Percy Godfrey (1859–1945) 
Piano Quintet, Op.16
Ivor Hodgson (b.1959) 
Piano Quintet
Richard Walthew (1872–1951)
“Phantasy” Quintet
John McCabe (1939–2015)
Sam Variations
I Musicanti, Peter Donohoe (piano)
rec. 2024, St George’s Headstone, Pinner View, Harrow, London, UK
Reviewed as a download
SOMM Recordings SOMMCD0707 [74]

From Somm comes a very nice disc of music for the “Trout” combo, an ensemble of piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass, those same instruments for which Schubert wrote his “Trout” quintet in 1819. The musicians here are a group led by bassist Leon Bosch called I Musicanti. They are joined by Peter Donohoe on piano. I am fairly sure all the pieces on the disc are recording premieres.

The best work is programmed first, a Piano Quintet written in 1900 by Percy Godfrey. Godfrey hails from a generation of British composers slightly later than Parry, Stanford and Mackenzie, whose work from the 1880s placed and secured our national voice. Godfrey is more contemporary with William Wallace and Edward German. Elgar, a couple of years Godfrey’s senior, is a special case. Godfrey was born in Derbyshire, studied at undergraduate level in Durham, then at the Royal Academy of Music before settling in Canterbury. He was at the RAM during the tenure of Sir George Macfarren but studied more, I fancy, with Ebenezer Prout. During his life he was often confused with the more famous Sir Dan Godfrey (no relation) who conducted the orchestra in Bournemouth. By all accounts, he didn’t mind this too much and Dan Godfrey actually conducted a symphony by the older composer on the BBC in 1927. Percy Godfrey’s most famous piece was a Coronation March he wrote for the 1902 crowning of Edward VII.

Percy Godfrey’s bright Piano Quintet is built over four delightful movements and lasts 24 minutes. The piece is constructed in the proper form of the day, and it is charming, albeit completely unknown. The substantial first movement contains much of the invention, but I very much liked the fast scherzo, too. The lovely andante is led off by viola in blissful idyllic mood. The ensemble in this movement is very impressive and the sound captured by producer Siva Oke and engineer Adaq Khan very fine. They have balanced Donohoe’s piano tone with the strings halo magically. The rondo finale does not spoil the sweet positivity we feel overall in this music. Indeed, it is infectiously sprightly and life-affirming. 

Ivor Hodgson played double bass with the BBC Philharmonic from 1982 until 2019. He composed a bit, too. His Piano Quintet dates from 1994. Like many Manchester musicians he may have lived in the High Peak area of Derbyshire and this chamber piece is a musical portrait of five pubs in the area. The first one, named The Quiet Woman, is in a village called Earl Sterndale. The music for this strange tale is strikingly different to the carefree optimism we heard from Percy Godfrey. This Quiet Woman appears headless on the pub’s sign. Apparently, her incessant chattering and nagging caused her husband to chop it off – or so legend has it. The Waltzing Weasel, The Lamb and The Oddfellows are the names of the other three establishments should readers wish to make a night of it. The music is rather fine, characterful and well worth a listen. I enjoyed the richly evocative Moonlight over Mount Famine, a tender heartfelt tone picture of the hill which many climb using The Lamb as their starting point.

Richard Walthew is represented on discs from labels like Dutton, CPO and Champs Hill. He wrote some very nice music for clarinet but here we have his “Phantasy” Quintet of 1912. This was written for one of Walter Willson Cobbett’s famous chamber music competitions, which every-other year from 1905 would attract compositions of a required form or genre. Quite a few of our repertory “phantasie” pieces came about thanks to Cobbett. Walthew’s work is shaped in variation form. In thirteen minutes, we have a splendid piece beautifully and expertly crafted in layers in the spirit of an Elizabethan consort. There is a surprising amount of variety and shifting of mood as the music turns its different paths. It is quite remarkable that it has never been recorded and it surely deserves to be heard alongside some of its more famous Cobbett fantasia bedfellows.

John McCabe’s Sam Variations was found in a drawer by his widow Monica. She sent the work, which was in bits, really, to McCabe’s publishers, Novello; they worked their magic and here we have the premiere recording. McCabe wrote the music for the ITV drama “Sam” in the early 1970s. It is a little before my time, but I heard the opening theme on YouTube with its striking trumpet motif. The show ran for three series and was a popular portrayal of northern working-class life from the late 1930s onwards. It is hard to hear the principal theme in the variations, I must confess, and the music is stark and gritty in places. I understand the variations did get an initial outing in the late 1980s, but McCabe took the score back to rework, and it was lost thereafter. The music needs more careful listening than the other pieces on the record, but it is worth it. I played it a few times over a couple of weeks and by the end I found I was hugely enjoying it. Its position at the end of this recital is right, I think. In fact, the construction of the program is very clever, shifting eras and styles as it does. There is the richness of discovery and a sense of fun in the proceedings, too.

The Manchester-based musicians, brought together to discover this neglected music under the leadership of Leon Bosch, deserve our thanks and praise for their endeavours. The disc should be considered by all chamber music aficionados.

Philip Harrison

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