January 11, 2019

  • Resurrecting Parry

     

    Parry: Symphony No. 4/Proserpine/Suite Moderne
    BBC National Orchestra & Chorus, Wales/Rumon Gamba
    Chandos 10994
    Total Time:  74:59
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    For those who appreciate English music that has its feet in two centuries, the music of Charles Hubert Parry (1848-1918) is a perfect place to start.  Born as the orchestra was beginning to take its larger Romantic shape, as harmony began to expand with the work of Wagner, and then as new styles and aesthetics essentially exploded in the new century, Parry stands as a composer whose music extends the Late-Romantic with often well-constructed works.  He is the composer who sets the stage for the music of Elgar.  Parry wrote five symphonies, one of which is included here.  But he is most-known for numerous choral pieces.  In this new release, Rumon Gamba gives us a chance to hear three rare orchestral works in new performance editions by scholar Jeremy Dibble, who provides the notes for the album.

    The Symphony No. 4 in e (1889—the year of Dvorak’s eighth symphony) received its premiere under the direction of the great Austro-Hungarian conductor Hans Richter.  It followed shortly on the heels of the more upbeat third symphony.  The opening movement features strong writing with good themes that move into a rather unsettling development area.  At the time, a bit too much for the audience to follow clearly.  There is also a nod to Brahms’ third symphony (a work Parry admired) as the development comes to a close.  The first theme has a decidedly dark quality and in the recapitulation a flirtation with the major is not enough to overcome its solemn insistence.  It is followed by a very brief “Intermezzo” which serves more as a harmonic transition to the slow movement.  The third movement is a chance for listeners unfamiliar with Parry’s style to hear his rich writing for strings and the melody here is a deeply moving, heartfelt one.  The sighing motif here is simply gorgeous and worth ones greater familiarity with the work.  The scherzo gives us a chance to hear the lighter dance-like elegance one finds in English orchestral music of the time.  The finale moves us through some fascinating harmonic centers as it turns toward a brighter, hopeful E Major conclusion.  Parry set the work aside and would revise it’s a couple more times.  That version has been recorded a few times, but this is the first chance we have to hear his original intent and it is superbly realized here.  Familiarity with the period helps modern audiences respond to this work more today.  The engaging themes and gorgeous writing never overstay their welcome and the emotional aspect of the music helps communicate this to audiences today.

    At the center of the disc is a bit of a rarity, his only ballet, Proserpine (1912).  The piece was conceived for the Keats-Shelley Festival which was raising funds to purchase the Rome house where Keats had died.  The inspiration comes from Shelley’s poem with its stanzas sung as interludes (text and translation included).  Proserpine is the goddess who is captured by Pluto and abducts her from Earth.  She is allowed to return once a year and is the embodiment of Spring.  Parry’s work has nice pastoral writing, a depiction of her abduction, and the emergence of spring.  The piece has a decidedly more French-like feel.  The performance was essentially a one-time affair with the piece languishing in a library until Dibble was able to begin pulling together the work for this new edition.  It is a delightful discovery falling along the lines more of a symphonic poem.

    The imposition of grand symphonies often had composers turning to other larger-scale symphonic works that needed less attention to formal structures.  The result were many orchestral suites filled with lyrical idylls and a variety of dances.  Often these tend to have a more nationalistic bent.  Parry’s Suite Moderne (1886, rev. 1892) had four movements of which three are included here: an idyll, romanza, and rhapsody.  Overall it is a lighter work with engaging thematic ideas and movements that have a picturesque feel, almost like miniature tone poems minus any real program.  The romanza has some interesting nods to the Baroque while the Rhapsody provides an exciting conclusion with a sonata rondo structure aiding its thematic development.  The suite was among the composer’s most popular works and was often programmed by Henry Wood for the Promenade Concerts.  Parry revised the piece but never published it.  Dibble has created this new edition and perhaps we can hope that the first movement finds its way on a forthcoming disc.

    Chandos has always done a fine job exploring the esoteric repertoire of 19th Century and Early 20th Century English music.  In the 1990s as they explored this repertoire, they recorded all Parry’s symphonies.  Those albums are invaluable to be able to hear these pieces, but if Gamba is in the midst of exploring them again in new editions we are going to be in for a treat.  The orchestra responds well to this music with its great themes and emotional pulls.  The sound is stunning as well.  If one is to start with Parry’s orchestral music, this is a fine place to begin.