Percy Grainger - In a Nutshell; etc (Simon Rattle)

Information

Composer: Percy Grainger

• (01-04) In a Nutshell Suite:
• (05)      Train Music
• (06)      Country Gardens: English Morris Dance Tune
• (07)      Ravel, arr. Grainger - La Vallée des cloches (Miroir)
• (08-13) Lincolnshire Posy for military band
• (14)      Debussy, arr. Grainger - Pagodes (Estampes)
• (15)      The Warriors: Music to an imaginary ballet for orchestra and three pianos

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Simon Rattle, conductor

Date: 1997
Label: EMI

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Review

No beating about the bush: here is a simply marvellous Grainger anthology. Good as Richard Hickox’s recent BBC PO account of In a nutshell was, Rattle’s surpasses it in terms of rhythmic point and bracing character (the very opening bars of “Arrival Platform Humlet” at once reveal an extra spring and subtlety about the CBSO’s exhilaratingly clean-limbed response). Although Hickox is never less than sympathetic, Rattle makes us even more aware of the startling originality of Grainger’s vision, its unhinged wildness and inventiveness – attributes even more to the fore in The Warriors. This extraordinary creation, described by the composer himself as “an orgy of war-like dances, processions and merry-making, broken, or accompanied, by amorous interludes”, has already been handsomely served on CD by Geoffrey Simon and John Eliot Gardiner. Rattle’s stunning new version strikes me as the best one of all, possessing a mastery of texture and irresistible choreographic flair to remind us that the piece had its origins in a commission (proposed by Beecham, but ultimately scrapped) for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

There are plenty of other treats in store. At the behest of Leopold Stokowski, Grainger made the present reworking of Country gardens in 1950. It is quirkily scored, harmonically eventful and hugely entertaining. The delectable arrangements of Ravel’s “La vallee des cloches” (the only performance here which has been previously released) and Debussy’s “Pagodes” are quite captivating in their imaginative, ear-tickling sonorities (the instrumentation of the former includes parts for vibraphone, marimba, dulcitone and other “tuneful percussion”, the latter for harmonium, celesta and no fewer than four pianos). Both receive exquisite treatment on this occasion. Train music is an intriguing torso dating from 1901. The teenage composer’s ambition evidently knew no bounds, for he began to score the work for an orchestra of about 150 players, comprising 100 strings and an enormous woodwind section (eight oboes, six bassoons, etc.). It’s heard here in a reduced orchestration by the American Grainger authority, Eldon Rathburn.

Finally, Rattle and his admirable Birmingham forces give us an exceptionally perceptive Lincolnshire Posy. Not only do the fabulous blend and immaculate intonation of the CBSO’s wind and brass really take the breath away, but Rattle’s interpretation is also full of insight. Most remarkable of all is “Rufford Park Poachers” – a provocatively spacious conception, full of tragic grandeur; “Lord Melbourne”, too, is memorable, acquiring a fierce, hard-edged intensity wholly apt for a “War Song” (to quote Grainger’s own alternative title).

Immaculate production-values and presentation. One for every reader’s shopping-list.

-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: *****
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/e/emi56412a.php
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/e/emi56412b.php
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/e/emi56412c.php
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nutshell-Percy-Grainger/dp/B000002RYM
https://www.amazon.com/Nutshell-Percy-Grainger/dp/B000002RYM

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Percy Grainger (8 July 1882 – 20 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career, he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many adaptations of other composers' works. Despite his conservatory training, Grainger rebelled against the disciplines of the central European tradition, largely rejecting conventional forms such as symphony, sonata, concerto and opera. The piece with which he is most generally associated is his piano arrangement of the folk-dance tune "Country Gardens".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Grainger

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Simon Rattle (born 19 January 1955 in London), is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence while being Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–98). He has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic since 2002, and is going to leave his position at the end of his current contract, in 2018. Rattle took up his position as Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra in September 2017. Rattle has conducted a wide variety of music and is best known for his interpretations of late 19th- and early 20th-century composers such as Gustav Mahler.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Rattle

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