Lennox Berkeley - Chamber Works (Berkeley Ensemble)

Information

Composer: Lennox Berkeley

• (01) Pièce for flute clarinet and bassoon
• (02) Sextet, Op. 47
• (05) In Memoriam Igor Stravinsky: Canon for String Quartet
• (06) Introduction and Allegro for double bass and piano
• (07) String Trio, Op. 19
• (10) Three Pieces for solo viola
• (13) Sonatine for clarinet and piano

Berkeley Ensemble

Sophie Mather, violin (2-5, 7-9)

Dan Shilladay, viola (2-5, 7-12)

Gemma Wareham, cello (2-5, 7-9)

Lachlan Radford, double bass (5)

John Slack, clarinet (1-4, 13-15)

Andrew Watson, bassoon (1)

Paul Cott, horn (2-4)

with

Julia Loucks, violin (2-5)

Sarah Bennington, flute (1)

Libby Burgess, piano (6, 13-15)

Date: 2015

Label: Resonus Classics

https://www.resonusclassics.com/lennox-berkeley-chamber-works

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Review

This brilliant young ensemble, formed from members of the Southbank Sinfonia in 2008, made a strong impact in their debut recording (5/14). This release is just as polished and – featuring a single composer – better focused Lennox Berkeley’s chamber music is increasingly gaining international recognition: there are two German recordings of the immaculate String Trio (1943), which gets a fine performance here. The three performers are ideally balanced and their ensemble is impeccable. That also applies to the Sextet (1955) for clarinet, horn and string quartet, more involved with counterpoint than the Trio. Invention sparkles throughout. The Introduction and Allegro for double bass and piano is lumberingly effective and makes a valuable repertoire piece in an area not well served.

Then there are first recordings. Berkeley was famously dismissive about his early works – and wrong. He regularly lost them or just left them in Paris with his teacher, Nadia Boulanger, and got some of them back only after she died in 1979. The Sonatine for clarinet and piano was written in 1928, the second year of Berkeley’s studies in Paris. Boulanger must have been pleased with it since it shows complete command of what the two instruments can do separately and together. There’s a mature control of the discourse, its ebb and flow, and the slow movement is eloquent.

Finally, a few pièces d’occasion. A canon for string quartet In memoriam Igor Stravinsky, Pièce, another lively student work, and the unknown Three Pieces for solo viola were found in a second-hand bookshop in Camden a decade ago. Informative notes from Berkeley’s biographer Tony Scotland complete a fascinating release – well recorded too.

-- Peter Dickinson, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2015/Aug/Berkeley_chamber_RES10149.htm

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2015/Oct/Berkeley_chamber_RES10149.htm

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Lennox Berkeley (12 May 1903 – 26 December 1989) was an English composer. Born in Oxford, England, he went to Paris to study music with Nadia Boulanger in 1927. Berkeley also studied with Maurice Ravel, often cited as a key influence in his technical development as a composer. Berkeley's earlier music is broadly tonal, influenced by the neoclassical music of Stravinsky. However, from the mid-1950s, he started including tone rows and aspects of serial technique in his compositions. From 1946 to 1968, Berkeley taught at the Royal Academy of Music. His pupils included Richard Rodney Bennett and John Tavener.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennox_Berkeley

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Founded in 2008 by members of Southbank Sinfonia, the Berkeley Ensemble is named after the British composers Lennox and Michael Berkeley. Their repertoire includes little-known twentieth- and twenty first-century British chamber music, alongside more established works. The ensemble reached the finals of the 2009 Royal Over-Seas League music competition and has since performed regularly in the UK and abroad. Their recordings and performances are regularly featured in the national press. The album Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works was selected by BBC Music Magazine as Chamber Choice in 2015.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Ensemble

https://www.berkeleyensemble.co.uk/

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