New Life for Boult's Moeran

At last, after years of waiting, I'm delighted to report that Sir Adrian Boult's magnificent recording of the Symphony in G Minor by Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950) with the New Philharmonia Orchestra is available in an excellent CD release from the recently-revived Lyrita Recorded Edition, the disc filled out with Boult's recordings of Moeran's Sinfonietta and Overture for a Masque, both made with the London Philharmonic.  These were prime analogue stereo-era recordings from the period 1968-1975, when Boult was rather senior but still vigorous in his leadership.

Lyrita was a prime label for 20th century orchestral music of the British Isles during the 1960s and 1970s.  The label's releases were only spottily available in the U.S.  I was a Grammophone magazine reader even back then as a youngster, and imported Lyritas from a UK record dealer based on the splendid reviews.  But actually my acquaintance with this recording came from that brief period, toward the end of the LP era, when a US label, HNH, was licensing Lyrita recordings and reissuing them in the US under their own imprint.  I practically wore out that LP, and was quite disappointed when no CD issue eventuated during the first decades of the compact disc.

Meanwhile, various other recordings became available on CD.  The earliest was the premiere recording by Leslie Heward, courtesy of Michael Dutton's label, a fine performance by a second-rate orchestra, the Halle, in sound limited by the capabilities of 78-rpm pre-tape recordings.  The other available recordings, all stereo, were by Neville Dilkes with the Northern Sinfonia on EMI, Vernon Handley and the Ulster Orchestra on Chandos, and David Lloyd-Jones with the Bournemouth Symphony, a relatively recent Naxos release.  All of them had their merits, but the Dilkes suffered from an undersized string section, the Handley from early-Chandos CD over-resonance, obscuring some of the detail and undermining the rhythmic punch.  I would say the pick of the crop for performance and sound is Lloyd-Jones, which is also by far the least expensive.

But there is something special about the Boult recording.  Boult knew the composer and conducted his music (including this symphony) during his lifetime.  It is hard to know what constitutes "authenticity" in the performance of this repertory.  All the recordings feature British orchestras and conductors.  But Boult was a contemporary, breathed the same air as Moeran, and participated, as interpreter and in many cases first performer, in bringing forth that whole genre of early-mid-20th century symphonic music, for which he had a special feeling.  And I hear that "specialness" in this recording.

Unfortunately, the New Philharmonia of the mid-1970s was not the most well-endowed of the British orchestras, past its glory days as the Philharmonia under Klemperer's leadership, and not yet the restored Philharmonia that was to achieve greater things towards the end of the century, but this is probably the best orchestra to have recorded the Moeran Symphony.  The recording itself is clear and reasonably well-balanced, if a trifle bass-shy, although not as richly colored as the companion pieces on the disc played by the LPO.  (And perhaps Boult was a shade more vigorous and in control in the companion pieces, which were recorded in 1968 and 1970.)

But I have to commend this as an important recording.  What does the Moeran sound like?  He had a very individual voice, a very individual feeling for texture and rhythm.  He was of the folk-song school, and the modal sounds and rhythmic snap of the folk musics of the British Isles are channeled through his music.  Not quite like Vaughan Williams, not quite like Arnold Bax, not quite like William Walton, but one hears echoes and influences of all these in the music.  Moeran was of mixed Irish-British parentage, born and trained in London, wounded during World War I military service in a way that affected his health for the rest of his too-short life.  The Symphony is his largest achievement, dating from the mid-1930s, but my favorite piece of his is the Cello Concerto, written for his wife, who was a fine concert cellist, shortly before he died.  (We really need a new recording of this, and somebody has to license and reissue the recording made by the composer's widow, which was once available in the US on a Musical Heritage Society LP.) 

I doubt I will ever hear a live performance of the symphony -- maybe from the American Symphony Orchestra in a British mood??? -- but Moeran deserves to be heard by American audiences, and I bet a performance of the symphony would draw great enthusiasm, as the idiom is quite dramatic and listener-friendly.  But a conductor who wants to take the plunge with something that will occupy less of a program could do worse than the Overture for a Masque, a war-time commission by the BBC that packs lots of adventure into its 10 minute span, and has plenty of good tunes to engage the audience.

Perhaps this reissue, together with the recent Naxos recording, will help revive interest in a composer who is always engaging and worth the time....

Comments

[Alan Masters]

I sent away an order for this Lyrita recording last week so I was delighted to read your endorsement of it and Moeran's wonderful symphony. It's taken awhile but it's great that Boult's benchmark recording is finally available on CD - Hurrah !