Jazz
Fred Frith
27 products
Ireland: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 - Cello Sonata
Robin Milford: Chamber Music
Eleventh Hour
Field: Piano Concertos, Vol. 3
D. Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas Vol 5 / Benjamin Frith
Elgar: The Violin Music
Moeran: In the Mountain Country... / Falletta
MOERAN Overture for a Masque. In the Mountain Country . Rhapsodies Nos. 1 and 2. Rhapsody in F? 1 • JoAnn Falletta, cond; 1 Benjamin Frith (pn); Ulster O • NAXOS 8.573106 (57:06)
Vernon Handley, a conductor whose service to British music should be praised in the same breath as that of Adrian Boult (but too seldom was in his lifetime), recorded these works with the Ulster Orchestra for the Chandos label between 1987 and 1989. This was the first integral set of the three rhapsodies, and very fine it is, too—still a significant part of Anglo-Irish composer Ernest John Moeran’s discography, split onto two mid-price Chandos reissues. Now, 25 years later, the orchestra revisits this repertoire, under the direction of its American principal conductor JoAnn Falletta.
The Rhapsody No. 1 in F Major is a student work. It was completed in 1922 after Moeran had returned wounded from World War I to finish his studies at the Royal College of Music with John Ireland, to whom it is dedicated. It and In the Mountain Country , a rhapsody in all but name, are works written under the spell of folksong. Moeran had resumed his collecting of such songs while composing these two pieces, and though the themes he uses are original, they could easily pass as traditional. The other major influences on these, and in fact on all of the works presented here, are the music of Frederick Delius, Jean Sibelius, and friend Peter Warlock, and—perhaps most importantly—the picturesque landscapes of the east of both Ireland and England. The blend creates a bucolic lyricism and nostalgic tonality which makes him the target of those who sneer at the so-called “pastoral” school of English composition. This is a label Vaughan Williams’s reputation has been able to rise above, but not so much that of Moeran. Yes it is tuneful, and sometime the influences show too much, but it is hard to understand why this beautifully crafted, colorfully orchestrated, and immediately engaging music should be so neglected. It cannot be, even in the more youthful works, for want of refinement or emotional depth. And the two later works, the Rhapsody in F? for piano and orchestra and the Overture for a Masque , though written for the more populist needs of wartime audiences, are works of substance that achieve their audience appeal with real artistry.
The least obscure of the works on this program is the Rhapsody No. 2 in E Major, written just two years after the first, and notably the more mature work. It still sounds rather like Delius—that common criticism of Moeran’s earlier works—but the succession of great tunes is stitched together with impressive skill. Adrian Boult’s more expansive and Impressionistic reading for Lyrita has been my favorite, but I find that Falletta’s cooler and somewhat swifter approach—less Delian, it might be noted—with its emphasis on the characterful wind writing, brings out a delightful Celtic swagger. I think Falletta’s may be my new favorite.
Otherwise, if I was looking for differences between the two complete rhapsody editions—none of them all that significant—it would be that Falletta is consistently more direct, a quality to which these pieces respond well. Handley is inclined to emphasize dynamic and tempo contrasts, and to bring out an undercurrent of melancholy. The result, at slightly slower tempos, is more thoughtful but less engagingly jaunty. The Ulster Orchestra is, if anything, more polished and expressive than its counterpart of a quarter-century ago. Soloist Benjamin Firth is not as assertive in the Rhapsody in F? as Margaret Fingerhut was for Handley, in part the work of the engineers who integrate him more into the orchestral texture. That, and his somewhat less fulsome approach to the part, is at one with Falletta’s easygoing approach, and delivers much in the way of subtle beauty while yielding little in exuberance when the score demands it. I welcome both approaches, and am thrilled to have both conductors’ readings in my collection. This new disc joins the equally fine Falletta/Ulster release on Naxos of the cello concerto, serenade, and Two Pieces for Small Orchestra . Both discs are highly recommended.
FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames
Field: Piano Music Vol 2 / Benjamin Frith
Mendelssohn: Piano Works Vol 1 / Benjamin Frith
Field: Piano Music Vol 1 - Nocturnes And Sonatas / Frith
Field: Piano Concertos, Nocturnes & Sonatas / Frith, Haslam, Northern Sinfonia
Irish by birth, John Field gained an international reputation as one of the finest pianists of his time, with delicacy and nuance in his playing that is expressed in his innovative and poetically lyrical ‘Nocturnes.’ Field’s earlier ‘Sonatas’ are more classical in feel, but their sense of flow and dramatic narrative exhibit qualities that are developed and given added virtuoso panache in his fine ‘Piano Concertos,’ works admired by Liszt, Chopin, and Schumann. “Benjamin Frith has done a stellar job in bringing these concertos into the sunlight, brilliantly supported by the Northern Sinfonia under David Haslam.” (Pianist Magazine) “Played with effortless fluency…” (Gramophone) “Benjamin Frith plays with the freshness of discovery and wit.” (Audiophile Audition)
Excerpts of reviews from select, previously released volumes included in this set:
Field: Piano Music Vol 1 - Nocturnes and Sonatas
These "night" pieces are primarily characterized by a dominant, gracefully flowing melody, with most of the harmonic activity in the pianist's left hand. Although other pianists have recorded at least some of Field's Nocturnes--most notably John O'Conor (Telarc) and Miceál O'Rourke (Chandos)--Benjamin Frith's own uniquely inflected, poetic readings have a satisfying aura of intimacy cast in the warm colors of his well-tempered, expertly recorded piano.
– ClassicsToday.com
Field: Piano Concertos No 1 & 3
Both works are played with the effortless fluency we know from his Mendelssohn series - plus all the immediacy and freshness of new discovery.
– Gramophone
Field: Piano Concerto Nos. 2 & 7 and Piano Sonata No. 4 / Frith
Dublin-born prodigy John Field enjoyed a wide reputation and great popularity. He was renowned as a soloist for his delicacy of nuance and as a composer for his cultivation of that most poetic of forms, the nocturne. His Piano Concertos were eagerly anticipated and the premiere of the Concerto No. 7 in Paris on Christmas Day 1832 was attended by both Chopin and Liszt. Ingeniously structured in two movements, its Rondo finale evokes the ballroom and Russia in a series of constant contrasts. The Irish Concerto is a reworking of the first movement of Field's Piano Concerto No. 2 in A-Flat Major.
THE LETTER
THE BIG PICTURE
STILL URBAN
YOU ARE HERE
FIELD: Piano Concertos, Vol. 1
The Best Of Weber
Stravinsky: Music For Two Pianos / Frith, Hill
Schumann: Davidsbündlertanze, Fantasiestücke / Frith
Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos / Bisengaliev, Frith, Et Al
Mendelssohn: Piano Works Vol 5 / Benjamin Frith
Mendelssohn: Piano Works Vol 3 / Benjamin Frith
Mendelssohn: Piano Works Vol 2 / Benjamin Frith
The unchallengeable masterpiece, of course, is the Variations serieuses, so enthusiastically taken up by Clara Schumann, and still a repertory work today. Frith characterizes each variation with telling contrasts of tempo and touch without sacrificing the continuity and unity of the whole. Equally importantly, never for a moment does he allow us to forget the serieuses of the title. I was no less impressed by his sensitively varied palette in the early E major Sonata (unmistakable homage to Beethoven’s Op. 101) so often helped by subtle pedalling. But surely the recitative of the Adagio at times needs just a little more intensity and underlying urgency.
Of the miniatures the six Kinderstucke (“Christmas Pieces” – written for the children of a friend) emerge with an unforced charm. As music they lack the romance of Schumann’s ventures into a child’s world, just as the Three Studies do of Chopin’s magical revelations in this sphere. However, Frith’s fingers never let him down. In the first B flat Study he even seems to acquire a third hand to sustain its middle melody. For sheer seductive grace, the independent Gondellied haunts my memory most of all, here with its melody so gracefully floated over a gently gliding bass. With pleasantly natural sound in its favour, too, this disc could surely sell at more than its modest price.'
-- Joan Chissell, Gramophone [5/1996]
Mendelssohn: Concertos For Two Pianos / Frith, Tinney, Et Al
}Gramophone (2/97, pp. 53-4) "...I was as impressed by [Frith and Tinney's] attunement of phrasing in lyrical contexts as by their synchronization in all the brilliant semiquaver passagework....a not-to-be-missed opportunity to explore the precocious young Mendelssohn..."{
