Tag Archives: classical-music

On Record – Berkeley Ensemble: Beauty Veil’d (EM Records)

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Berkeley Ensemble [Sophie McQueen, Francesca Barritt (violins), Dan Shilladay (viola), Gemma Wareham (cello)] with Tom Wraith (cello, Dare), Simon Callaghan (piano – Dare, Howell Adagio and Caprice, Matthay)

Dare Phantasy Quintet (1933-4)
Howell Adagio and Caprice (1955); String Quartet in D minor (1933)
Matthay Piano Quartet in C major Op.20 (1882, rev.1905)
McEwan Nugae (1912)

EM Records EMRCD091 [58’13”]
Producer Matthew Bennett Engineer Dave Rowell

Recorded 28-30 August 2024 at St John the Evangelist, Oxford

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

EM Records continues its in-depth exploration of neglected music with these first recordings by proceeding generations of British composers, superbly realized by the Berkeley Ensemble which has made it its mission to revive such works for the enjoyment of present-day listeners.

What’s the music like?

Remembered mainly for miniatures still featuring on Associated Board examinations, Marie Dare (1902-76) wrote several larger chamber works. The (not quite) symmetrical form of her Phantasy Quintet is adeptly handled, and if this piece does not quite maintain the expressive intensity of its initial section, the elaboration of its themes ensures a satisfying overall design. The presence of two cellos yields a burnished eloquence to the musical textures, and interest is sufficiently aroused to make a hearing of her String Quartet in G minor worth considering.

More striking are the two works by Dorothy Howell (1898-1982), the revival of whose music has centred on her orchestral output. Deftly scored for violin and piano, Adagio and Caprice moves between reticence and impulsiveness with a seamless cohesion. If the String Quartet is slightly less well integrated, it is also more questing harmonically with its opening section distilling a keen atmosphere that persists right through to a lively close. A pity Howell never wrote a full-length quartet, but the present pieces deserves their place on recital programmes.

His not uncontroversial reputation as piano pedagogue having overshadowed his legacy as a composer, Tobias Matthay (1958-1945) left a handful of chamber works of which the Piano Quartet prefigures the ‘phantasy’ concept in its single movement of interrelated sections that, between them, outline a formal design whose thematic elements are evolving right up to the resolute close. Worth hearing, but a complete recording of 31 Variations and Derivations on an Original Theme for piano is needed for a fuller reassessment of Matthay’s creative worth.

Ironic that Matthay’s Piano Quartet should have been dedicated to John Blackwood McEwan, whose subsequent condemnation of his teaching led to the former’s departure from the Royal Academy. Subtitled Seven Bagatelles and actually the fifth of his 17 string quartets, Nugae evokes various aspects of that Scottish landscape central to his thinking (notably the Solway Symphony) – its characterful alternation between brooding and animated vignettes making a cohesive sequence whose components would be equally worth hearing as separate encores.

Does it all work?

Pretty much always. There are no overlooked masterpieces here, though the works by Howell and McEwan certainly warrant regular hearings. That these are all premiere recordings makes this release a mandatory purchase for anyone interested in British music of the period and the Berkeley Ensemble, alongside Tom Wraith and Simon Callaghan, do them proud. The sound could hardly be improved on for clarity and definition, while Dan Shilladay’s annotations are informative and not unduly partisan in their making a case for the dissemination of this music.

Is it recommended?

It is indeed. Those who have the Chilingirian Quartet’s three volumes of McEwan’s quartets (Chandos) will welcome acquiring the present piece as a supplement, and one looks forward to further recordings of chamber works by Dare and Howell from these inquiring musicians.

Listen / Buy

You can hear excerpts from the album at the EM Records website, and explore purchase options at the Presto website. Click on the names to read more about the Berkeley Ensemble, Simon Callaghan and Tim Wraith, and composers Marie Dare, Dorothy Howell, Tobias Matthay and John Blackwood McEwan

Published post no.2,801 – Tuesday 17 February 2026

In Appreciation: Helmuth Rilling

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by Ben Hogwood picture courtesy of Opus Artists

Last week we learned the sad news of the death of conductor Helmuth Rilling, at the age of 92. An obituary can be found at the New York Times website

Rilling will forever be closely associated with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, becoming the first conductor to record all of his cantatas in a project begun in October 1969 and completed on the occasion of Bach’s 300th anniversary in 1985. The results were released on the German label Hänssler, and immediately won the ‘Grand Prix du Disque’.

In honour of Rilling’s achievements, this Tidal playlist comprises his recordings of three Bach cantatas written for the Sunday before Lent – falling today – and excerpts from works he commissioned for Passion 2000, marking the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death, from the composers Tan Dun, Osvaldo Golijov, Wolfgang Rihm and Sofia Gubaidulina

Published post no.2,799 – Sunday 15 February 2026

In Appreciation: Tamás Vásáry

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by Ben Hogwood picture courtesy of United Archives

Last week we learned the sad news of the death of Hungarian pianist and conductor Tamás Vásáry, at the age of 92.

More details about Vásáry’s accomplishments can be found in an obituary at Classical Music Daily

Vásáry made many fine recordings as a pianist, with his exploits in Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninov especially noteworthy, while as a conductor he enjoyed nearly a decade with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, yielding imaginative albums looking at the music of Respighi, Honegger and Martinu.

Music from these recordings can be heard on a Tidal playlist which you can access here:

Published post no.2,795 – Wednesday 11 February 2026

On Record – BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / Rumon Gamba: Overtures from the British Isles Vol. 3 (Chandos)

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BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / Rumon Gamba

Arnell The New Age, Op. 2 (1939)
Brian The Tinker’s Wedding (1948)
Bridge Rebus H191 (1940)
Britten orch. Colin Matthews Overture to ‘Paul Bunyan’ Op.17 (1941)
A. Bush Resolution Op.25 (1944)
G. Bush Yoric (1949)
Fenby Rossini on Ilkla Moor (1938)
Jones Comedy Overture (1942)
Orr The Prospect of Whitby (1948)
Parker Overture to ‘The Glass Slipper’ (1944)
Rawsthorne Street Corner (1944)

Chandos CHAN20351 [77’20’’]
Producer Jonathan Cooper Engineer Stephen Rinker, Philip Halliwell

Recorded 23 May (Arnell, Brian, Britten, G. Bush, Rawsthorne), 20 November (Parker), 21 November 2024 (Bridge, A. Bush, Fenby, Jones, Orr) at MediaCityUK, Salford, Manchester

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

Chandos continues its series devoted to British Overtures with the third instalment featuring three first recordings among those eleven works which, between them, demonstrate just how significant to British concertgoing was this now neglected genre throughout the inter-war era.

What’s the music like?

The album gets off to a cracking start with The Tinker’s Wedding – Havergal Brian’s overview of a play by J. M. Synge, by turns uproarious and ruminative, that duly launched his abundant Indian Summer. After this, Geoffrey Bush’s Yorick cannot help sounding well-behaved if with sufficient expressive contrast for an evocative portrayal of Shakespeare’s hapless jester. In his detailed booklet note, Lewis Foreman describes Alan Rawsthorne’s Street Corner as ‘‘largely forgotten’’, which is a pity given its vivid conjuring of time and place has dated as well as the best Ealing Comedy. If Daniel Jones’ take on its subject may be less memorable, his Comedy Overture exudes more than enough humour and intrigue to make its acquaintance worthwhile.

Frank Bridge’s last completed work, Rebus was unheard for decades after its premiere but this third recording confirms it as a minor masterpiece and the finest of all these pieces – not least as an object-lesson in being accessible without diluting individuality. Robin Orr first attracted attention with The Prospect of Whitby, and his bracingly resourceful evocation of the London pub should not have waited so long for its recording. Richard Arnell was clearly out to make a statement of intent with The New Age, which generates real energy between imposing outer sections. Benjamin Britten might not have intended to preface his operetta Paul Bunyan with an overture but, as realized by Colin Matthews, it leaves a pleasing if anonymous impression.

Far more personality is conveyed by Alan Bush in Resolution, derived from an earlier piece for brass band and which continues that dialectical facet evident in much of his earlier music through its contrapuntal dexterity. There could be no greater contrast than The Glass Slipper, Clifton Parker’s overture to Herbert and Eleanor Farjeon’s ‘fairy tale with music’ that found success as a Christmas Matinee in London’s West End. Most appealing for its slightness and knowingly fey charm, it ideally complements Rossini on Ilkla Moor – Eric Fenby’s ingenious homage to the Italian master which came about through (deliberate?) misunderstanding only to enjoyed frequent performance, and which entertainingly rounds off the present collection.

Does it all work?

Yes, whether in terms of the overtures heard individually and a continuous overall sequence. Those who have acquired those previous volumes (or Chandos’s two issues of British Tone Poems) will recall that Rumon Gamba favours predominantly swift tempos and so it proves here, though there is never a sense of this music unnecessarily being rushed, while the BBC Philharmonic is more than equal to the often considerable technical demands of each piece. None of those overtures previously recorded can surely have emerged so effectively as here

Is it recommended?

Indeed it is. The continued absence of overtures from the programmes of most UK orchestras means such pieces have little chance of reaching a new public other than with recordings, and there could be no greater incentive to get to know them than through a collection such as this.

Listen / Buy

You can hear excerpts from the album and explore purchase options at the Chandos website, or you can listen to the album on Tidal. Click to read more about the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Rumon Gamba

Published post no.2,794 – Tuesday 10 February 2026

On Record – ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra / Jakub Hrůša – Kabeláč: Symphony no.2; Overtures (Capriccio)

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ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra / Jakub Hrůša

Kabeláč
Symphony no.2 in C major Op.15 (1942-6)
Overture no.1 Op. 6 (1939)
Overture no.2 Op.17 (1947)

Capriccio C5546 [54’51’’]
Producer Erich Hofmann Engineer Freidrich Trondl

Recorded 14-16 June 2023 (Symphony), 17 June 2024 (Overtures) at Konzerthus, Radio Kulturhaus, Vienna

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

Capriccio continues its exploration of paths less travelled with a collection of early orchestral works from the Prague-based composer Miloslav Kabeláč (1908-79), all persuasively realized by the ORF Symphony Orchestra of Vienna while authoritatively conducted by Jakub Hrůša.

What’s the music like?

Although his output made little headway outside his native Czechoslovakia over his lifetime, with its dissemination subject to considerable restrictions imposed by those authorities either side of the Dubček era, Kabeláč has belatedly been recognized as a major figure from among the European composers of his generation. The three pieces featured here give only a limited idea of those radical directions that his music subsequently took, though a distinct personality is already evident such that they afford a worthwhile and rewarding listen in their own right.

His first such work for full orchestra, the Second Symphony occupied Kabeláč throughout the latter years of war and into a peace whose promise proved but fleeting. Uncompromising as a statement of intent, the first of its three movements unfolds from an imposing introduction to a sonata design as powerfully sustained as it is intensively argued. Beginning then ending in elegiac inwardness, while characterized by an eloquent theme for alto saxophone, the central Lento builds to a culmination of acute plangency. It remains for the lengthy finale to afford a sense of completion, which it duly does with its methodical yet impulsive course towards an apotheosis whose triumph never feels contrived or overbearing. Successfully heard in Prague then at the ISCM Festival in Palermo, the piece endures as a testament to human aspiration.

This recording is neatly and appositely rounded out with the brace of overtures Kabeláč wrote on either side of the symphony (neither of which appears to have been commercially recorded hitherto). Written in the wake of the Nazi’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, the First Overture is a taut study in martial rhythms whose provocation could hardly have been doubted at its 1940 premiere. Eight years on and the Second Overture is no less concise in its form or economical in its thematic discourse, while exuding an emotional impact which doubtless left its mark on those who attended its 1947 premiere and seems the more poignant in the light of subsequent events. Kabeláč was to write more searching orchestral pieces in those decades that followed, yet the immediacy and appeal of his earlier efforts is still undimmed with the passage of time.

Does it all work?

Yes, owing not least to the excellence of these accounts. While he has not previously recorded the composer, Hrůša directed a memorable performance of Kabeláč’s masterly orchestral work Mystery of Time in London some years ago and he conveys a tangible identity with his music. Those who have the excellent Supraphon set of Kabeláč symphonies (SU42022) need not feel compelled to acquire this release, but those who do will hear readings of this uncompromising music which are likely to remain unsurpassed in their authoritative playing and interpretation.

Is it recommended?

Very much so. Recorded sound could hardly be bettered for elucidating the frequently dense but never opaque orchestral textures, and Miloš Haase pens an insightful booklet note. Those yet to acquire Capriccio’s overview of Kabeláč’s chamber music (C5522) are urged to do so.

Listen / Buy

You can hear excerpts from the album and explore purchase options at the Presto website, or you can listen to the album on Tidal. Click to read more about the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jakub Hrůša – and for more on composer Miloslav Kabeláč.

Published post no.2,793 – Monday 9 February 2026