Composer: Donald Francis Tovey
Performer: Ormesby Ensemble
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0226
Release: 2017
Size: 670 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Variations on a Theme by Gluck, Op. 28
01. I. Tema: Andante espressivo alla siciliana, non troppo lento
02. II. Variation 1
03. III. Variation 2
04. IV. Variation 3: Larghetto pesante e maestoso
05. V. Variation 4: Allegro agitato ma non troppo presto
06. VI. Variation 5: Adagio sostenuto
07. VII. Variation 6: Andante come tema, ma un poco meno mosso
Piano Quintet in C Major, Op. 6
08. I. Allegro maestoso
09. II. Allegro moderato, un poco giocoso e teneramente
10. III. Largo appassionato
11. IV. Allegro largamente
The exploration of Sir Donald Tovey’s music on Toccata Classics continues with two highly contrasted chamber works. The bright, classically oriented Variations on a Theme by Gluck, Op. 28 for flute and string quartet written in 1913 receives only its second-ever recording here, and it is the only one currently available. The Piano Quintet from thirteen years earlier is an expansive, Brahmsian work of symphonic scale: it is almost an hour in length. It is receiving here its first ever recording. The Ormesby Ensemble- here Susan Brooks, flute; Olga Dudnik, piano; Robert Atchison and Jacqueline Hartley, violins; Bill Hawkes, viola; David Jones, cello- was founded by Robert Atchison in 2008 as an extension of the work of the London Piano Trio. The group specializes in works for all sizes of chamber ensemble, with a preference for highlighting works by less well-known composers. The group has performed at a number of festivals, making frequent appearances at the London International Festival. An earlier recording of chamber music by Donald Tovey was released on the Guild label in 2010.
Donald Tovey (1875-1940) is mostly known as a musicologist (he published advisable editions of The Art of the Fugue and Preludes and Fugues, among others), an essayist (he has authored numerous musical articles in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica), a pianist (he performed many concerts with Joseph Joachim, Hans Richter, Henry Wood, Pablo Casals…), and a conductor (he founded a great orchestra in Edinburgh). And yet, he also composed numerous works that, while staying away from the surrounding modernism and pursuing post-romantic language, possess an extremely rich and original contrapuntal style of writing. Thus his 1911 Variations on a theme by Gluck for flute and string quartet, created by famous Louis Fleury – for whom Debussy wrote Syrinx –, start effortlessly, in simple fashion, and grow into a striking array of thematic and harmonic ideas. You’ll also enjoy the 1900 Piano Quintet, which of course owes a lot to Brahms, but is filled with solemnity, and gives English music its true flavour. No doubt, Tovey truly is a composer worth rediscovering!