Warlock Antiquarians Rejoice!

No, not male witches... I'm referring to British composer Peter Warlock (1894-1930), whose real name was Philip Heseltine, but whose pen name is entirely appropriate to the nature of most of his music, which was heavily influenced by music of the Elizabethan period.  Warlock is a specialized interest -- as fine as his music is, it has never really caught on in a big way with the general public.  But among we musical antiquarians, he is a veritable god.

Divine Art, a British-based label with an interest in old recordings, has teamed with Pristine Audio to issue a 2-CD set contained all the music by Peter Warlock recorded on 78 rpm records, begnning during his short lifetime (he died under mysterious circumstances at age 36 in 1930) and extending to the dawn of the LP in England.  (Somewhat behind the US, major British labels did not embrace long-playing records until the early 1950s, and were still issuing 78 rpm discs until then.)  The only major omission from this set, due to time constraints (the two discs run 65:52 and 78:15) is a 1931 recording of The Curlew, Warlock's song cycle for voice, oboe and string quartet.  A later recording of the piece with better sound is included.  Pristine Audio makes the earlier recording of The Curlew available as a download from its website.

So what have we here? 

The division of the two discs is roughly into instrumental music on the first and solo vocal and choral music on the second.  Given the repertory limitations in those days of 78 rpm recording, there are many musical duplications. 

The first disc includes three different recordings of the Capriol Suite and two different recordings of the Serenade for String Orchestra, and the second disc has numerous song duplications, since many of the same most popular songs were embraced by multiple singers. 

The Capriol Suite recordings are led by Anthony Bernard (1931) and Constant Lambert (1937), supplemented by a shortened version arranged for violin and piano and performed by Josef Szigeti and Nikita Magaloff in 1936.  (This has been released on CD before, as have some of the Lambert recordings.)  Of the Serenade, we have a first recording from 1928 led by John Barbirolli in his early conducting days, and a Lambert effort from 1937.  Two of Warlock's arrangements of Purcell fantasies are played by the Pasquier Trio and the Griller String Quartet.  The Curlew performance included in the set is a 1950 recording, with some retakes done in 1952, by Rene Soames, oboist Leon Goossens, and the Aeolian String Quartet.

As to the songs, we have a wide array of singers, some well known to Warlock and among the earliest exponents of his music, including Peter Dawson, John Goss, John Armstrong, Parry Jones, Roy Henderson, and Nancy Evans.  Gerald Moore, the leading song accompanist of the early 20th century, participates in a large proportion of the recordings, and some of the Goss performances are accompanied on the lute instead of the piano, which makes a pretty racket. 

There are excellent program notes, separate essays for each disc, and photographs of most of the performers.

The two discs, taken together, are a gold mine for Warlock enthusiasts.  Of course, the sound is antiquated, but Pristine Audio's Andrew Rose is among the most expert of transfer artists, and the best that can be done has been done.  Nothing here is less than listenable, and most is enjoyably so.

As for those interested in exploring Warlock but looking for good modern sound, the most extensive modern collection of his songs is sung by Benjamin Luxon on an old Chandos release.  I'm not sure if it is still available in the active catalogues. 

There are some more recent Warlock programs worth exploring by John Mark Ainsley (Hyperion), Norman Bailey (Decca), and Andrew Kennedy (Landor - an independent UK label), but unfortunately these full discs of Warlock songs tend to go in and out of the catalogues quickly.  Individual songs show up in mixed recitals of 20th century English songs, so we get a few by Ian Bostridge, Janet Baker, Christopher Maltman, and so forth.  But, to the disappointment of the true Warlock fanatic, nobody has yet undertaken the task of assembling a group of able English-language singers to record the entire song output of this wonderful composer in one big set.  In this age of complete everything being available, it is a notable catalogue gap.  Perhaps Naxos could be persuaded to fill it, since they have been releasing some fine recordings of English song with a variety of composers.  There is a complete printed edition of the songs published under the auspices of the Peter Warlock Society by Thames, distributed in the US by Theodore Presser Co.  Somebody, please, go for it.....!

Comments

[Robin]

There are a dozen Warlock songs on the double LP put out by the Oxford University Press and Peters International, entitled, English Songs of Gurney, Vaughan Williams, Delius and Warlock, sung by Ian Partridge and accompanied by his sister Jennifer Partridge on the piano. The set has appeared on two CDs on the Etcetera label.

There is another record of different English songs on the Musical Heritage label with a couple of Warlock songs and Ian Partridge has recorded The Curlew on an EMI disc. I love all these songs and the Partridges sing and play them beautifully.

[Art Leonard]

Thank-you for reminding me of the recordings by the Partridges. Yes, their Warlock is lovely and worth acquiring.

I am still hopeful that somebody reading this who has some influence with a record company will conceive the idea of systematically recording all of the Warlock songs as published in the critical edition under the auspices of the Peter Warlock Society, with some really good singers and pianists!