John Foulds; Lionel Sainsbury - Cello Concertos (Raphael Wallfisch)

Information

Composer: John Foulds; Lionel Sainsbury

• (01) Sainsbury - Cello Concerto, Op. 27
• (04) Foulds - Cello Concerto in G major, Op. 17

Raphael Wallfisch, cello
Royal Scottish National Orchestra (1-3)
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (4-6)
Martin Yates, conductor

Date: 2012
Label: Dutton
https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7284

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Review

John Foulds (1880–1939) was one of those exotic and eccentric English jack-of-all-trades composers who did not become really interesting and distinctive until he went to India and encountered a whole new universe of music. After his relatively early death in a faraway land he had been marginalized and almost entirely forgotten until an unexpected flood of first recordings came out over the past decade or so.

The cello was Foulds’s own instrument and, although he apparently composed two other concertante works for the cello (one discarded and lost, the other an arrangement of Corelli), this full-scale 1908–09 work is nonetheless still a typical product of his early phase when he had not yet crystallized a personal idiom. Written in a quasi-Elgarian manner, the 35-minute piece is full of lovely ideas thrown together in a helter-skelter way. Only the ravishing Adagio—conceived in a songlike form and his second attempt at a slow movement—really works, while the somewhat overblown outer movements seem like semi-indigestible fantasia-like farragos. The orchestral writing is rich and strong, however, and the solo part (after a curious initial plucking or strumming entry) is consistently lyrical but still of a strictly nondescriptive character.

Dutton seems to have a very favorable view of the younger Englishman Lionel Sainsbury (b. 1958), whose Violin Concerto the label released a couple of years ago. As in that work, the Cello Concerto of 1999 evinces similar tendencies toward the overextended and the episodically overstuffed. This is not to deny Sainsbury’s ambitious self-assurance and gift for plangent melodiousness and dramatic pacing. The first two movements are the most successful, while the incredibly eventful, lengthy finale is now and then simply too much of a good thing.

But the phenomenal Raphael Wallfisch applies his unlimited virtuosity and technique without stint to both works which, in spite of having been written almost a century apart, have so much in common that portions of each score sound almost interchangeable in structure and spirit—a striking testimony to the continuity (or the historical provinciality?) of English music. And of course Martin Yates supplies his customary polished intensity and commitment. These two first recordings offer a plenitude of pleasure to all lovers of English repertoire in general and of the cello in particular.

-- Paul A. Snook, FANFARE

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: **** / RECORDING: ****
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/sainsbury-foulds-cello-concertos
https://www.thestrad.com/sainsbury-cello-concerto-op27-foulds-cello-concerto-in-g-major-op17-/4691.article
https://www.audaud.com/lionel-sainsbury-cello-concerto-john-foulds-cello-concerto-raphael-wallfisch-c-royal-scottish-nat-orch-bournemouth-sym-orch-martin-yates-dutton-epoch/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sainsbury-Foulds-Concertos-Raphael-Wallfisch/dp/B007KGGLKU

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John Foulds (2 November 1880 – 25 April 1939) was an English composer of classical music. Foulds was an adventurous figure of great innate musicality and superb technical skill. He was largely self-taught as a composer, and belongs to the figures of the English Musical Renaissance. A successful composer of light music and theatre scores, his principal creative energies went into more ambitious and exploratory works that were particularly influenced by Indian music. Foulds' most substantial compositions include string quartets, symphonic poems, concertos, piano pieces, as well as a series of "Music-Pictures".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Foulds

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Lionel Sainsbury (born 1958 in Wiltshire) is an English pianist and classical composer. Sainsbury studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Patric Standford (composition) and Edith Vogel (piano). In 1979, Sainsbury received the British Mendelssohn Scholarship, which brought him into contact with composers such as Edmund Rubbra, John McCabe and Henri Dutilleux. Sainsbury's music has since been performed worldwide, and broadcast on many radio channels. Recordings of his work are available on Naxos, Dutton Epoch, EM Records, Navona Records, and EMI.
http://www.lionelsainsbury.com/

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Raphael Wallfisch (born 15 June 1953, London) is one of the leading English cellists of his generation. Wallfisch studied with Amaryllis Fleming, Derek Simpson, Amadeo Baldovino and Gregor Piatigorsky. His vast repertory ranges from 19th century staples by Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Dvorák to 20th century standards by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Respighi and Barber. He has also focused much attention on works by British composers such as Elgar, Delius, Bax, Maxwell Davies, MacMillan, Simpson, and Tavener. Wallfisch has recorded extensively for many labels, including Chandos, Nimbus, and Naxos.

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/raphael-wallfisch-mn0002030011/biography

http://www.raphaelwallfisch.com/?page_id=35

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