The Pre-Raphaelite Cello (Adrian Bradbury)

Record and Artist Details

Genre:

Chamber

Label: Somm Recordings

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 73

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: SOMMCD0685

SOMMCD0685. The Pre-Raphaelite Cello (Adrian Bradbury)

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Variationen über ein Thema von K. Klimsch Iwan Knorr, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
Liebesleben Hugo Becker, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
L'amour de Moy Traditional, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
Amadis, Movement: Bois épais Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
To Julia, Movement: To Daisies Roger Quilter, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
To Julia, Movement: Julia's Hair. Interlude Roger Quilter, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
Where the Rainbow Ends, Movement: Slumber Song Roger Quilter, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
(3) Songs of William Blake, Movement: Dream Valley Roger Quilter, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
Vesperale Cyril (Meir) Scott, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
Lullaby Cyril (Meir) Scott, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
Pierrot amoureux Cyril (Meir) Scott, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
Pastoral and Reel Cyril (Meir) Scott, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
Ballade Cyril (Meir) Scott, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
Youthful Rapture (George) Percy (Aldridge) Grainger, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
Variations on Handel's `The Harmonious Blacksmith' (George) Percy (Aldridge) Grainger, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano
Sussex Mummers' Christmas Carol (George) Percy (Aldridge) Grainger, Composer
Adrian Bradbury, Cello
Andrew West, Piano

‘What in the dazes is Pre-Raphaelite music?’ I hear you ask – as well you might, as this is a decidedly niche corner of the repertoire. It represents a clutch of late 19th- and early 20th-century works by the so-called ‘Frankfurt Gang’ – Roger Quilter, Cyril Scott and Percy Grainger, who in the 1890s studied at Frankfurt’s Hoch’sche Konservatorium under Iwan Knorr – which attempted to musically encapsulate the period’s Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic, notably through the harmonic means of a major triad either on the flattened mediant or on the submediant, a chord Grainger described as possessing ‘a heart-rending power we musical Pre‑Raphaelites needed’.

As for where the cello fits in, these composers and friends were inspired and championed by the leading British cellist whom Elgar famously preferred for his Cello Concerto, Beatrice Harrison. Since this year marks the centenary of the Nightingale broadcast – when over a million BBC radio listeners tuned in to hear Harrison apparently duet on her cello with local nightingales, live from her Oxted garden – this album pays tribute both to it and to Harrison’s Frankfurt Gang relationship. Moreover, it features 10 debut recordings, including Harrison’s favourite encore, L’amour de moy – Quilter’s arrangement of a medieval French chanson about a nightingale, which he refused to publish so that it would remain hers alone. Prefacing the works by this trio of friends are pieces by their teacher Knorr and by Hugo Becker, Harrison’s cello teacher, who himself had Frankfurt links. Many of these manuscripts, including parts with Harrison’s fingerings, had lain undiscovered in the Harrison archive until being resurrected by the chairman of The Harrison Sisters’ Trust, David Candlin.

The resultant album does indeed have its own particular, consistent aesthetic: one of melodic simplicity, long-lined lyricism and a sentimental, emotional directness, which in turn is realised by Bradbury and West with a nicely old-world, semi-sacred-feeling graceful dignity. Bradbury has a rich, attractive sound, and his sure-toned, snugly tucked portamentos feel just right for the period. L’amour de moy is a find – tender, simple, subtly antique‑y in its melodic and harmonic language. So too is Scott’s wistfully expressive Pierrot amoureux of 1904, dedicated to Harrison. ‘Frage’ (Question) and ‘Antwort’ (Answer) from Becker’s six short cello pieces stand out for their singing optimism. Mostly the emphasis is squarely on the cello line, bar Knorr’s more conversational Variationen über ein Thema von K Klimsch. Overall I’ve found this a surprisingly intense listen; that’s probably partly the repertoire itself, and partly the immediate capturing in The Menuhin Hall. Thoughtfully compiled, engagingly performed, it offers much to inspire any cellist after some lesser-known encore pieces.

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