Lennox Berkeley: Music for Violin and Piano and Solo Violin
Sir Lennox Berkeley was one of the most accomplished British composers of the twentieth century. His prolific output spanned opera, theatre and film scores, symphony, chamber and piano music, and a large body of choral work.
He admired Mozart, Chopin, Ravel and the neo-classical Stravinsky; formed close friendships with Benjamin Britten, Ravel and Poulenc; mixed with W. H. Auden, Diaghilev, Cocteau, Segovia and Les Six; and taught a generation of British composers including David Bedford, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Brian Ferneyhough, Professor Peter Dickinson and Sir John Tavener.
Born into an aristocratic family, Berkeley studied French, Old French and Philology at Merton College, Oxford, graduating with a BA in 1926. That same year he met Ravel, who – on seeing some of Berkeley’s scores – advised him to study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Berkeley moved there and was based in Paris until 1932. Largely self-taught until then, he flourished under Boulanger’s rigorous tutelage.
During World War II he worked on orchestral programmes at the BBC in London. From 1946 to 1968 he was professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music. In the 1970s and 80s he received honorary status from universities and professional bodies, and many honours, including a knighthood in 1974.
This complete survey of his music for violin and piano, and for solo violin, includes the long-lost Violin Sonata No. 1 (1931), the Introduction and Allegro Op. 24, the Theme and Variations, Elegy and Toccata Op. 33, the Sonatina Op. 17, and Violin Sonata No. 2 Op. 1. Edwin Paling and Arabella Teniswood-Harvey give the first commercial recording of several of these works.
Reviews
Real discoveries here, including Sonata No. 1 – lost for 48 years. The Sonatina and Elegy reveal Berkeley’s unique charisma. Edwin Paling led the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for over 30 years, while Arabella Teniswood-Harvey is at the University of Tasmania: a fine duo in revelatory performances 25 years after the composer’s death.
Here is chamber music that is both cultured and approachable. Berkeley’s chamber music for violin and piano is beautifully crafted and bound to engage with the listener. ★★★½
Here are two unknown British violin and piano sonatas on one CD in an amazing rescue operation since Berkeley regularly dismissed his own early music: written in his later twenties, these works again prove him wrong … The Sonatina is a classic – Berkeley played the piano part himself and it’s the only commercial recording he made (Dutton CDLX 7232). These players relish the diversity of the charming variations in the finale. The Elegy is a lovely melody, and in the solo violin pieces Berkeley avoids the aridity which often blights unaccompanied writing. These vivid performances by Paley [sic] and Teniswood-Harvey are outstanding and make the best possible case for a full revival of their discoveries. A revelatory CD, well recorded and documented too.
Artists
Arabella Teniswood-Harvey
Arabella Teniswood-Harvey is a Tasmanian-born pianist who studied in Melbourne and, in 1999, was awarded a full scholarship to the Australian National Academy of Music’s inaugural Advanced Performance Program.
Lennox Berkeley
Lennox Berkeley wrote music of French clarity and English reserve: lucid textures, shapely melody and a concise, tonal idiom that later absorbed serial colour without abandoning a centre. His chamber and piano works favour craft and charm over display.
Edwin Paling
Edwin was born in Nottingham, England. After studying violin with Sidney Griller at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Edwin began his professional career playing with the Orchestra of the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden (London), the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Sub-Principal First Violin), then the BBC Midland Light Orchestra (Deputy Leader).
Audio previews
Tracks
- Lento ma non troppo – Allegro 7:12
- Adagio – Allegro – Adagio 5:46
- Allegro con brio 4:16
- Introduction and Allegro Op. 24 Lento – Allegro Lennox Berkeley 6:07
- Theme and Variations Op. 33 No. 1 Lennox Berkeley 8:49
- Moderato 4:35
- Lento 3:28
- Theme and Variations – Allegretto 5:30
- Elegy Op. 33 No. 2 Lennox Berkeley 3:44
- Toccata Op. 33 No. 3 Lennox Berkeley 2:04
- Allegro risoluto 7:07
- Andante 5:57
- Rondo – Allegro moderato 4:33
Violin Sonata No. 1 Lennox Berkeley
Sonatina for Violin and Piano Op. 17 Lennox Berkeley
Violin Sonata No. 2 Op. 1 Lennox Berkeley
Performers
- Arabella Teniswood-Harvey · tracks 1–3, 6–13
- Edwin Paling
Contributors
Cover painting
Alison Lazaroff-Somssich
Where to listen
Lennox Berkeley: Music for Violin and Piano and Solo Violin is available for streaming through Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
Lennox Berkeley: Music for Violin and Piano and Solo Violin is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.
Product details
- Catalogue number
- MD 3361
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 69 minutes 8 seconds
- Producer
- Michael Kieran Harvey
Rosalin Lazaroff - Recording Engineer
- Vaughan McAlley
- Editing Engineer
- Vaughan McAlley
- Mastering Engineer
- Martin Wright
- Venue
- Move Records Studio
- Credit
- Alison Lazaroff-Somssich
- Release date
- 2013
- Musical work
copyright - © 2013 Move Records
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 2013 Move Records
- Category
- Classical
- Genre
- Modernist Classical
- Barcode
- EAN 9314574336122
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