This is the sequel to Bernard Roberts's earlier Claudio disc of Stephen Dodgson's Second, Fourth and Fifth Piano Sonatas (9/98). This time the music spans a 35-year period from 1959 (Sonata No 1) to 1994 (No 6), by way of 1983 and the Third Sonata, which I find the most interesting and successful of the three.
Dodgson (b1924) is one of the best British pupils Nadia Boulanger never had. His music is closer to that of Lennox Berkeley than Walton's or Britten's, evoking Prokofiev, Shostakovich and the more serious side of Poulenc, to name only the most obvious associations, and its avoidance of textbook Englishness in anaemic pastoral vein is welcome. It works best in the kind of pointed economy that goes well with the variation structure of No 3. Even here, however, the central Andantino lacks cogency, and the more extended dimensions of the other works (especially the Sonata No 6) encourage a tendency to sprawl, to linger for too long over rather routine ideas and splashy gestures, and to make too little of the possibilities for contrast inherent in the musical language.
Nevertheless, Roberts is a sprightly advocate, responding to every expressive nuance in what is always admirably idiomatic piano writing. The recording is brightly forward, with excellent presence throughout.
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