"most emphatically a fine recording that will by no means disappoint" — Dominy Clements
This enterprising and well-filled programme of works for piano and orchestra is self-recommending for its contents almost as much as it is for the excellence of its soloist. You can always have confidence in Clare Hammond as a performer of whatever she turns her hands to, and so I was never going to turn down an offer to hear this release.
Hammond’s own booklet notes on these works are concise and informative, and she points out that William Walton’s Sinfonia Concertante has only been recorded twice previously in its 1943 revised version, both times with the composer conducting. Walton’s fine but softer-edged recording on with Peter Katin from 1970 can be found on the Lyrita label (review), and Phyllis Sellick and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1945 is of course in glorious mono but was produced by Walter Legge and is surprisingly good for its age if you can find it. Another recording with Peter Donohoe on Naxos (review) is of the 1927 original and it is intriguing to compare similarities and differences between the two. This work was originally intended as music for ballet, and while it has plenty of Walton fingerprints in its character, the early influence of contemporaries such as Stravinsky and Poulenc, and of impressionist orchestrators such as Ravel and Debussy can all be heard. There is romance in the air everywhere especially in the gorgeous slow second movement, though Walton’s firm fist is never entirely absent, and there is plenty of that wit and humour in the finale to go along with more troubling elements perhaps associated with the movement’s original dedicatee, Sacheverell Sitwell.
Benjamin Britten’s Diversions was written for the left-handed pianist Paul Wittgenstein, and the composer is quoted as stating that in “no place in [Diversions] did I attempt to imitate a two-handed piano technique”, reinforced by Hammond’s comment that “he did not seek to conceal the soloist’s one-handedness, but revelled in it.” There is plenty of virtuoso writing in this work, but too much of this was allocated to the orchestra in Wittgenstein’s opinion, and so he proceeded to muck about with the score to ‘improve’ both the solo part and some of the orchestration, with Britten’s original only to be restored in the 1950s. This is an excellent performance of another rarely heard work, full of contrasts as you might expect in a theme and eleven variations, and lighter in touch than can sometimes be the case with this composer. There are few enough recordings of this around, but it certainly stands comparison with Steven Osbourne’s excellent performance with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra on Hyperion CDA67625. The BBC Symphony Orchestra and soloist are more forward in terms of sonic perspective and as a result perhaps a touch less atmospheric in the quieter variations, but Osbourne’s piano is twangier in its sound so it’s one more case of swings and roundabouts and no clear winner either way.
Michael Tippett’s Piano Concerto is always a treat, and I still treasure Steven Osborne’s recording on the Hyperion label (review), which is something of a reference when it comes to Tippett’s piano works in general. Osborne is a touch more compact than Hammond when it comes to timings, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra sounding clean and disciplined. The BIS recording picks out instrumental solos more closely, emphasising the chamber-music qualities of certain passages in the first movement, but with the piano solo also closer in the balance those grandly gestural shifts in perspective have a different effect. The function of the piano as an orchestral continuo, adding colour and magical sparkle is lost somewhat, and while it’s good to hear most of Clare Hammond’s notes, half a metre or so of extra distance between us and the piano might have made the difference. The central Molto lento e tranquillo is nicely done, but the lower strings are indistinct and again the piano’s riffs are more solo than concerto, which is a shame. The final Vivace is suitably spectacular and rhythmically dynamic, with a potent eloquence in those elongated phrases through perhaps lacking some of that driving edge-of-the-seat impetus this movement can have. All of these are relatively minor gripes and on its own terms this is most emphatically a fine recording that will by no means disappoint.
Whatever the competition, this is a must-have programme for seekers of mostly neglected and rarely performed mid-20th century British repertoire. With regard to sound quality, this is released on one of BIS’s multi-layered SACD discs where I had to make do with a WAV file download. This sounds good enough in conventional stereo but the recording will no doubt benefit from the full SACD surround or stereo treatment, and any comments I have concerning balance and other details should be read with this in mind.