British Cello Works – Volume 3
William Yeates Hurlstone (1876-1906)
Cello Sonata in D major (1899)
Felix Swinstead (1880-1959)
Cello Sonata
Doreen Mary Carwithen (1922-2003)
Cello Sonatina (1944)
Nocturne (1943)
Humoresque (1943)
Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
Cello Sonata (1917)
Lionel Handy (cello)
Jennifer Walsh (piano)
rec. 2024, Winchester College, Winchester, UK
Lyrita SRCD441 [79]

With this disc Lyrita reach the third volume in their British Cello Works series, all of which have featured Lionel Handy. There is a little confusion in the numberings in some reviews as there was a previous CD called British Cello Sonatas recorded in 2016 and featuring Ireland, Bax and a transcription for cello of the Delius violin sonata No. 3 (review). That disc, also featuring Lionel Handy, pre-dated the Cello Works series, as does his other Lyrita record of the Bax and Bate concertos with the RSNO and Martin Yates (review). So, altogether this is the cellist’s fifth release with the label.

I agree with Jonathan Woolf who reviewed volume 2 when he says this series looks set to rival the four-volume Chandos set of British Works for Cello and Piano made between 2012-14 and featuring the excellent Paul and Huw Watkins. So far, they complement each other very nicely with minimum overlap.

The current disc kicks off with the Hurlstone sonata from 1899. This is a first rate work, very Brahmsian to my ears; it has been recorded before, notably by Andrew Fuller on Dutton (review). Like George Butterworth, William Yeats Hurlstone died too young ( aged 30; Butterworth was 31). He was a Stanford pupil and what music he might have left had he lived thirty years longer. What we have is of high quality, not least this cello sonata. In the wonderful notes by Paul Conway we get a good analysis of this joyous and substantial piece. Both Lionel Handy and pianist Jennifer Walsh give us a sensitive, measured account that conveys the expressive late romanticism I hear in the writing whilst not coming over as overpowering – a very English performance you might say.

Felix Swinstead spent most of his career teaching at the Royal Academy of Music. His cello sonata is unpublished, I think, and until now unrecorded, so it will be new to almost all of us. The notes tell us it probably dates from the 1950s. It is a charming work of 14 minutes with satisfying symmetry in the proportions of its three movements. The two themes of the first movement contrast well and are developed succinctly. The slow movement is based on an Irish tune to which Handy expertly brings flourish and a tender songfulness as the music unfolds. The finale is most effective in combining into a coherent whole two disparate themes; the first light and jaunty, the second noble, even Elgarian.

Doreen Carwithen’s short cello sonatina is an early work, dating from before her orchestral works and just a year before she won a prize at the RAM for her String Quartet No.1 (which Vaughan Williams approved of, by the way). The writing for both cello and piano is deep, passionate and intense. In the third movement in particular Carwithen exploits the cello’s upper register in long, flowing lines of melody relished by Lionel Handy here. It is a big performance, bold in tone and rich in colour and one to which doubtless I will return. Lyrita also give us a couple of short lollipops after the sonatina. They are from the same period and give us a further insight into Carwithen’s compositional development and, indeed, her technique as a cellist herself.

The disc ends with the majestic Bridge cello sonata. This peak of the British cello repertory has been recorded many times before, most recently by the great Truls Mørk on Alpha (review). With big name soloists like Beatrice Harrison, Felix Salmond and W.H. Squire all in their prime, music for cello, and chamber music more generally, flowed abundantly from the crop of new British composers in the early part of the last century. Bridge wrote his sonata over four years from 1913-17. The work can be divided into two distinct halves. The exaltation and thrill of the first movement with its gentle rapturous second subject idea is, for me, a perfect picture of carefree, innocent pre-war days. The second movement employs a phantasy-arch model, moving from an elegiac, threnody-like adagio through a short, mockingly bitter scherzo episode to a final epilogue that attempts to restore the mood back to the idyllic world of the opening movement, a world that, alas, has disappeared for good.

The sonata is a tour de force and shows what a master craftsman Frank Bridge was. I enjoy Alexander Baillie’s account on Somm (review), albeit the sonics are a little glassy. Raphael Wallfisch recorded it with his father, Peter (a Bridge aficionado) for Chandos in 1986. That record is also very special to me. The LP back picture of father and son practicing in what I assume must be Peter’s music room with the mountains of scores behind makes me smile!

The most famous record of the piece though must be the one made (like the Wallfisch) at Aldeburgh in Summer 1968 by Mstislav Rostropovich and Benjamin Britten for Decca. Like its coupling on that first issue SXL 6426 (Schubert’s Arpeggione sonata) it is a classic of the gramophone and has never been out of the catalogue (review). Lionel Handy and Jennifer Walsh are brisker than the Decca duo in the first part, rolling and effervescent. Rostropovich and Britten paint their stokes more broadly, with introspection; the great Russian’s ability to thin down his tone to that delicate whisper is much in evidence to say nothing of the mercurial contribution of Britten at the piano. At the heart of the big second movement (from around 9:15) Rostropovich is immensely moving, wearing his big heart on his sleeve in his inimitable way. It is hard to match this level of intensity. Throughout this work Lionel Handy and Jennifer Walsh are impressive. The sound captured by Lyrita is full and warm. The pair are perhaps a little studied in their approach to the start of the adagio but they float their phrases with such delicacy when the music calls for it (e.g. 3:20-4:00). The arch of the movement is well constructed in this performance and dynamics are well thought through too. For me they do justice to the piece and anyone considering adding this disc to their collection can be assured they will have a good version of this masterpiece on their shelves.

This is a very satisfying recital containing a great balance of new and familiar works in good performances. I look forward to what this partnership brings us in the next volume.

Philip Harrison

Previous review: Jonathan Woolf (January 2025)

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