COMPOSERS: Bainton
LABELS: Chandos
ALBUM TITLE: Bainton
WORKS: Three pieces for Orchestra; The Golden River; Pavane, Idyll and Bacchanal; Concerto Fantasia
PERFORMER: Margaret Fingerhut (piano)
BBC Philharmonic/Paul Daniel
CATALOGUE NO: CHAN 10460
Delius with a splash of Eric Coates – that’s the slightly odd flavour of Edgar Bainton’s Three Pieces for Orchestra, pastorally rhapsodic in the ‘Elegy’, playfully chirpy in the ‘Humoresque’, where typically transparent Chandos engineering shines a cheery light through Bainton’s colourful orchestration. The Pavane, Idyll and Bacchanal of 1924 sports, in its elegance and delicacy of textures, clear French influences, and a splendidly tangy part for tambourine ad libitum in its closing section. The four-movement Golden River Suite, based on a Ruskin short story, is a beefier piece, with boomy, turbulent storm music at the outset, a nervily Tchaikovskian Scherzo, and a surging lyrical climax in the concluding Andante. The Concerto fantasia is the longest work here (half an hour), and deliberately aims at a more substantial symphonic impact. Bainton was no mere miniaturist, but there’s certainly a suggestion in the Concerto that he’s overstretching himself a little – the basic material doesn’t seem quite strong enough to justify this breadth of treatment. Bainton is, however, worth knowing, and is strongly espoused in these premiere recordings by Paul Daniel and the excellent BBC Philharmonic.
Bainton
Delius with a splash of Eric Coates – that’s the slightly odd flavour of Edgar Bainton’s Three Pieces for Orchestra, pastorally rhapsodic in the ‘Elegy’, playfully chirpy in the ‘Humoresque’, where typically transparent Chandos engineering shines a cheery light through Bainton’s colourful orchestration. The Pavane, Idyll and Bacchanal of 1924 sports, in its elegance and delicacy of textures, clear French influences, and a splendidly tangy part for tambourine ad libitum in its closing section.
Published: January 20, 2012 at 4:08 pm