Cyril Scott: Symphony No. 1, Cello Concerto

“The concerto time forgot - despite its Ravel richness - is lovingly revived. Paul Watkins sounds superb and Martyn Brabbins is an admirable exponent.” --Gramophone Magazine, March 2008

“Paul Watkins is an eloquent soloist and Martyn Brabbins directs taut but sympathetic performances... well worth any British music-lover's time” --BBC Music Magazine, April 2008 ****

“a wider acquaintance with Scott’s rich output is to be encouraged” --Fanfare

“This is in some ways the most revealing of the issues in Brabbins's Cyril Scott series for Chandos...A first-rate disc, very well recorded.” --Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“This fourth volume in the Chandos Scott series opens not only with a first recording, but a first performance of the Cello Concerto from 1937.

By then Scott had become so unfashionable that, along with at least two unperformed operas, this concerto got forgotten. That would be an unjust final judgement. It opens with a 16-minute movement that is virtually a concerto on its own. Right at the start the sustained strings with superimposed celesta create a magical atmosphere. The cello soloist enters with a distinctive rising figure and then Scott's improvisatory instinct takes over. The continuity is close to Delius and some of the scoring is as rich as Ravel.

The second movement is largely an accompanied cadenza, leading to the final rondo where a perky solo bassoon kicks off. There's plenty for the soloist to do but it takes a few hearings for the distinctive qualities of Scott's idiom to sink in. Unlike the Elgar Concerto there's little thematic repetition.

Paul Watkins sounds superb and, as before, Martyn Brabbins is an admirable exponent.

The Symphony No 1 (1899) is another curiosity – this is probably only its second performance since the composer withdrew it after the premiere.

The first movement is labelled Allegro frivolo and it's not far from Sullivan; the Andante has a baleful cor anglais solo; and, because the first two pages of the score were missing, the Allegretto has been completed by Leslie De'Ath, the pianist who has recorded Scott's complete piano works. The finale starts with a modal trombone theme followed by a series of variations and a tentative fugue. A weird touch is the minor-key ending.” --Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Cyril Scott: Chamber Works

“Only the amiable 1951 Clarinet Quintet for Gervase de Peyer has been recorded before, but it’s the 1955 Clarinet Trio, first performed in New Zealand, that seems the most striking and characterful work here. The excellent Gould Trio are the stalwarts of this enjoyable disc.” --BBC Music Magazine, March 2010 *****

“Chandos continues to fly the flag for neglected 20th-century British music with this excellently played selection of Cyril Scott's chamber music...Those who maintain that Scott's music has been unjustly ignored for more than half a century...will no doubt welcome this collection.” --The Guardian, February 2010 ***

While still in his twenties, Cyril Scott was perceived as one of the pre-eminent avant-garde musicians of his generation. He was championed by such luminaries as Henry Wood and Thomas Beecham and his advocacy of the latest techniques briefly gave him a wide acquaintance with some of the leading musicians of the day, including Ravel and Debussy.

He became known as one of the ‘Frankfurt Gang’, that group of young composers who studied at the Hoch’sche Konservatorium and included such contemporaries as Roger Quilter, Norman O’Neill and Percy Grainger. After the First World War, however, he found himself increasingly at odds with the prevailing idioms of the day and became persona non grata with the musical establishment, which contributed to his lack of recognition as a serious composer in subsequent decades.

Scott wrote more than two dozen substantial chamber works and although some of his early chamber music has been revived from time to time, with the exception of the Clarinet Quintet this selection receives its premiere recording. The earliest work on the programme is Piano Trio No. 1 of 1920, but the disc significantly celebrates the chamber music composed after the Second World War, exemplifying Scott’s late style. The second Piano Trio dates from 1951 as does the one-movement Clarinet Quintet, inspired by the playing of Gervase de Payer who gave its first performance. The largest work, the Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, is in three movements including a beautiful Intermezzo labelled Adagio espressivo.

The Gould Piano Trio is joined by Mia Cooper and David Adams, and by the clarinettist Robert Plane, recognised for his ‘outstanding musicianship’ (The Musical Times).