Simon Callaghan piano
BBCNOW
William Boughton conductor
Lyrita SRCD444
Philip Cannon’s concertino is from the beginning of his career and is a remarkable work by a 19/20-year-old. It is a neo-classical in style and structured in three movements, all perfectly judged compositionally in content and length.
The first is a spiky allegro which here could have a tad more weight behind it. The second, a sicilienne marked andante tranquilo, is beautifully judged with piano and strings symbiotically complimenting each other. It is all very Finzi-esque. The last movement marked presto leggiero is unfortunately let down by a glaring mistake which I am surprised got through the producers: The piano enters in bar 2 and on the last beat plays a chord of g/a, in bar 3 this should change to c/d but Mr Callaghan repeats bar 2 and again in the literal repeat of the section. Later when the material appears it is correct, but sadly not at the opening. Very distracting. Again, the fortissimo sections, to contrast with the gossamer finger work, could be weightier. I have waited over 40 years for a commercial recording of this work and was sadly disappointed.
The only actual concerto on the disc is that by Francis Chagrin, the pseudonym of the Romanian composer, born Alexander Paucker. Long resident in the U.K. he was a dynamic part of British musical life until his untimely death in 1972. The concerto here was written in 1943, revised in 1969 and again in 1971, though that final version does not seem to be available for use.
Like all of Chagrin’s music it is well put together, but like a lot of his music it is not particularly memorable. There is an elegiac slow movement which has much to recommend it, but at eight minutes it overstays its welcome. The finale is curious being framed in a sort of Bolero rhythm which was hardly current even in 1943. Milhaud comes to mind in places, but once again at 8 minutes it just seems too long for the material. There is nothing wrong with the concerto but five minutes after listening to it, and I have a few times, I cannot recall any of the music.
The two works by John Addison, his Concertino and Conversation Piece, both from1958, are full of the elegance and wit for which he was known particularly in his film scores. In both works the music from his Oscar-winning score for Tom Jones comes to mind, or the lucrative theme tune to Murder She Wrote. Both are entertaining unassuming works of light music of the sort that no one seems to write anymore. The players seem to be enjoying themselves.
Review by Paul RW Jackson