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About Arcana

My name is Ben Hogwood, editor of the Arcana music site (arcana.fm)

On Record – Soloists of the English Symphony Orchestra / Kenneth Woods: Mahler arr. Simon: Symphony no.9 (ESO Records)

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Soloists of the English Symphony Orchestra / Kenneth Woods

Mahler arr. Simon Symphony no.9 in D major (1908-09, arr. 2007)

ESO Records ESO2602 [76’52”]
Producer Phil Rowlands Engineer Tim Burton

Recorded 23-25 March 2021 at Wyastone Concert Hall, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

The English Symphony Orchestra continues releases for its ESO Records label with Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, arranged by Klaus Simon and thereby continuing a lineage pioneered by the Society for Private Musical Performances established by Schoenberg after the First World War.

What’s the music like?

Schoenberg tackled Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Erwin Stein his Fourth Symphony, but neither is as ambitious as that of the Ninth arranged here for single strings and woodwind (these latter with doublings), two horns, trumpet, one percussionist, piano and harmonium.

Whatever the logistical disparity between original and arrangement, the music’s textural and motivic content remain intact. This is evident from the opening Andante comodo, its formal trajectory of interlocking arcs made explicit so its long-term expressive intensification feels no less tangible. To this end, piano or harmonium contribute much more than merely filling-out the texture; articulating and reinforcing its harmonic profile through to a coda clinching the overall tonal journey with a serenity more poignant for its remaining, as yet, unfulfilled.

The ensuing Ländler emerges no less lucidly overall, with Kenneth Woods (rightly) resisting any temptation to point up emotional contrast across a movement whose deceptive blitheness of spirit is only gradually undermined. Equally notable is the way that Simon has emphasized contrasts in timbre and texture, with the music ultimately fragmenting into a bemused parody of how it began. More questionable is the Rondo-Burleske where Woods’s underlying tempo in its outer sections, while enabling the music’s contrapuntal intricacy to emerge unimpeded, is a little too dogged to convey the assaultive quality Mahler surely intended. This is less of an issue in the central trio whose aching regret is potently captured; the stealthy regaining of tension no less evident before the final section propels this movement to its anguished close.

No such issues affect the final Adagio – its equivocation only relative now that the complete Tenth Symphony has been accepted into the Mahler canon, yet remaining a test of all-round cohesion such as this account renders with unwavering conviction. Having finely gauged the balance between its starkly contrasted episodes, Woods assuredly controls the winding down of tension towards a coda of inward rapture despite its sparseness of gesture, while affording that speculative closing interplay of solo strings the necessary temporal and emotional space.

Does it all work?

Yes it does, not least through persuading the listener that such a reduction is worthwhile not merely out of contingency alone. It should hardly need to be added the playing from this 19-strong ensemble, drawn from the ranks of the English Symphony Orchestra, is consistently attuned to the essence of this music, while also making the strongest case possible for what is a methodical while empathetic arrangement. No-one having heard it is likely to feel short-changed as to the relevance of Mahler Nine on its own terms or to the symphonic literature.

Is it recommended?

Yes it is, an impressively conceived and executed reading which demonstrates the efficacy of this arrangement to moving effect. Note too that Woods’ performance of the Ninth Symphony at this year’s Colorado MahlerFest will be available from its own in-house label in due course.

Listen / Buy

You can listen to excerpts and explore purchase options at the Presto Music website. Click on the names to read more about the English Symphony Orchestra, conductor Kenneth Woods and arranger / composer Klaus Simon

Published post no.2,891 – Monday 18 May 2026

On Record – Iain Quinn, English Symphony & String Orchestras / Kenneth Woods: Works for Organ and Orchestra (ESO Records)

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Iain Quinn (organ), English Symphony Orchestra (Hindemith), English String Orchestra / Kenneth Woods

Hindemith Kammermusik no.7 Op.46/2 (1927)
Pinkham Sonatas for Organ and Strings: no.1 (1966); no.2 (1966); no.3 (1987)
Poulenc Concerto in G minor for Organ, Strings and Timpani FP93 (1934-8)

ESO Records ESO2601 [62’44”]
Producer Phil Rowlands Engineer James Walsh

Recorded 1-3 April 2025 at Merton College Chapel, Oxford

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

The English Symphony Orchestra (and its ‘String Orchestra’ incarnation) continues releases on its ESO Records label with a collection of works for organ and orchestra featuring the industrious Iain Quinn, and which includes the first recordings of two organ sonatas by Daniel Pinkham.

What’s the music like?

Much the most often heard organ concerto (as opposed to organ symphony), that by Poulenc never fails to entertain and provoke: a judicious synthesis of musical past and present, high- and low-art, the serious and skittish – all given focus by its composer’s tendentious sense of style. It certainly sounds cohesive on this persuasive recording, Quinn alive to those reckless expressive contrasts and Kenneth Woods shaping its seven continuous sections into a logical yet purposeful whole. The relatively lengthy third section emerges as a ‘slow movement’ of encroaching pathos, and only the sixth disappoints with its ‘music-hall’ aspect rather muted. What is never in doubt is the seriousness of Poulenc’s response to tragic circumstances and his aspiring towards a transcendence that is cursorily denied by those fateful final gestures.

Interestingly, the seventh and final of Hindemith’s Kammermusik itself finds its composer at something of an aesthetic crossroads as regards that trenchant objectivity of the music from his early maturity then the greater emotional range of what followed. Certainly, its opening movement has a vigour but also self-containment duly leavened in the slow movement with its eloquent enfolding of the soloist into the orchestral texture; the finale fusing elements of the preceding on route to a peroration whose expressive force is a sure marker for the future.

Interest naturally alights on music by Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006), the American composer and organist who, based largely in Boston, wrote extensively in most genres while being best known for his choral and organ music. The three works heard here are ‘Church Sonatas’ akin to those from the Baroque and Classical eras, notably the 17 such pieces Mozart wrote in the 1770s. While the First Sonata is an appealing Andante, the Second Sonata contrasts its more inward Andante with a capering Allegro; the Third Sonata duly extended to four movements with its ingratiating Allegro and animated final Vivace framing a quizzical Allegretto and an Andante whose wistful poignancy makes it the highlight from among these pieces. Music for which Quinn evidently feels real affinity, rendered here with the necessary poise and finesse.

Does it all work?

Almost always. Among the most inclusive of present-day organists in terms of his repertoire, Quinn is an assured exponent throughout while receiving steadfast support from Woods and the ESO. Sound does full justice to the Dobson Organ of Merton College Chapel, even if the reverberant acoustic is not ideally suited to the Hindemith as this affects the music’s textural pungency or its overall assertiveness. Even so, both this and the Poulenc can hold their own with earlier recordings, while that of the Pinkham should prove difficult to surpass in future.

Is it recommended?

Indeed so. The booklet features detailed notes about each work by Guy Rickards, along with pertinent observations about this organ in the context of those ‘Neoclassic Instruments’ built in quantity, most notably North America, following the Second World War. Fascinating stuff!

Listen / Buy

You can listen to excerpts and explore purchase options at the Presto Music website. Click on the names to read more about organist Iain Quinn, conductor Kenneth Woods, the English String / Symphony Orchestra and composer Daniel Pinkham

Published post no.2,890 – Sunday 17 May 2026

On Record – The Peter Jacobs Anthology: Twentieth Century British Piano Music (Heritage Records)

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Peter Jacobs (piano)

Bax Winter Waters (1915)
Baines Preludes nos.1,3 & 6 (1919)
Benjamin Scherzino (1936)
Bliss Suite: Polonaise (1926)
Britten Sonatina Romantica: Moderato (1940)
Hold Tango (1975)
Howells Procession (1920)
Leigh Eclogue (1940)
Mayer Three Pieces from Calcutta-Nagar (1993)
Parry Scherzo in F major (pub 1922)
Quilter Summer Evening (1916)
Scott Egyptian Boat Song (1913)
Searle Vigil: France 1940-1944 (1944)
Seiber Scherzando Capriccioso (1953)
Shaw Roundabouts (1925)
Sterndale Bennett Presto agitato in F# minor Op.24/5
Stevenson A Wheen Tunes for Bairns Tae Spiel (1967)
Warren Second Sonata: Monody (1977)
Woodferne-Finden Kashmiri Song (1903)

Heritage Records HTGCD159 [76’40”]
Producer / Engineer Paul Arden-Taylor

Recorded 25 May 2021 at Wyastone Concert Hall, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

Besides reissuing his already extensive catalogue for other labels, Heritage has also made a number of new recordings by Peter Jacobs, with this album the first in what so far amounts to three volumes of miniatures and standalone pieces as drawn from his extensive repertoire.

Regular readers of Arcana will have come across reviews of the second and third volumes in this series, to which is now added this first instalment that ranges across the extent of Jacobs’ interest in and inclination towards unfamiliar though rewarding music by British composers.

What’s the music like?

Launched by Martin Shaw’s ebullient encore alighting on all two-dozen keys, this anthology continues with the harmonically acerbic second movement (of four) from Arthur Bliss’ early Suite, followed by music of elegant poignancy by Walter Leigh. John Mayer is heard in three from his 18 vignettes evoking sights and sounds of Calcutta (sic), with that by Roger Quilter a minor masterpiece of serenity infused with regret.

Màtyás Seiber contributes music whose liveliness and recalcitrance are entirely characteristic, with something ‘completely different’ in Amy Woodforde-Finden’s appealingly descriptive and once-ubiquitous number. Few are likely to recognize Herbert Howells as composer of a rhythmically combative piece that is (relatively) better known in its orchestral guise, while that from Arthur Benjamin could be no-one else given its playful insouciance. Dedicated ‘‘To my friends of the Fighting French Forces’’, Humphrey Searle’s evocation of war is the more powerful for its overall restraint and could well be considered the single-most impressive piece featured on this collection.

Hubert Parry is heard at his most vivacious and uninhibited; an ideal foil to Cyril Scott who, though he associated Egypt with (his own) past existences, focusses on melody of the most poetic. Much the earliest piece here, that by William Sterndale Bennett is the fifth in a six-movement suite – its deftness and agility in telling contrast to the incremental display of the opening movement from Raymond Warren’s Second Sonata. Three out of a larger sequence of preludes by William Baines constitute an object-lesson in making more out of less, while the first movement of Benjamin Britten’s never-quite-completed Sonata Romantica evinces ingenuity and didacticism in equal measure. Ronald Stevenson often aspired to the lofty or profound in his music, but the four pieces in the suite recorded here are epigrams as laconic as they are engaging. The longest single item here, Arnold Bax’s piece is at once a visceral seascape, revealing psychological study or resourceful passacaglia – the climax of an album that ends in a disarming item by Trevor Hold such as ought to win its composer new friends.

Does it all work?

As an overall sequence, undoubtedly. Jacobs is as inclusive in his interpretative acumen as   in the breadth of his musical sympathies – thereby making for a collection that plays to his strengths as convincingly as it does to those of the 19 composers who are featured herein.

Is it recommended?

Very much so, not least in the knowledge this release was merely the first in an ongoing and most valuable series bringing unfamiliar music to the attention of inquiring listeners. Sound of clarity and definition, along with Jacobs’ detailed booklet notes, are further enhancements.

Listen / Buy

You can explore purchase options at the Heritage Records website. Click on the name to read more about pianist Peter Jacobs

Published post no.2,889 – Saturday 16 May 2026

Switched On – Max Cooper: Feeling Is Structure (Mesh)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The music of Max Cooper continues to fire the imagination. His latest album is borne of a commission from the Royal Albert Hall for a live show, and he chose to explore “the relationship between physical form and human emotion.”

The press release nails his ability to fuse deep thinking and raw emotion. “Across 10 spatial audio-visual works, Cooper examines how structure in sound, architecture, biology and art, shapes the way we feel. Musically, Feeling Is Structure leans into Cooper’s more intricate and deliberate compositional side. Rather than improvisation, the record focuses on carefully designed systems and processes that build evolving sonic architectures. Precise at the micro level, but deeply emotive in impact.”

What’s the music like?

Very satisfying, especially on headphones. There is always a lot going on in Max Cooper’s music, with a great level of detail revealing itself with repeated listening. That said, the first few encounters are satisfying too, as there is a lot of feeling behind these beats.

The bleeps and loping beats of Pattern Index set the scene, a dubby rhythm bringing an unexpected similarity with early music from The Orb. Gradually the sonic canvas pans out, with the spacious Becoming supporting what feels like the workings of a large machine.

Cooper uses complex rhythms to often thrilling effect, with This Is A Bridge ratcheting up the tension and releasing a good deal of kinetic energy, while the beats get super busy on Obsessive Compulsive Order. Meanwhile the busy Bass Mosaic reaches all corners of the audio system. Four Tones Reflected and Ebb And Flow are rich sonic tapestries, while the beats retreat for the spectacular spectrum of Chrysalis to fully reveal itself.

Does it all work?

It does. A great deal of thinking has gone into the structure of this album – hence the title – and the quasi-orchestral textures are full of incident and colour.

Is it recommended?

It is. Feeling Is Structure is a deeply effective and thoroughly modern fusion of process and emotion. Max Cooper plays to his strength with music that emphatically ticks the intellectual and emotional boxes. Arguably his most successful album to date.

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,888 – Friday 15 May 2026

On this day in 1946 – the premiere of the Paul Hindemith oratorio, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d

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by Ben Hogwood. Image of the composer in 1945 by Foto von der Fondation Hindemith, Blonay, courtesy of Wikipedia

On this day, 80 years ago, the premiere of a substantial work by Paul Hindemith took place in the New York City Center. When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d: A Requiem for those we love (An American Requiem) is a setting of a large poem by Walt Whitman, and was commissioned by the conductor Robert Shaw and the Robert Shaw Chorale cin the wake of the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945.

Hindemith responded with a setting for alto, baritone, choir and orchestra, and Shaw conducted the premiere. Here is a more recent recording that he made for the Telarc label in 1987, which helped promote the cause of a seldom-heard work that is in fact amongst Hindemith’s finest works:

Published post no.2,887 – Thursday 14 May 2026