William Smethergell (1751-1836)
Six Overtures in Eight Parts, Op.2 (pub c.1778, ed. Douglas Bostock)
Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim/Douglas Bostock
rec. 2021, Kulturhalle, Remchingen, Germany
cpo 555 541-2 [51]

The first volume in this series devoted to the little-known English composer William Smethergell contained his Six Overtures, Op.5 and I would refer you to that review for some brief biographical details. Now comes his set of Overtures in Eight Parts, Op.2 published two years earlier than the Op.5 set in 1778 which, whilst less musically adventurous than the later set, reveal many attractive features that repay the listener curious to hear the music of an early symphonist.

Smethergell was a symphonist, however, in the very compact form of the three-movement ‘overture’ – the longest in Op.2 lasts ten minutes – recognisable from the similar works of two of his great predecessors, Thomas Arne and William Boyce, though his contemporaries included Samuel Arnold, John Marsh, J. C. Bach and Samuel Wesley.

His attention to, and absorption of, continental models is evident from the frequent Mannheim Rockets that can be encountered along the journey of these Overtures, and his melodic gifts are seldom in doubt. He gives graceful opportunities to the oboes, in particular, for individual frolics, and he vests his slow movements with quiet gravity (No.1), elegant string pointing (No.2), the slightly rocking Pastoral of No.4, the gigue-like wit (No.5) or sweet gentility buttressed by the horn (No.6). There’s plenty of vitality, energy and colour in his finales, not least in the Old School Tempo di Minuetto that ends No.6, and his opening movements – the surprising outlier in the set is the brief but grandly imposing opening fanfare figures of No.3 in B flat major – are elegant and athletic. Even the shortest Overture, No, 5 in D major, packs in some lithe punches.

Once again, the music has been edited by Douglas Bostock and he and his stylish, compact modern instrument ensemble, which consists of fourteen players, is well versed in the milieu having also recorded the music of Johannes Matthias Sperger, Smethergell’s almost exact contemporary. The recording and notes are both accomplished as well. I can’t pretend that these Overtures are earth-shattering, but they are pleasing examples of the trend in English music at the time and illustrate a ‘Vauxhall Gardens’ aesthetic that will appeal but probably only to specialists of the music in question.

Jonathan Woolf

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