A Few More Surprises
John Turner (recorders)
Lesley-Jane Rogers (soprano)
Stephen Bettaney (piano)
rec. 2024, Heaton Moor Studios, Stockport, UK
Prima Facie PFCD246 [77]
This disc is like a buffet rather than a four-course meal. Do not try to listen one work after the other. Pick out tracks that catch your eye, savour them, then return to explore deeper. There is much value which a cursory hearing would miss, and that would be a pity. A lot of imagination has gone into creating this fascinating album. The track listing tells us that there are several well-kent composers here, and not a few who may be new to you.
I began with John Stanley’s remarkable 18th century Sonata for recorder and piano realized by Gerald Finzi. There is here no great attempt at historically correct performance. For one thing, Finzi has specified the piano rather than a harpsichord. The original called for a flute or violin, but do not be deceived: the arrangement, transposed up a minor third, succeeds remarkably well.
The Elegy for Tony for recorder and piano was Anthony Hedges’s last substantial composition. The Tony in question was the English pianist Anthony Goldstone, who died in 2017, and the piece was played at a memorial concert in his memory. This heartfelt tribute blends melancholy with a romantic sound. In a balance between sorrow and beauty, it evokes longing and intimacy. Prima Facie recorded Hedges’s orchestrated version (review).
Howard Ferguson’s charming Three Sketches for flute and piano had been gestating for 20 years, and had their origins in unpublished piano pieces. The sophisticated Poco allegro precedes a refined Andante. The third Sketch incorporates a Hindu melody, “Cuckoos sing in the mango tree”, for an exotic and lyrical touch. Other editions were prepared for the oboe and the recorder.
Robin Stevens’s Variations on Bobby Shafto for recorder and piano are just a bit of fun. Do not take it too seriously, especially after the grandiose opening bars on the piano. Look out for loads of harmonic twists and turns, and a little bit of instrumental overblowing.
David Blake contributes a well-wrought, poignant setting of Ezra Pound’s The [A Ballad of] Mulberry Road, based on the tale of Rafu, a silkworm feeder. The text seeks to portray her delicate beauty and industriousness. There is a “voices off” comment at about 1:20, which John Turner assures me is in the score!
Stephen Banfield’s two pieces were a pleasant surprise. Renowned primarily as a musicologist affiliated with several prestigious universities, he is celebrated for his authoritative volumes, including Sensibility and English Song (1985) and the essential biography of Gerald Finzi (1997). His Capriccio has a French feel to it, and includes a quotation from Henri Duparc’s underrated tone poem Lénore. The Three Miniatures for descant recorder and piano will remind you of Finzi’s music. All four deserve to be in the regular recorder repertoire.
Douglas Steele, as the liner notes say, was the present recorderist’s music teacher at Stockport Grammar School. High Noon for recorder and piano, a potpourri of “memorable melodies”, outstays its welcome. There follows Hark Shepherds Awake, an evocative song for soprano and recorder with words adapted from the Wakefield Mystery Plays. The miniscule Serenade for recorder and piano is a little gem.
My favourite work on this disc is the late Peter Dickinson’s Homage to Poulenc for recorder and piano. According to the liner notes, it is a transcription from one of Dickinson’s Five Forgeries for piano duet from 1963. It has all the polish and urbanity of the French master. The Air for solo recorder was originally devised for solo flute. Its Theocritean pastoral mood is strangely captivating.
There is an entertaining backstory to the contribution to this disc by John Golland born in Ashton-under-Lyne. He jotted down the Caprice for solo recorder on a train journey from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly after he had attended a recital John Turner and Neil Smith gave at the London College of Music. This rondo-like number contrasts a variety of moods in short time. It is surprising that Golland was able to find the peace and quiet on the train to create such a lovely miniature.
Mátyás Seiber’s Pastorale for recorder and piano began life as a work for recorder and string trio. He later expanded it into a Pastorale and Burlesque for flute and string orchestra. At the same time, he made a piano reduction. John Turner plays a version of the first section only, the original recorder part with the piano score. It does not strike me as particularly “bucolic”.
The Deux Bouches, a Vocalise for soprano and recorder byLesley-Jane Rogers is a haunting piece. The soloists “bend/blend” around each other. It is the most challenging work on this disc.
Two tiny pieces by the Moravian composer Vítězslava Kaprálová last less than two minutes. The Tales of a Small Flute for recorder and piano are delightful. John Turner suggests that these winsome numbers may have been a tribute to her husband, whom she married in 1940. Sadly, she died a couple of months later.
Max Paddison’s After Orpheus for recorder and piano had its genesis in a 1966 setting of William Shakespeare’s Orpheus with his lute. Paddison later arranged it for the present forces. The original portrayed Orpheus, the musician whose melodies enchant nature itself. The revision seems to major on the darker elements of his life. It does not describe his violent end musically, but the work highlights the inevitability of death and the vulnerability of hope.
Oldham-born Michael Baron’s offering looks back to the Northern School of Music’s Annual Picnic. These included visits to the Peak District and the Cheshire Plain with staff and pupils. Picnic for recorder and piano, elegant and charming, ably captures the delight of these occasions.
Gerald Hendrie’s relaxed Cassoulet Rag for recorder and piano ticks the ragtime boxes. Originally a number in a book of piano rags written for friends and neighbours, this arrangement was made for the present soloists. Cassoulet is the name of the piece’s original dedicatees’ house; in the Gascon language from southwest France, it means a young oak.
The final track on this disc, by John Turner himself, is the Wedding Notes for solo recorder. It is a short, humorous set of variations based on the ubiquitous Here comes the bride. It was written for the wedding of friends, held at Northcliffe Chapel in Styal in 2024.Whatever would Wagner have thought?
John Turner’s liner notes give information about the composers and their musical contributions. The text of songs would have been helpful. There are extensive resumes of the three performers. The recording, always clear and bright, enhances outstanding performances all round.
This smorgasbord of (I think) previously unrecorded music is a valuable addition to the recorder repertoire. It is a sound and sophisticated production from the first note to the last.
John France
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Contents
Anthony Hedges (1931-2019)
Elegy for Tony, op.167 for recorder and piano (2017)
Howard Ferguson (1908-1999)
Three Sketches, op.14 for recorder and piano (1932-1952)
Robin Stevens (b.1958)
Variations on Bobby Shafto, for recorder and piano (n.d.)
David Blake (b.1936)
The Mulberry Road, for soprano and recorder (2014)
Stephen Banfield (b.1951)
Capriccio, for recorder and piano (1972)
Douglas Steele (1910-1999)
High Noon for recorder and piano (1987)
Hark Shepherds Awake, for soprano and recorder (n.d.)
Serenade, for recorder and piano (1973)
John Stanley (1713-1786)
Sonata in F major, op.4, no.5, for recorder and piano (1745, arr. Gerald Finzi)
Stephen Banfield
Three Miniatures, for descant recorder (1974)
Peter Dickinson (1934-2023)
Homage to Poulenc, for recorder and piano (2008)
Air, for solo recorder (1958/2021)
John Golland (1942-1993)
Caprice for solo recorder, op.76 (1987)
Mátyás Seiber (1905-1960)
Pastorale, for recorder and piano (1941/1952/2010)
Lesley-Jane Rogers (?)
Deux Bouches, a Vocalise for soprano and recorder (2023)
Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915-1940)
Tales of a Small Flute, for recorder and piano (n.d.)
Max Paddison (b.1945)
After Orpheus, for recorder and piano (1966/2000)
Michael Baron (b.1958)
Picnic, for recorder and piano (2021)
Gerald Hendrie (b.1935)
Cassoulet Rag, for recorder and piano (2019)
John Turner (b.1943)
Wedding Notes for solo recorder (2024)
