Busch; Holbrooke; Wordsworth Cello Works
Enterprising programmes of British cello repertoire both well known and neglected
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: William Busch, William (Brocklesby) Wordsworth, Joseph Holbrooke
Genre:
Chamber
Label: BMS
Magazine Review Date: 11/2010
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 76
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: BMS436CD

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 |
William (Brocklesby) Wordsworth, Composer
Raphael Terroni, Piano Raphael Wallfisch, Cello William (Brocklesby) Wordsworth, Composer |
Nocturne |
William (Brocklesby) Wordsworth, Composer
Raphael Terroni, Piano Raphael Wallfisch, Cello William (Brocklesby) Wordsworth, Composer |
Scherzo |
William (Brocklesby) Wordsworth, Composer
Raphael Terroni, Piano Raphael Wallfisch, Cello William (Brocklesby) Wordsworth, Composer |
Sonata for Violoncello |
William (Brocklesby) Wordsworth, Composer
Raphael Wallfisch, Cello William (Brocklesby) Wordsworth, Composer |
Fantasie-Sonate |
Joseph Holbrooke, Composer
Joseph Holbrooke, Composer Raphael Terroni, Piano Raphael Wallfisch, Cello |
Suite |
William Busch, Composer
Raphael Terroni, Piano Raphael Wallfisch, Cello William Busch, Composer |
(A) Memory |
William Busch, Composer
Raphael Terroni, Piano Raphael Wallfisch, Cello William Busch, Composer |
Elegy |
William Busch, Composer
Raphael Terroni, Piano Raphael Wallfisch, Cello William Busch, Composer |
Composer or Director: Benjamin Britten, Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Frank Bridge
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Classic
Magazine Review Date: 11/2010
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: CD93 257

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Sonata for Cello and Piano |
Frank Bridge, Composer
Frank Bridge, Composer Johannes Moser, Cello Paul Rivinius, Piano |
Legend-Sonata |
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer Johannes Moser, Cello Paul Rivinius, Piano |
Author: Andrew Achenbach
The coupling, too, is both unique and enticing. Bax wrote his attractively concise and clean-cut Legend-Sonata in 1943 for Florence Hooton (whose 1958 world premiere recording with Wilfrid Parry has been successfully refurbished on Lyrita). The central Lento espressivo is an especially endearing creation, its gently swaying second subject subsequently plundered by the composer for his final tone-poem A Legend (1944). Suffice to say, Moser and Rivinius are highly communicative proponents of Bax’s heartwarming inspiration. Throw in a beautifully balanced production and it all adds up to a most impressive achievement that can only enhance this gifted cellist’s growing reputation.
Even more enterprising is the programme offered by Raphael Wallfisch and Raphael Terroni, whose BMS survey launches in imposing fashion with the tautly argued one-movement Second Sonata by William Wordsworth (1908-88). It was written in 1959, the same year that Wordsworth (in his role as chairman of the Composers’ Guild of Great Britain) met Shostakovich, and its brooding demeanour and powerfully inevitable progress seem to nod appreciatively towards the Soviet master. A similarly nourishing sense of discourse marks out the Bachian solo Sonata (1961). In between these two substantial offerings come the haunting, deeply felt Nocturne (1946) and roguish Scherzo (1949). Indeed, all four pieces suggest further exploration of Wordsworth’s extensive output would be profitable (six of his eight symphonies remain unrecorded, as does the oratorio from 1942-44, Dies Domini, apparently much admired by Vaughan Williams). Next we have Josef Holbrooke’s Fantasie-Sonate, an immensely likeable, melodious and fluent essay completed in 1904, and three striking works by William Busch (1901-45, father of horn player Nicholas) make up the remainder, the meatiest being the four-movement Suite from 1943 (again dedicated, like the Bax Sonata from the same year, to Florence Hooton). The performances are quite outstandingly eloquent, the sound sumptuous and true. Calum MacDonald supplies a helpfully detailed and characteristically astute booklet essay. A super disc, this, and urgently recommended to all Anglophiles.
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