December 5, 2014

  • English Remembrances of WWI

     

    Flowers of the Field
    Roderick Williams, baritone.  Jeremy Irons, speaker.  City of London Choir,
    London Mozart Players/Hilary Davan Wilson
    Naxos 8.573426
    Total Time:  60:41
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Sometimes a recording is made that gets a very fast track to release.  Flowers in the Field must be one of the fastest released disc in Naxos catalogue.  Recorded over two days in July 2014 and arriving already by November, this selection of deeply moving works composed in the aftermath of World War I may be one of the label’s finest yet.  There are but four works on this hour-long program featuring the London Mozart Players, two are world premiere recordings.

    Though less well known in America, George Butterworth’s (1885-1916) gorgeous rhapsody, A Shropshire Lad (1912), is one of only 2 orchestral works by this composer who was killed during the Somme offensive in 1916.  The piece is a bit bittersweet as it certainly makes one wonder what music was subsequently lost by the composer’s death.  The piece was intended as a sort of final word on his settings of Houseman poems from earlier song cycles.  A favorite of Boult, who recorded and programmed it often, this lush and intensely moving performance may be one of the finest of those available and makes for an apt opening to a disc that focuses on musical responses to the war.

    At the center of the disc are two world premieres.  The first is the Requiem da Camera by Gerald Finzi (1901-1956).  Finzi was not old enough to serve in the war, the death of his mentor Ernest Farrar.  The composer’s deep sense of loss would impact his music for the rest of his life with themes of life’s preciousness, innocence, and time’s restless march.  Though dedicated to Farrar, it is quite obvious that Finzi’s requiem is intended to honor the many artists lost in the war.  The work was set for chorus, baritone and orchestra and was the largest multi-movement work the composer attempted.  Begun in the mid-1920s and worked on throughout the decade, the piece would evolve into four movement beginning with a beautifully moving opening prelude, first performed in 1925 (the only section of the piece that was ever performed).  Subsequent reworkings and hopes for a full performance never materialized.  The piece has been edited and orchestration completed by Christian Alexander.  The third movement was published first and performed in 1990, with the whole work being available in 2013.  The present performances unveiled this final edition during the 2014 English Music Festival to great acclaim.  The result is a very moving work with gorgeous choral writing against the orchestra with poetic texts from  John Masefield, Thomas Hardy, and Wilfrid Wilson Gibson .  The latter’s “We who are left” is deeply moving in Finzi’s hands here.

    Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) mostly wrote art songs.  His life story is certainly among the most tragic.  At first rejected for service for poor eyesight, he would eventually be accepted only to be wounded and gassed.  By 1922, having suffered a mental breakdown and with thoughts of suicide (all symptoms of what we would today call PTSD), he was committed to an insane asylum where he would remain the rest of his life.  The poetry of Edward Thomas was of particular interest to the composer who set a cycle of songs in 1926 called Lights Out.  Earlier there was a 4-part choral setting of “The Trumpet” which the composer never orchestrated, though Philip Lancaster (who has edited and prepared this orchestral version) claims was the composer’s intent.  The Gurney is filled with hope and its orchestral style is matched with the period well.  The brief work makes for a good pause between the depth of the requiem and the final work, Vaughan Williams’ An Oxford Elegy.

    Composed between 1947 and 1949, An Oxford Elegy is among those works for speaker/narrator, chorus and orchestra.  The composer claimed that the use of the narrator was quite semantic in that he was tired of not being able to hear the texts in choral music.  The work uses texts by Matthew Arnold from The Scholar Gipsy and Thyrsis.  The chorus is mostly wordless, often extending the sound of the orchestra in interesting ways, perhaps more dramatically too moved for words, though occasionally they do break forth with texts.  Vaughan Williams nostalgic setting certainly recalls the loss of friends now with two horrible wars and many losses to reflect and honor in this equally beautiful and moving work.  Perhaps some additional seemless tracks would have been nice to access different portions of the work, but this is a minor concern.  Jeremy Irons’ performance is superb as well.

    Hilary Davan Wetton serves these works very well.  The imaging of the chorus works fairly well, though it is hard at times to understand texts, having them in front of you will certainly aid the understanding.  This is more an issue of the music itself rather than the performances themselves.  The orchestra is beautifully captured.  Overall, this is a fabulous collection of English music with a standout performance of the Butterworth and Vaughan Williams, and the wonderful Finzi discovery making this a very sweet discovery.