This is the second resurrection
from the mono shelf in Lyrita’s vault;
the first being last month’s Alan Rowlands
monos of Ireland’s piano music. Even
within Lyrita’s own catalogue this represents
a labour of exhaustive dedication as
the company already offers 1970s stereo
versions of the Ireland.
As for the Moeran
there is no overlap between this collection
and Parkin’s SRCD.266. Even so, these
performances radiate total absorption
in the music and have a heat which can
be felt despite the mono sound and tape
hiss.
Moeran has
always been a fixture in the Lyrita
catalogue. This shows that his presence
dated back to the label’s childhood.
His Irish Love Song has a resonant
folk-inflected majesty which also courses
through many of the other Moeran solos
here. The Allegro scherzando of
the Theme and Variations is blazingly
despatched; just the opposite of the
pastel colouring and smocks we might
expect elsewhere. Moeran brought a vitality
to folk themes that is neither precious
nor suffocatingly calculated. His piano
writing is exciting and this is heard
to fine advantage in Loveridge's hands.
On a May Morning - now there's
a title that 'belongs' to John Ireland
- is a lissom inspiration yet Loveridge
lavishes such wonderful attention on
its rhythmic invention. Windmills
from Three Fancies trills
and spins, carefree in its humming and
ringing pearly liberation. By contrast
Elegy takes us to the dank world
of Bernard van Dieren whose Chinese
Symphony is long overdue for recording.
Elegy is very different in its
expressionist dramatics from the flanking
Fancies. Speaking of which the
closing Burlesque skips along
with more than a hint of Bax’s Gopak
which Loveridge also recorded. The arpeggiation
and shaping of Summer Valley takes
us to the piano accompaniments of Peter
Warlock's songs. The Lake Island
is a peaceable essay in lapping
liquid contemplation and the graduated
rhythmic life of Autumn Woods suggests
another watery scene rather than any
woodland clearing. In addition it has,
for Moeran a typically noble rhetorical
quality. The snappy and sometimes rowdy
At the Horse Fair links with
the threshing floors of Connemara and
the dancing virtuosity of the central
movement of the Violin
Concerto.
Loveridge made something
of a speciality of the Moeran Rhapsody
No. 3 for piano and orchestra. Such
a pity that no recording of her broadcasts
seems to be accessible.
Gordon Jacob has
already been touched on by Lyrita in
a coupling of the two
symphonies and another CD including
the Horn
Concerto. The Jacob Piano Sonata
is dedicated to Loveridge. The language
is caught between the folk foundation
he shared with Moeran and the tart and
dissonance-accommodating impressionism
we hear in the piano music of Howard
Ferguson. The Sonata's second movement
suggests the capering of a witch's familiar
with the tolling under-girding of the
third movement making the bridge to
the finale. The final Allegro con
brio has dash by the litre - so
much so that a certain pianola and Ornstein
aspect is conveyed. A sturdy angular
Baxian rhetoric clangs and chimes through
the final ironclad pages.
There's no mistaking
or avoiding analogue hiss in these recordings.
They are after all half a century old.
Simon Gibson has kept this noise even
and distant. Compensation comes in the
rounded naturalness of the piano which
turns spicily stony at forte and above.
It's a pleasing sound.
The notes are Lyrita
originals by Peter J Pirie and Elizabeth
Poston.
So far as Moeran is
concerned SRCD266 offers a complementary
programme. If you look beyond Lyrita
then the complete piano music of Moeran
can be heard from Parkin on Ismeron
and from the excellent Una Hunt on ASV.
There's plenty more
to come from those RCS LPs. Last month
we had Alan Rowland's alternative mono
cycle. Next month Lyrita deliver a 3
CD box of Loveridge's Bax. After that
come CDs of Villa-Lobos, John White
sonatas, Arthur Benjamin plays Benjamin,
York Bowen plays Bowen and more.
Rob Barnett
Also available:-
SRCD.247
Moeran Symphony; Overture for a Masque
SRCD.248
Moeran Violin Concerto
SRCD.266
Baines / Moeran Piano Music
for details
Iris Loveridge (piano) 
