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