Tasmin Little’s Delian instincts are formidable indeed, an observation borne out not just by her two previous concertante outings – the Violin Concerto with Sir Charles Mackerras on Argo (7/92 – nla) and the Double Concerto with Raphael Wallfisch (and Mackerras again) on EMI Eminence (3/92) – but now amply confirmed by this rewarding new coupling.
The wonderful First Sonata receives big-hearted, confident advocacy here. Whereas Janice Graham and Israela Margalit, and Louise Jones and Malcolm Miller were (respectively) either too impulsive or too cautious for comfort, these marvellously sensitive newcomers strike a near-ideal balance between flexibility and purposeful concentration. I have commented before on the re-creative qualities of May Harrison’s 1929 recording with Arnold Bax (the same team also went on to premiere the Third Sonata in November of the following year); Ralph Holmes and Eric Fenby also remain mandatory listening (moving as Fenby is, though, he is, inevitably, no match for the admirable Piers Lane in terms of technical prowess). Suffice to say, Little and Lane are not out of place in such august company.
Likewise, the Second Sonata is given a commandingly articulate, thoughtful interpretation that never once threatens to hang fire. In the case of the Third Sonata, there again exists an outstanding historic rival in the shape of Albert Sammons’s January 1944 account with Kathleen Long (superbly refurbished on Dutton Laboratories). This has an exceptional emotional charge and sense of ecstasy that stems from a long association with Delius’s music (Sammons’s premiere recording of the Violin Concerto with Sargent was set down in the same year). Little, too, has lived with this piece for many years (as a 13-year-old student, she was advised by Eric Fenby himself on stylistic and interpretative matters) and her playing positively glows with fervour and understanding. Moreover, she and Lane see to it that the fine Sonata in B (1892) emerges in infinitely more convincing fashion than it did on the Meridian Jones/Miller version. To both outer movements they bring fiery propulsion as well as a firm sense of direction, while the haunting central processional of the lovely Andante molto tranquillo (which so impressed Grieg) really captures the imagination.
The recording is full-bodied, though the piano focus could be sharper within a church acoustic that is surely too expansive for such intimate repertoire. No matter: all Delians should investigate this release, the sessions for which (as Little relates in her touching booklet-notes) were lent an extra poignancy by the news of Eric Fenby’s death on the first day of recording.'