Britten went on to write his Cello Symphony Op.68 and three
unaccompanied Cello Suites Opp. 72, 80 and 87 for Rostropovich, as well as a
set of cadenzas for Haydn’s C major Cello Concerto. All of these were premiered at Aldeburgh
except for the Cello Symphony, which had its first performance whilst Britten
was visiting Moscow.
Benjamin Britten’s
centenary year has brought an interesting new release from Signum Classics www.signumrecords.com entitled Around Britten featuring cellist Matthew Barley www.matthewbarley.com performing Britten’s Third Suite for Cello
together with arrangements for cello of other works by Britten, as well as
works by Gavin Bryars www.gavinbryars.com/splash and John Tavener www.johntavener.com
SIGCD318 |
There is a gloriously played andante espressivo as the cello opens out in a lovely outpouring of
feeling and a wonderful Recitativo: Fantastico
with Barley producing so many lovely effects. After a frenetic Moto perpetou: Presto, in the searching,
wonderfully passionate, Passacaglia:
lento solenne, Barley extracts every last ounce of feeling and emotion yet
still allows the music to speak so naturally, every little nuance bringing
forth something new. This leads naturally into the Mournful Song where even this little piece provides such feeling. Autumn flits by naturally into the Street song before the final Depart in Peace, with the Saints brings
darkly telling phrases from Matthew Barley before the melody is repeated wistfully
in the upper register both combining to lead into the final hushed coda.
This is a really terrific performance of this work, full of
passion and understanding.
Britten’s own arrangements of Greensleeves and Salley Gardens are performed in Matthew Barley’s
own arrangement for cello, in multi-tracked performance recorded at Barley’s
home studio. Both receive affecting performances, with Salley Gardens
particularly so.
Gavin Bryars’ (b. 1943)
Tre Laude Dolce were written in
2007 and are based on religious songs from 13th century Cortona in
Tuscany, Italy. There is a lovely opening laude
dolce that has an ancient feel, providing some lovely cello sounds in this
telling performance. The second laude
dolce brings a lightened, yet thoughtful mood full of long drawn, double
stopped phrases from the soloist, rising in passion at times. The third and
last of the tre laude dolce opens
slowly and cautiously before a lonely melody appears. There are pizzicato notes
that slowly propel the melody and, later, there appears a wistful sound to the
music as pizzicato ascending notes lead to the end.
Since She Whom I
Loved is another Matthew Barley arrangement, this time of a song from
Britten’s Holy Sonnets of John Donne. Another multi-tracked, this is a lovely
piece.
Sir John Tavener
(b.1944) is represented on this disc by two works Threnos and Chant. Both
commemorate the death of friends, Threnos
having a Greek liturgical and folk significance, the Threnos of the Mother of
God being sung on Good Friday and the Threnos of Mourning chanted over the
deceased in the house of a close friend. Threnos
is a quiet and gently shifting piece, contemplative, with Barley providing some
concentrated and touching playing and Chant
is a wistful little piece made slightly Eastern in flavour by Barley’s slides
on the strings, made according to the composer’s wishes.
Another Matthew Barley arrangement for solo cello, is Concord, the Second Choral Dance from Britten’s opera Gloriana, with the stately theme full of feeling.
Matthew Barley’s Improvisation
is exactly that. Whilst recording many of these works in Canterbury
Cathedral around 2.30am on a summer night, Barley asked the recording engineers
to leave the recording running whilst he improvised. Here is the lovely result,
at turns wistful, passionate and thoughtful, displaying many aspects of the
cello, sometimes rich sonorities, pizzicato or harmonics. It is heartening to
see that the art of improvisation is so alive and well within classical music.
Britten’s arrangement of the traditional song Oliver Cromwell receives another
multi-tracked arrangement from Matthew Barley, full of fun over its mere forty
nine seconds.
Whilst some collectors will want Rostropovich’s performances
of the cello suites or, indeed, a recording that gives all three suites on a
single disc, this attractive recital should not be missed by those who admire
fine cello playing and are looking for something different. The Canterbury
Cathedral recording is excellent showing no signs of the large acoustic.
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