CYRIL SCOTT: Piano Trios Nos. 1 and 2; Clarinet Trio; Clarinet Quintet; Cornish Boat Song – Gould Piano Trio/ Robert Plane, clarinet/ Mia Cooper, violin/ David Adams, viola – Chandos

by | May 4, 2010 | Classical CD Reviews | 0 comments

CYRIL SCOTT: Piano Trios Nos. 1 and 2; Clarinet Trio; Clarinet Quintet; Cornish Boat Song – Gould Piano Trio/ Robert Plane, clarinet/ Mia Cooper, violin/ David Adams, viola – Chandos 10575, 78:47 **** [Distri. by Naxos]:

Cyril Scott (1879-1970) had a long life that saw a lot of changes in the world of music. In his early years he embraced Germany and its cultural ethos as the norm to be achieved, and though his music doesn’t sound German in any way—more in accordance with the French school with a touch of German salt—the discipline and sense of purpose found in its long tradition appealed to his sense of order and development.

Though Debussy himself practically pronounced him a protégé, and the early denizens of the avant-garde heartily found common cause with his music, the emergence of Schoenberg on the international scene and the other more deconstructionist strands of musical discourse eventually severed his connection with the up-and-coming and relegated him to the down-and-out. He did however survive, and his post-war (II) activities allowed him some hope of presenting his wares to a wary future of composers.

His decline is most unfortunate for his music is easily worth 20 of the mid-fifties avant-garde personages. Scott wrote a lot of chamber music, and this disc concentrates on his 1950s music with the exception of the longest piece here, his first Piano Trio (1920). This piece is of symphonic length, rigorous in form and ultra-romantic in temperament. Especially beautiful is the third movement, as quiet and subtly affecting as any from this period.

The second Trio, 30 years later, is of his mature style, and while lesser in terms of romanticism, its hint of sweltering passion and freely-loaded chromaticism brings it to the point of atonality without ever abandoning the tonal idiom. The Clarinet Quintet likewise is concentrated in its energy; at only 13 minutes the arguments must be presented in embryonic form and expanded upon quickly, yet we never feel that Scott is rushing us or shortchanging the instruments.

Only the Clarinet Trio slightly disappoints being a rather diffuse work that fails to convincingly tie the often disparate parts together. It does however, have a fine slow movement. The sound on this release is very good, the playing equally so. If you do not know Cyril Scott, you will have a good time with the release.

— Steven Ritter