Now in his mid-fifties, Malcolm Lipkin has been one of the less conspicuous British composers of his generation; his work-list is a small one, and performances are comparatively rare. This new recording of three chamber pieces, sponsored by the Finzi Trust, offers an excellent opportunity for at least a degree of reappraisal, and it will be welcomed by all those who care for his rather quiet, serious tone of voice.
The String Trio of 1963-4 seems to me the most enduring of the works included here. If reminiscences of Bartok often rise to the surface in the scherzo, this can probably be attributed to Lipkin's close association with Matyas Seiber, with whom he studied between 1954 and 1957; and Finzi himself seems to move in the shadows of the slow third movement Canzona. Taut motivic and tonl control a re constant concerns, and it's only in the curiously fashioned finale—something of a theme with variations rolled up with a recapitulation of material from the first movement—that the argument becomes diffuse, leading to a conclusion that may strike some listeners as ineffectual. Lipkin's sensitive handling of the string-trio texture, on the other hand, is a constant joy, and so too is the keen, responsive playing by members of the Nash Ensemble.
I was less convinced by Clifford's Tower of 1977, a more dramatically conceived work for wind quintet and string trio. Lipkin's title refers to the site at which a massacre of York's Jewish population took place in the twelfth century, and his music seeks partly to comment on this specific incident, partly to put forward a broader humanitarian statement. The trouble is that Lipkin's idiom more satisfactorily expresses reflection than action, and some of the dynamic music appears forced; the resultis an uneven and at times slightly empty pice. Happily, however, the record ends well with the Pastorale for horn and string quintet: gentle and beautifully textured music that proceeds at a reassuringly steady, strollin pace. Here again, the playing is excellent; and the recording too is clear and faithful.'