Could this signify a recording of RS Coke music in the offing?

[eschiss1]

His violin sonata no.1 was given its world premiere 2 June 2012 in Dorchester Abbey, Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire in a concert with works by Sainsbury, Pickard and others, performed by Rupert Marshall-Luck (violin), Matthew Rickard (piano) - see Lionel Sainsbury official site - News.  I wonder if a recording is in the works or if this was concert-only...

[kyjo]

I would greatly welcome a recording of any of Coke's music! I'd especially love to hear the PCs and the symphonies, but beggars can't be choosers . We'll keep our fingers crossed for a recording (the Sainbury and Pickard pieces also sound interesting)!

[eschiss1]

Ah, actually I see this was already mentioned here. Hrm. Sorry about the thread duplication... though hopefully I can come up with some news ...

[Christopher]

and see also my mini-rant here - http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,3621.msg39142.html#msg39142 - asking why NOT ONE pice of his has been recorded.  Obviously there is huge demand, not least from the likes of us on UC.  When so many other Unsungs have been recorded, it just seems so strange that nothing by SC has made it onto disc...

[Mark Thomas]

Christopher wrote: 

Obviously there is huge demand

"Huge"? Really? It's clearly a relative term here, I think. I'd be very happy to satisfy my curiosity about Coke's music but I doubt whether I'd be in a band of people numbering more than a couple of hundred at most whom a label could rely on actually buying a recording. As always, they'd be gambling on an unknown.

[thalbergmad]

I attempted to play through the 1st movement of the 3rd PC again recently and that was a session that I would not care to repeat.

I don't know where all this "Rachmaninoffian" stuff originates from or if anyone who repeats it has ever studied any of his works, but it cannot be from this piece as I detect very little that would indicate a craftsman at work, let alone one within a thousand leagues of Rachmaninoff.

Perhaps his genius lies elsewhere, but I have a strange feeling that a first recording might well turn out to be the last.

Thal

[kyjo]

This is quite disappointing, Thal. I had high hopes for Sacheverell Coke and was really excited about Gareth Vaughan's discoveries until I read your post  .I'm still hoping for a recording and perhaps that could do justice to the man. Let's hope that your judgement is incorrect, Thal .

[Gareth Vaughan]

When so many other Unsungs have been recorded, it just seems so strange that nothing by SC has made it onto disc...

I think the reason may lie in the relative inaccessibility of his music. A good deal is lost, and what isn't for the most part remains in MS in Chesterfield Library in an archive which, until recently, had not been catalogued. Thal is right when he wonders where the reputation for being an "English Rachmaninoff" comes from. The music is much more gritty and almost perverse (and, of course, RC was not a composer of Rach's stature). Nevertheless, his is a distinctive, and rather difficult, voice.  Rupert Marshall-Luck made a thoroughly convincing case for the 1st violin sonata at the EMF - it was brilliantly played by both musicians (the piano part is fiendish but Matthew Rickard played it with aplomb) and created a very favourable impression with those present, in particular two distinguished contemporary British composers - Lionel Sainsbury and Paul Carr - who felt that more of this music should be heard and made available for performance. Rupert is producing an edition of the sonata, and maybe one of the 2nd violin sonata too. There is a possibility that he will record them for the EMF label, but that is not confirmed yet.  I am sending the full scores of the 3rd & 4th PCs to Mike Spring for his consideration.  He is familiar with the printed 2-piano score of No. 3 and has expressed interest in seeing the orchestration.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks for this comprehensive and expert update, Gareth.

[kyjo]

Gareth, I cannot express my gratitude for your promotion of Coke's (and Holbrooke's, among others) music . Hopefully Mike Spring will take interest in these PCs. I they get recorded, I'll be the first one to have it at my doorstep !

[Gareth Vaughan]

Some of you may already be aware that the powerful and tortured 1st violin sonata by Coke, which Rupert Marshall-Luck premiered at the 2012 English Music Festival is to feature on a new disk of music to be issued by EM Records. No date yet, but soon.

[giles.enders]

Well done, please keep us posted, let us hope it is only the first cd and others are to follow.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I've been quietly hoping for such a disc, and the sun shines even brighter today with Gareth's most welcome news that an actual disc might well be coming our way. I am looking forward with considerable interest to listening to this music (despite the fact that it would seem rather a tough nut to crack at first hearing!)

And the EM Festival and their recordings now take a prominent place in our musical landscape. I've recently acquired the Rupert Marshall-Luck and Matthew Rickard recording of Gurney's E flat Vn Sonata. Is it not extraordinary that this work has lain asleep ever since Gurney finished working on it in 1919, and that this is its first recording? It is a veritable stunner. Such works can't of course have any monetary value, but the sonata is easily worth the cost of the disc. But then with it we also get one of the strongest performances of the Elgar Vn Sonata I've heard, and a quite beautiful work for solo violin by Lionel Sainsbury.

Three heartfelt cheers for EMF! (I've also got an order for their new release of early works [a String Quartet and String Quintet] of Parry, and my ears are positively itching to listen to this disc).

Apologies - I've somehow ended up with a potential three posts squeezed into a single post. Efficiency or the sign of an undisciplined brain? (The latter, I think).

[eschiss1]

Hrm. Enjoy the Parry chamber music; I've heard the quintet and one of the quartets.

[Gareth Vaughan]

If people buy this CD when it is released and like the music, which is challenging, but highly individual (and certainly tonal), may I suggest you write (and, indeed, urge you to do so) to Em and ask for more.