Constant Lambert - Piano Concerto and Eight Poems of Li-Po

My previous two posts devoted to the English composer-conductor Constant Lambert have included only one example of his music - the ballet Horoscope.

Constant Lambert in 1951

Today we have two notable compositions from his pen, the Concerto for Solo Pianoforte and Nine Players (from 1931) and the settings of Eight Poems by Li-Po (from 1927-30).

Let me discuss the second, and shorter composition first, because it is among the finest of Lambert's slim output.

Alexander Young

The Eight Poems were drawn from Shigeyoshi Obata's translations of the eighth century Chinese poet's work, which had appeared in 1923. Lambert had learned of the poems from his friend Arthur Bliss. His exquisite settings were dedicated to the film actress Anna May Wong, with whom Lambert had developed an unrequited attraction. The record sleeve does not include Obata's translations, but I have included the Internet Archive's PDF of the Obata book in the download. The solo voice is the superb Alexander Young, whom I have praised before on this blog.

The Piano Concerto is one of the many jazz-influenced compositions of the day. The excellent sleeve notes by Deryk Cooke tell us the work uses the "blue" notes characteristic of jazz in an extended manner, while delving into unusual time signatures that were not to be used in jazz for a few decades at least. So while influenced by jazz, the concerto is not in the least reminiscent of the jazz of the day nor of its high-toned variant, the "concert jazz" of Gershwin and Whiteman.

Gordon Watson

It does have an appeal of its own, however, not the least because of the dauntless performance of soloist Gordon Watson, the Australian pianist who had taken the piano part in the 1951 premiere of Lambert's final composition, Tiresias. Here as throughout the program, the playing of the Argo Chamber Ensemble under Charles Groves is admirable (although a bit more relaxation in the concerto might have added to the proceedings). As far as I can tell, this is one of the first recordings by Sir Charles. He had handled a few accompaniments for Decca back in 1946.

The LP is Westminster's U.S. pressing of the Argo U.K. original, one of a series that has been featured several times on this blog, with both Young and Watson appearing in the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Roger Quilter and Peter Warlock (dedicatee of the Piano Concerto under his given name of Philip Heseltine)

Charles Groves in 1956

The extraordinary cover art is by Olga Lehmann, an English artist, illustrator and scenic designer. You can see more of her work for Argo here. Together with Arthur Wragg, she produced some of the most distinctive album covers of the day while on commission for the small English label. (That said, I could not tell you what is symbolized by the architectonic edifices on the left side of the cover.)

The download also includes Alec Robertson's contemporary Gramophone review of the LP, from my collection. (It's always nice when I can actually find one of these reviews; I am too cheap to pay for access to the magazine's digital facsimiles, considering I have at least half their archives stored in boxes!) The sound is close, but true.

Alexander Young Sings Roger Quilter

This blog has presented Alexander Young's recital of songs by Vaughan Williams and Peter Warlock; now it's time for his take on another English composer - the less celebrated, but nonetheless worthwhile Roger Quilter.

Roger Quilter

Five years younger than Vaughan Williams, Quilter had died at age 75 only a year or so before this program was transcribed in 1954. His output was almost entirely confined to songs, although his Children's Overture is sometimes heard.

I continue to be puzzled by the slight regard for tenor Alexander Young's artistry. The download includes a review of this LP by the estimable Andrew Porter, who complains that Young does not measure up to Gervase Elwes (who introduced some of these songs) or to John McCormick. For good measure Porter snorts that some of Quilter's work is insipid.

Alexander Young

Well, now. What Porter thinks is bland, I think is sensitive. Similarly, I enjoy the understated approach of Young, which Porter finds to be too much of too little.

I will say that if you have enjoyed the previous Alexander Young recitals, you may discover that this edition is to your taste as well. The sound is good, and as before, the sympathetic accompanist is Gordon Watson. This was transferred from the American Westminister edition of an English Argo original.

Alexander Young in Peter Warlock Songs

I wrote in early 2009 about Alexander Young's recording of Vaughan Williams' settings of poems from Housman's "A Shropshire Lad". I mentioned that work's influence on Peter Warlock's 1920-22 setting of works by William Butler Yeats, "The Curlew". Today we have Young's recording of that setting, together with a fine selection of other songs by the same composer.

As in the previous record, Young is accompanied by the Sebastian String Quartet and pianist Gordon Watson. Lionel Solomon (flute) and Peter Graeme (English horn) are heard on "The Curlew." As before, the recordings originate with Argo and are from slightly later American Westminster pressings.

Alexander Young

Peter Warlock, a pseudonym for Philip Heseltine, mainly wrote songs during his short life, which ended in what is most likely suicide at age 36. He is lightly regarded as a composer - possibly because he was a miniaturist, but his songs are of a very high standard. "The Curlew" cycle is his masterpiece, his music fitting extraordinary well to Yeats' bleak poetry. ("No boughs have withered because of the wintry wind; the boughs have withered because I have told them my dreams.") But the composer responds just as strongly to joyful verse such as the Shakespeare setting "Pretty Ring Time." This dual aspect of Heseltine's work is sometimes thought to express the dual Heseltine/Warlock identity.

Young is the right artist for this work; he encompasses all its facets beautifully, and the other musicians also are excellent. As is standard for Argo recordings of this vintage (1953), the voice is backwardly balanced.

The Argo cover is above; scans of the inappropriate Westminster cover (of Big Ben!) and texts are included in the download.

I have Young's recording of Roger Quilter songs somewhere and will transfer it when I find it.

LINK to June 2025 remastering in ambient stereo

On Wenlock Edge

On Wenlock Edge, Vaughan Williams' setting of Housman for tenor, string quartet, and piano, is one of the seminal works of 20th century English music. Both composer and poet are associated with pastoralism, although that is a simplistic way of categorizing both men's work.

Housman published A Shropshire Lad in 1896 and Vaughan Williams set several poems from it in 1909. The sense of yearning for something lost that permeates the words and music is beyond nostalgia, for there is little pleasant about it; it is marked by death.

When war broke out soon after Vaughan Williams' composition was published, the music seemed to capture the sense that the world had changed irrevocably. It was influential among other English composers - directly so for composer and war poet Ivor Gurney, who himself set poems from A Shropshire Lad after hearing Vaughan Williams' work. Another was Peter Warlock, whose Yeats setting, The Curlew, rivals Vaughan Williams for memorability.

The Vaughan Williams has been recorded many times, especially in recent years. In contrast, when this version came out in 1953, it was the first LP issue, or so I believe. It has not been reissued. The tenor is the very fine Alexander Young; I am much more favorable about his work than was The Gramophone's Alec Robertson, in a perceptive contemporary review that is included in the download.

The other side of the LP was taken up by seven songs from Vaughan Williams' staged setting of The Pilgrim's Progress, which had only recently been completed. These songs with piano accompaniment are variants of the music in the staged version, and have not been otherwise recorded, to my knowledge.

The contemporary Argo ad (below) touts the quality of the sound, but Robertson in his review complains about it. The critic is right - the strings are steely and the sound gets congested at fortes. I have tamed the steeliness, but some congestion remains. The voices are backwardly balanced, unusually.

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