
Naxos series is excellent, but except for a disc devoted the the String Quartets,
it emphasizes works with orchestra. I don't recall having heard the Violin
Sonata, and will have to check it out. Sounds like it could be a more interesting
work than the Bridge (to me, anyway).
AC