EMR CD031

Richard Jenkinson (vc) | Benjamin Frith (pf)
   
EAN 5 060263 500285

Audio CD (25 May 2015)
Number of Discs: 1
Label: EM Records
ASIN: B00XAGQRW6

This EM Records release of British cello music performed by the Jenkinson Frith Duo presents World Première recordings by Cyril Scott, Ivor Gurney and Ian Venables: Cyril Scott’s monumental Cello Sonata is recorded here for the first time alongside Ivor Gurney’s unpublished one-movement Cello Sonata in E minor.

Cyril Scott’s Cello Sonata was composed in 1958 when the composer had just turned seventy; despite being a late work it is in no way autumnal, but is instead a dramatic four-movement piece that displays all the composer's mature fingerprints. Gurney’s mantle as one of England's finest composers of art songs is now extending to his orchestral and chamber music, of which this sonata is a fine example. Ian Venables, like Gurney, has not only made song a central part of his output but has also composed chamber works of equal beauty and intensity. As well as the early ‘Elegy’ and the later ‘Poem’ the other three works featured on this disc are transcriptions of two of his most evocative songs and a rhapsodic paraphrase of the song, ‘The Moon Sails Out’.

TRACK LISTING AND AUDIO EXTRACTS

Cyril Scott (1879–1970)
SONATA FOR CELLO AND PIANO (World Première recording)

   
1. I. Andante, rubato  
2. II. Allegretto scherzando  
3. III. Grave  
4. IV. Rondo gioviàle animato  
       
Ian Venables (b.1955)    
5. ‘AT MALVERN’, op.24a (World Première recording)  
6. ‘ELEGY’, op.2  
7. ‘THE MOON SAILS OUT’, op.42 (World Première recording)  
8. ‘IT RAINS’, op.33a (World Première recording)  
9. ‘POEM’, op.29  
       
Ivor Gurney (1890–1937)
10. SONATA IN E MINOR FOR CELLO AND PIANO
(World Première recording)  
       
Cyril Scott    
11. ‘LULLABY’, op.57 no.2  

A highly rewarding double-disc collection. Bax’s Sonata explodes with pent-up energy... Williams’s rich, expansive sound is well caught.
EMR CD007-8 | CLASSICAL MUSIC

deeply committed and discriminating performances... Marshall-Luck’s ability to spin cantabile lines with the subtlest of phrasal inflections pays dividends.
EMR CD006 | THE STRAD

If in any way you like English music then this disc is a must. Even if you don’t, this disc is a must. In fact, you have little choice: buy it, please.

EMR CD005 | MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Whether on violin or viola, Marshall-Luck plays with ideal purity over the widest range... Matthew Rickard’s piano-playing is also impressive.
EMR CD003 | GRAMOPHONE

David Owen Norris’s performances convey exactly the sense of contained delight I’m sure Quilter would have wanted.
EMR CD002 | BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

an ideal combination of enterprising programming, some impressive musical archaeology, and superb playing.
EMR CD001 | INTERNATIONAL
RECORD REVIEW