Peter Warlock (1894-1930)
Maltworms and Milkmaids – Warlock and the Orchestra
Ben McAteer, Jamie W. Hall (baritones)
Nadine Benjamin, Helen Neeves, Rebecca Lee (sopranos)
BBC Singers
BBC Concert Orchestra/David Hill
rec. 2022 Watford Colosseum, UK
EM Records EMRCD080 [74]
Warlock enthusiasts will be celebrating the appearance of this very well conceived, performed and recorded new disc of music dedicated to his work. Warlock’s entire output is relatively small so “new” recordings usually feature familiar music. Not so here with sixteen of the twenty-four tracks being marked as world premiere recordings. First in the sense that these are songs arranged for orchestra – several by hands other than the composer’s – and the result is a generously-filled disc running to 73:52. David Lane, vice-chairman of the Peter Warlock Society, has written the excellent detailed and informative liner as well as contributing one of the arrangements. The disc claims to contain all of the music that Warlock intended for an orchestra although this is not strictly true. The great Warlock expert Fred Tomlinson – represented on this disc by two brass band arrangements – prepared a suite of five movements drawn from abortive ballets and dance band pieces (performed by the Savoy Orpheans) which Tomlinson collectively titled Bulgy Gogo’s Contingencies that was first performed in 1996 by a theatre orchestra I conduct – as far as I know that remains the only performance. Warlock as editor also produced various suite of Renaissance dances and the Purcell Fantasias that are well be revisiting by the curious – an old Arte Nova disc by Ross Pople and his London Festival Orchestra offered fairly bland performances of the suites of English and Italian Dances.
But returning to this new disc, I find myself in the curious situation that despite the genuine excellence of every aspect of the release, my appreciation of the music is slightly diminished. Simply put this is because – as Lane and by extension Warlock himself both acknowledge – Warlock’s greatest strengths did not lie with the orchestra but rather the finely chiselled and carefully crafted miniature. Rarely in an orchestral work does the originality or interest lie with the orchestra. Lane also indicates that this programme – dictated by the chance of what Warlock and others latterly orchestrated – is skewed away from the genres in which he excelled. So for my taste there are too many examples of the “hey-nonny-no” and pass-me-a-pint style of writing. Warlock’s scholarly expertise lay in Tudor and early music – he never really embraced folk song and certainly never actively collected them – however he did set several verses which mimic the verse/chorus form. The programming of this disc is very well planned indeed with the combination of solo and choral voices interspersing the few orchestra-only works. Baritone Ben McAteer is the featured male soloist and he is ideally suited to the burly/rumbustious settings that form a distinct sub-group of Walrock settings. The disc opens with the early As Ever I Saw in an orchestration by an unknown arranger. Lane detects the influence of the Elizabethan music that even in his early twenties Warlock was rapidly becoming an expert on. For sure it is an attractive song – very well accompanied by the ever reliable and sensitive BBC Concert Orchestra – even if orchestration is generic rather than revelatory.
I recently read Barry Smith’s impressive “Peter Warlock – the life of Philip Heseltine” [pub. OUP 1994] which I would warmly recommend to anyone curious to learn about this complex and conflicted person. Two recurring themes are Warlock’s own profound insecurity regarding his own “worth” and technique as a composer as well as an early besottedness with the music of Delius. An Old Song is a brief but very attractive orchestral miniature that has been relatively overlooked by recording companies. I only know two other versions; a recording by Adrian Boult and the LPO on Lyrita and Hickox with the Northern Sinfonia on EMI/Warner as part of a very attractive collection of English orchestral miniatures. By timing alone Hill sits somewhere between Hickox’s rapt version and Boult’s more flowing interpretation. But all three versions underline the quality of pensive melancholic reflection that imbues Warlock’s best work. Two more ‘drinking’ songs follow which are again ideally performed but I do find the hale-fellow-well-met characterisation implicit in both poem and setting rather shallow. The orchestrations here are by Frederick Bye who will be a name familiar to collectors from orchestral song collections of John Ireland’s music. Part of the issue for the orchestrators is that there is so little original Warlock orchestral music for the arrangers to know his ‘voice’. So with a couple of exceptions the arrangements certainly work but do not particularly add to the listener’s appreciation of the composer’s Art. The Serenade was written “to Frederick Delius on his sixtieth birthday”. After the Capriol Suite this is Warlock’s most recorded non-vocal work. Originally intended as a three movement suite only the single movement appeared. Although Warlock’s devotion to Delius’ music waned by the last years of his life this work verges on the pastiche – it is a lovely piece of lilting pastoralisms and again receives a fine performance with Hill favouring a basic tempo that sits towards the slower end [8:42] of the range of tempi and timings. Robert Winter’s engineering in the familiar Watford Colosseum gives the BBC Concert Orchestra strings an attractive warmth although Vernon Handley’s Ulster performance on Chandos has even greater sonority and to my ear benefits from a fractionally greater urgency in the basic compound rhythm that prevents the piece from becoming bogged down.
Milkmaids possibly arranged by Henry Geehl – best known for his work on Elgar’s Severn Suite – returns to the world of hey-nonnery and walking out betimes. Another familiar arranger name is Reginald Jacques who contributes a lovely strings-only version of Adam Lay Ybounden – presumably arranged for his own string orchestra. Another regular feature of the biography is Warlock’s increasingly fraught relationship with his mother who literally held the purse strings for his life. Making sufficient money through his writing – both musical and literary – was always an issue but Warlock discovered he had a knack for writing Christmas Carols. This is an early, and very beautiful, example. It is also the first appearance on the disc of the BBC Singers who perform with all their usual high skill and musical sensitivity. To my ear this is the kind of music that shows Warlock at his considerable best – rapt and timeless, essentially simple but crafted with the careful precision of a master. As mentioned, liner writer David Lane contributes a single arrangement – and it is one of the best and most individual. Although again for strings alone, his version of Little Trotty Wagtail – another setting for unison female voices – is evocative and witty as befits the original verse by John Clare. Strings and unison female voices feature in the next setting; Hilaire Belloc’s The Birds. The arranger here is unknown but it is simply effective and performed with ideal unaffected directness. Gerrard Williams is the arranger of the following Yarmouth Fair which is one of those faux-folksy poems beloved of the Chappell Ballad concerts although in fact the melody for once is an authentic folksong collected by Moeran and given to Warlock. Williams provides a good solid arrangement (I recently came across his work via a rather fine string quartet) but this again falls into the world of hearty doggerel. In contrast Sorrow’s Lullaby which Warlock conceived for baritone, soprano and string quartet is a striking musical highlight well described by Lane as “among the most chromatic of Warlock’s works and marked by angular vocal lines and disorientating harmony”. In the immediate company of the preceding song the calibre of this stands out. It is also the first appearance on the disc of soprano Nadine Benjamin who has a powerful and impressive voice although perhaps a simpler style would have suited the music even better. Fred Tomlinson oversaw a 50th anniversary disc that featured arrangements for quartet and voice (rather effectively) but for whatever reason did not include this striking song. Certainly the sonic richness of a string section as opposed to a quartet works very well indeed.
Quite different but also very striking is Warlock’s own orchestration of One More River for baritone and four-part male chorus. Warlock moved in the same sphere as another of Delius’ great friends and champions; Percy Grainger. This setting for strings, piano and timpani (Warlock’s only use of the latter instrument) is very Graingeresque but successfully so and performed here with the requisite energy and good humour. Maltworms is one of those pieces that have been mentioned in biographies but rarely if ever heard – it appears in the piano version on the 2 disc Chandos survey of Moeran’s complete songs. It dates from Warlock’s years living next to a pub in the Kent village of Eynsford. He shared the house with the composer E J Moeran whose own composing fell off a cliff during the Eynsford years and the extended carousing probably (according to the latest excellent biography by Ian Maxwell [Ernest John Moeran – His Life and Music pub. The Boydell Press 2021]) significantly contributed to Moeran’s descent into alcoholism. So perhaps it is hard to listen to this joint work – each composer writing alternate couplets – without a degree of sorrow. Again Warlock wrote the orchestration played here – this time featuring a contra-bassoon for its only appearance in his works. As elsewhere, this performance cannot be faulted.
The Capriol Suite is given in the rarely heard version for full orchestra which Warlock arranged after both the piano duet original and the most familiar string orchestra version. In a slightly curious post-production choice this eleven minute, six movement work has been given a single track on this disc which given the brevity of other songs individually tracked seems a mistake. For those who enjoy this work but do not know the orchestral version I would warmly recommend it – Warlock does not simply double in lines for brass and woodwind onto the string version. Some movements – No.2 Pavane – are scored for wind (and tabor) alone, while others – No.4 Pieds-en-l’air for example – introduce new counter melodies very effectively. I only know one other orchestral version – again from Vernon Handley in Ulster on the same disc as the previously mentioned Serenade. It has to be said the Handley trumps Hill. The latter provides an eminently sane, nothing to be offended by, performance but lacking the character, nuance and variety of Handley. Also, the Chandos engineering from their golden period recording in the Ulster Hall Belfast gives the music and playing a ripe richness and glamour that this current version cannot surpass.
Benjamin returns for two more songs in Warlock’s own orchestrations. The latter sets Shakespeare in Pretty Ring Time which proves that even the great bard himself could resort to “Hey ding a ding, ding” when needs must. Lane’s liner mentions that these works were written by Warlock with the express intention of making him some much-needed money. Given that these arrangements did not get published until 2012 it seems safe to assume that he failed in that intent. One of Warlock’s closest and enduring friends was Bruce Blunt and The First Mercy was Warlock’s first setting of his friend’s words. Appealingly the disc includes settings of both the solo soprano song arranged for small orchestra by Raymond Bennell and a lovely three-part female chorus version with the arrangement by William Davies. Both versions are genuinely moving and beautiful reinforcing what a genius Warlock was as a word-setter when the stars aligned. Blunt also supplied the words for the less visionary The Cricketers of Hambledon. This along with anonymous Fill the cup, Philip were originally written for accompaniment by a brass band but Warlock’s originals have been lost hence the reconstruction by Fred Tomlinson (brother of the great composer/conductor of light music Ernest) whose work was then adapted for orchestral brass by John Mitchell. Both are for male chorus with baritone Jamie W Hall making a characterful contribution to the former. But these are slight, mildly entertaining pieces. The disc is completed with the Three Carols for Chorus and Orchestra that have been recorded before although usually with organ accompaniment. They make a very attractive conclusion to this collection with the central, and familiar, Balulalow receiving a gently rapturous performance enhanced by Warlock’s fine and sensitive orchestration – the soprano solo here taken by Rebecca Lee. The closing, rousing As I sat under a Sycamore Tree shows that Warlock could orchestrate effectively even if in an essentially traditional style.
This disc encapsulates the dichotomy and contradiction that lies at the heart of Warlock both as man and composer. He could be ribald, vulgar and making as many enemies as friends or in turn visionary, poetic and a fastidious writer of art songs. If the latter is where his reputation will ultimately lie, this disc is to be welcomed and applauded not just for its many inherent qualities but also for broadening the listener’s awareness of Warlock’s Art. EM Records’ exemplary presentation and documentation (all song texts in English only), as well as the high quality recording and performing ensure this music is presented in the best possible light.
Nick Barnard
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Contents
Peter Warlock (1894-1930)
As Ever I saw (1918) orch. Anon
An Old Song (1917-1923)
Mr Belloc’s Fancy (1921-1930) orch. Frederick Bye
Captain Stratton’s Fancy (1921) orch. Peter Hope
Serenade (1921-1922)
Milkmaids (1923) orch. Henry Geehl(?)
Adam Lay Ybounden (1922) orch. Reginald Jacques
Little Trotty Wagtail (1922) orch. David Lane
The Birds (1926) orch. Anon
Yarmouth Fair (1924) orch. Kenneth Regan
Sorrow’s Lullaby (1926-1927)
One More River (1925)
Peter Warlock (1894-1930) & Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950)
Maltworms (1926)
Peter Warlock (1894-1930)
Capriol (1926-1928)
A Sad Song (1926)
Pretty Ring Time (1925)
The First Mercy (1927) orch. Raymond Bennell
Fill the cup, Philip (1928) orch. Fred Tomlinson and John Mitchell
The Cricketers of Hambledon (1928) orch. Fred Tomlinson and John Mitchell
The First Mercy (1927) orch. William Davies
Three Carols for Chorus and Orchestra (1923)
