An important and rewarding issue. Although four of the symphonies are available and two more, Nos. 4 and 6, have just been released, hardly a note of Frankel’s chamber music has been put on record. The Fifth String Quartet was briefly available on LP (Columbia, 10/67 – nla) but the Clarinet Quintet, in a performance from Thea King and the Britten Quartet, is his only current representation on the Gramophone Database. Listening to these pieces brought to mind MEO’s words concerning the Second Symphony (CPO, 8/96) – “There are no notes wasted here on rhetoric; the rigour of Frankel’s thematic working intensifies the music’s eloquence.” The Clarinet Quintet, written in 1956 for Thea King in memory of her late husband, the celebrated Frederick Thurston, is, as always with this composer, beautifully wrought and eloquent; its intelligent, civilized discourse gives unfailing pleasure. I returned to this and the Bagatelles immediately after playing them and expect to do so again as soon as these lines are sent off.
The Trio for clarinet, cello and piano is a much earlier piece, dating from 1940, yet it finds his distinctive musical language already in place, and anyone who knows Frankel’s music would recognize his fingerprints. The music always moves with an apparently effortless ease. Frankel’s upbringing in the world of popular music and film music ensured a fluency that has often inhibited listeners from discerning the deeper currents that flow under the surface. There is no mistaking them in the Bagatelles for 11 instruments, which date from 1959, the year in which Frankel suffered a heart attack. Here there are some melodic cross-references to the First Symphony from the previous year and depth and seriousness are most strongly in evidence in the final Largamente, whose opening inhabits a world not dissimilar to the last movement of the symphony. Like the latter it is serial but not atonal, much in the same way as Frank Martin: indeed the last movement strikes much the same resonance as the Swiss master. The thoughtful Pezzi pianissimi (1965) also strike a darker and more serious note. The CD ends with a set of three pieces from 1948. Early Morning Music, whose titles (“Too Early”, “Breakfast Cackle” and “Unwillingly to Work”) admirably convey their slight but pleasing character.
All these performances are highly musicianly and extremely accomplished throughout and Paul Dean proves an eloquent and expert player. Thea King obviously has special claims in the Quintet and, incidentally, took part (with Eleanor Warren and the composer) in the first performance of the Pezzi pianissimi. It goes without saying that this excellently balanced disc not only fills an important gap in the current catalogue but, more to the point, offers valuable musical rewards. Strongly recommended.'