Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950)
Symphony in G minor (1937)
Violin Concerto (1942)
Albert Sammons (violin)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Adrian Boult
rec. 28 April 1946, live, St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich (Concerto) and 9 February 1949, Royal Albert Hall, London (Symphony)
Includes QR code digital access to the 10 April 1946 recording of the Cello Concerto with Peers Coetmore/BBC Symphony Orchestra/Adrian Boult
Somm Ariadne 5045 [74]
April may be the cruellest month but April 1946 was a good month for E.J. Moeran, whose music was being performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and its conductor Adrian Boult. On 10 April, Moeran’s wife, Peers Coetmore, performed the Cello Concerto, and this broadcast can be accessed digitally via Somm’s booklet QR code. Then, just over a fortnight later, Albert Sammons performed the Violin Concerto with the same orchestra and conductor in Norwich. This has been issued once before by Symposium, along with two broadcast chamber works. Since then, two other historic performances of the concerto have emerged from Alfredo Campoli, with Boult in 1954 and with Rudolf Schwarz in 1959.
Sammons’ lyrical eloquence, directness, idiomatic address and honesty, frankly, trump all competitors. Allied to his beautiful tone and his approach to the work’s architecture, firmly supported by Boult – who was led astray in the finale by a lingering Campoli in 1954 – the Concerto can now be heard here in Lani Spahr’s excellent restoration which clarifies the solo line, and presents a much more vivid sonic experience than Symposium’s pioneering restoration. Sammons’ tone is caught with great clarity and side joins are very accomplished. You wouldn’t know where each acetate ends and I’m pretty sure there’s been some pitch stabilisation too. A small amount of applause has been retained at the end but the pre-concerto rustle and brief tuning-up has been jettisoned in Somm’s work. I miss that frisson but I’m a sad sack and if I want it, I can turn to the Symposium.
The Concertos were recorded off-air by Moeran’s friend and Sammons’ son-in-law, Lionel Hill, and so too was the Symphony, when Boult conducted it at the Royal Albert Hall in London in February 1949. He’d directed it, not with the BBC but with the Hallé in May 1943 six months after the orchestra and Leslie Heward had made the first recording of the work under the auspices of the British Council. Clearly this 1949 recording isn’t in the same sonic league as the famous Lyrita recording Boult made in the mid-70s with the New Philharmonia, which was one of his most resplendent ‘last testament’ discs, the rich and resonant sound quality sounding as good as ever in Lyrita’s CD release. However, this 1949 live performance underlines two things; firstly, that Boult’s conception of this work was subject to revision over the years and second, that his insights as a fine Sibelian are relevant to this Sibelius-influenced symphony.
The two reconsiderations or modifications relate to the Lento, which he tightened in 1975, and to the finale. In 1949 he took the slow movement a full minute slower than in 1975 and the finale, conversely, over a minute quicker. Thus, the total timing remains the same but these minor adjustments slightly change the emphases and so too, just, does the Scherzo in 1975 which is taken a touch faster than 1949, bringing a slightly greater zest to the folkloric elements. Again, Spahr’s restorations sound outstanding. I’ve never come across this 1949 performance before, so have nothing to compare it against, but using the Concerto as a precedent I can say that Spahr has made the best possible case for this important performance.
This disc is released to mark the 75th anniversary of Moeran’s death, in 1950 and both these broadcasts are necessary acquisitions for the historically-minded Moeran collector. Those who refuse to listen to broadcasts and pre-digital discs have plenty of choices among modern recordings. Peers Coetmore – I’ve not yet been able to access the digital version of the 1949 performance – recorded the Cello Concerto with Boult for Lyrita though her solo playing has not always been admired.
There are fine booklet notes by Stephen Lloyd, who rightly laments that there are no other live Sammons broadcasts – though I can, in fact, reassure him that there are a few other examples known, of two concertos and one 15-minute wartime BBC recital.
Jonathan Woolf
Other review: Nick Barnard and John Quinn (both November 2025)
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