''The English Mozart'', they called him, when he was an infant prodigy; but William Crotch, born in 1775, didn't turn out quite the same way. Perhaps he was treated too kindly. He went to Cambridge when he was 13, and then to Oxford where he was appointed Professor at 23, he was later first Principal of the Royal Academy of Music. He was a talented composer, especially in his sacred music and oratorios. But the music presented here, like other works of his that I have heard, sounds just a little too easily come by, one feels that he might have done something bigger had life not been quite so cushioned for him. The idiom of his instrumental music is conservative for his day and at base a sort of post-Haydn one.
The first of the symphonies here, the one in F from 1814, has a slow introduction with what we might think of as one or two Schubertian touches but the main Vivace is Haydnish in spirit and in its main ideas—it is an energetic, triple-time piece with later techniques invoked in the working-out of the material. His invention tends to be four-square, as in the D minor Andante, which is plaintive in a folksy kind of way (very much an English tradition at this time). There is a minuet with a waltz-like trio, and a well-worked finale involving some patches of contrapuntal writing, all very skilfully done, with an ending that is possibly rather over-demonstrative for what has gone before.
The Second Organ Concerto, published in a set of three about 1805, belongs in a tradition that goes, of course, back to Handel, but it is more like the concertos of the next generation, by John Stanley and particularly Thomas Arne (James Hook wrote some too, which would be amply worth reviving and recording). There is some post-Handelian, Arne-like material, alongside classical-style writing, in the fairly slight first movement, and the Andante, a set of variations, has a charming eloquence and grace, with some appealing flute writing. The last movement, again, is marred by the four-square invention but Andrew Lumsden's neat and shapely organ playing provides excellent advocacy. The writer of the booklet note, David Byers, is unimpressed by the G major Overture of 1815, but there are a number of real poetic touches here and there, especially in the slow introduction, and the main part of the movement has some attractive modulation and resourcefully worked ideas. But the most attractive piece on the disc is the E flat Symphony, and it is truly a pity that this is Crotch's 'unfinished'—the sombre slow introduction promises well, and if again the square rhythms ultimately let him down, the main part of the first movement has some quite original and interesting ideas, even if carried out at a somewhat leisurely pace. He began the next movement, but broke off after starting the second; perhaps it is clear that he was not enough of a compulsive creator.
The very capable orchestra from Milton Keynes, under Hilary Davan Wetton's eager and enthusiastic direction, gives a sympathetic account of the music, with some good, clean direct playing and well-chosen tempos. I don't think this music is the equal of Samuel Wesley's some of which this group recorded earlier (10/91) but it is certainly worth a hearing and I hope that readers of a curious disposition will try it.'