English composer Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950) only
completed a single symphony, an exciting and somewhat burly work that
reminds me of Holst (though, interestingly, not of Holst's own
symphony). Just recently conductor Martin Yates undertook a project to
assess the sketches Moeran had left for a second symphony and see if
they could be realized. It turned out that they were much more than
sketches - EJM had completed three movements, but had essentially
nothing of a finale. Yates continued to search through the sketches,
and found, scribbled on the back of some of the sheets, motives and
fragments which he felt could have been intended for the final movement,
and used them to complete the 33-minute symphony that here receives its
premiere recording. It's very similar to the style of the First, tonal,
nationalist, and strong, perhaps a bit more tune-centric than the
First. Yates also orchestrated Moeran's frisky, tuneful Overture for a Festival,
which only remained in piano score, and in an idea companion work on
this 2011 Dutton Epoch disc, orchestrated John Ireland's similarly
engaging, somewhat more Baxian Sarnia: An Island Sequence. Yates leads the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Recommended!
From the American Record Guide review:
Those of us who delight in British modern-romantic orchestral music will be
pleased with this new Dutton entry in its continuing series of first recordings
by in-the-tradition Brits. A heretofore unknown second symphony and festive
overture by EJ Moeran! A new orchestral trilogy by John Ireland!! And these are
fine works, all three of them, fully characteristic of their composers and very
well played and recorded.
Moeran (1894-1950), hampered by personal turmoil that included alcoholism and
mental instability, died too young and produced too little. His 1937 Symphony in
G minor is his masterpiece, beloved of all devotees of modern English
symphonism. Though indebted to Bax, Vaughan Williams, and Sibelius, it has grand
melodies, luscious scoring, and an a strong individual personality. I've long
thought it one of the most sheerly beautiful orchestral works ever written, by
anyone, ever. There are many superb recordings and also many fine renderings of
Moeran's somewhat leaner and more Waltonian 1944 Sinfonietta, his handful of
concerted works, and his infectious Overture to a Masque.
Rather like Elgar did with his Third, Moeran worked on a second symphony during
the last few years of his life but left sketches considered by his
contemporaries too fragmentary to be completed. And rather as Anthony Payne did
for Elgar, conductor Martin Yates has undertaken to "realize" Moeran's sketches
into a complete symphony. The result, finished in 2011, is four joined movements
that take 33 minutes. If it "cannot be the one that Moeran would finally have
written" (as Yates says in his notes), it's nevertheless a gorgeous creation, as
faithful to Moeran's voice as one could wish, packed with soaring tunes
(complete with the "Scotch snap" rhythms this English-and-Irish composer so
loved), and scored with all the glorious color of his glowing orchestral
palette.
Two more also-recently-orchestrated works fill out this marvelous program.
Moeran's lively five-minute Overture to a Festival was finished sometime in the
1930s as a piano piece, but not orchestrated until 1994. Ireland's Sarnia, from
1941, is offered here in a recent orchestration (also by Martin Yates) of a
piano piece, though this one is a full-scale (21-minute), three-movement work
with programmatic subtitles. It celebrates the natural beauty of Guernsey
("Sarnia" in Latin), which Ireland had visited often before the war, when it was
captured by the Germans. I is evocative and shrouded in fairie-mystery, II
vernal, III (my favorite) at once fresh, gentle, joyous, lilting, and grand,
with an oft-reprised dominant melody that's simply magical. I've been humming
ever since I first heard it.
--Mark Lehman Disc, booklet, and case are in mint condition.
Shipping rates:
US customers: Options are USPS Media Mail at $3.50 for the first CD, $1 for each additional disc paid for at the same time; or USPS Ground Advantage at $4 for the first CD, $1.25 for each additional disc paid for at the same time.
The USPS no longer offers
cheap international shipping of thin envelopes with merchandise, BUT if
you order many discs together the new rate is about the same as it was
before. Therefore...
Canadian customers: Options are Economy shipping, which is First Class but *without* the plastic "jewel" cases, at $15 for ONE TO SEVEN CDs, $24 for EIGHT OR MORE CDs; or First Class *with* the plastic cases included, at $15 for the first CD and $4 for each additional disc.
Customers in other countries: Options are Economy shipping, which is First Class but *without* the plastic
"jewel" cases, at $18 for ONE TO SEVEN CDs, $30 for EIGHT OR MORE CDs; or First Class *with* the plastic cases included, at $18 for the first CD and $6 for each additional disc.
You may wait as long as you wish before paying, to combine auction wins and save on shipping -- especially important for International customers. Please check out my other auctions, here.