Ashton Cello Sonatas from Toccata

[Alan Howe]

This'll be on my wants list...
http://www.toccataclassics.com/cddetail.php?CN=TOCC0143

[Mark Thomas]

Yep, mine too. Actually, Centaur have pipped Toccata to the post with this CD which features Ashton's Second Cello Sonata. A fine work IMHO.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Strictly, the Centaur CD isn't yet released (at least in the UK).

However methinks a wise man would bide his time and wait for the Toccata disc. Besides, the Toccata is labelled 'Volume One' indicating that further treats should eventually follow. And whatever such treats might be they will be unsung, unknown, and never previously recorded.

Leslie De'Ath (on the Centaur disc) was also, of course, the pianist on the Dutton discs of Ashton's piano music. That was a fine disc, but in my view it was trumped by the Toccata disc of the piano music. That Toccata disc was a splendid production, as are the many Toccata discs sitting on my shelves. Clearly Toccata needs to make a buck or two in order to continue to exist, but with all the discs (and books) published I can't readily think of an outfit so devoted to the task of advancing our knowledge of the unsung and undertaking that task with such high standards. Hurrah for Toccata, and even if the Centaur Victorian cello sonata disc was found under the Christmas tree that wouldn't stop me buying the Toccata!

[Mark Thomas]

I didn't mean to (and don't think that I did) imply that the Centaur release was preferable to Toccata's upcoming one, Peter, which I was unaware of when I downloaded the Centaur tracks from ClassicsOnline a couple of weeks ago. I was also interested in hearing the coupling of works for cello and piano by Samuel Liddle.

[eschiss1]

Even the Centaur CD seems only just available in the USA, I think (Oct. 2012 Records International) though I may be mistaken of course...

[Alan Howe]

The Toccata CD sounds magnificent. It's also available from Amazon.co.uk for £9 post-free!
http://www.toccataclassics.com/cddetail.php?CN=TOCC0143
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ashton-Complete-Mizerska-Toccata-Classics/dp/B009IF11QU/ref=sr_1_cc_3?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1350641429&sr=1-3-catcorr

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Already ordered, some 2-3 weeks ago!

On the basis of both the Dutton and Toccata discs of some of the piano music (what extravagance given the duplications!) and on what I've read about the music for cello and piano I will eat my hat if the music on this forthcoming disc is NOT magnificent! I dare say other Forum members are quite indifferent as to my diet, but no matter.

Incidentally, Amazon in recent months seem to be offering a good number of CDs at what is a generous 'pre-order' price. But do not dither or dally, for from 1 minute past midnight on the scheduled day of release the price suddenly leaps from, say, £9.00 to a frightening £15.00. (The same is true HMV).

In the last year I've also discovered the merits of "Amazon prime". You pay a fairly hefty annual fee but in return Amazon don't then charge the normal fee to cover the cost of post and packing, and items are sent immediately by 1st class mail. Wonderful - no waiting! And in my case (more evidence of extravagance) that annual fee was easily 'recovered' within a month or two. Many apologies to Forum members outside the U.K., for this postscript is of no interest to them. Besides, saving money on CD purchases is utterly irrelevant to unsung music of the Romantic era!

[Martin Anderson]

Thanks for the encouraging words about Toccata Classics. Anyway, re the Ashton cello sonatas: I'm told that the stocks were leaving the factory yesterday (Friday) and so they should be in the warehouse early next week, and I should therefore have some copies in London in perhaps ten days for anyone who wants to order through the Toccata Classics website. (I've no idea, I'm afraid, how quickly Amazon will be able to supply it.) To my mind, gorgeous though the Second Sonata is (and you can be sure that I had no idea that Centaur were bringing it out as well), the real glory on this first disc is the Arioso which opens the programme -- it's knee-weakeningly lovely. You can catch the opening on our website.
Cheers
Martin

[Mark Thomas]

With knees like mine I clearly have to be careful, Martin, but even though I already have the Centaur recording this has to be a must buy. Thanks so much.

[eschiss1]

I'm looking forward to. Hoping someone will take on his larger-ensemble piano chamber music sometime too (I guess I've said- sorry!... ), it looks really promising. (Looking over the 2nd quintet Op.100 (pub.1896) just now. Quite nice ending, for one thing...)

[jerfilm]

Off topic, I know, but following up Peter's comments about Amazon, Amazon US offers prime for $79 a year and for that you get second day delivery on almost everything.  I have saved hundreds since I buy a lot of merchandise (in addition to CDs) from them.

Jerry

[Martin Anderson]

Eric, I have here the scores of number of the Ashton chamber works with piano, and I do hope that Toccata Classics will be able to record some of them before too long. No concrete plans at the moment, but they have been on the horizon for years.
Cheers
Martin

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I've got no idea at all about the quantity or quality of any Ashton chamber works with piano beyond a suspicion that they might indeed be wonderful. However if Toccata ever did release such things I'm certain I would be way up front imploring our rotten government that in awarding you a knighthood, Martin, would go some considerable way towards redeeming itself.

Nope, that's a bad idea. A knighthood, peerage, or whatever might encourage you to go complacent and cease seeking to publish or issue a veritable stream of such truly terrific books and recordings. I'm immensely grateful for what Toccata has given us. Thank you!

[Alan Howe]

petershott@btinternet.com writes:

Postman turned up this morning with two new Toccata discs, one being Vol 1 of Algernon Ashton's Music for Cello and Piano (and fingers tightly crossed we'll soon have Vol. 2!)

Four works on the disc, but so far have done little today save to listen four times, with increasing wonder each time, to the 2nd Cello Sonata. Heavens, what a very wonderful work. A perfectly lovely, and so cleverly constructed second movement (Adagio, ma non troppo), and then a final movement (Allegro animato) working its way towards the most exhilarating conclusion. Heck, I think Brahms himself would have been chuffed with himself had he composed the work!

And what's particular interesting is the point Malcolm MacDonald makes in some illuminating notes in the CD booklet: Ashton composed both sonatas here just a few years before Brahms wrote his two cello sonatas! The back of the CD carries the blurb "....although Ashton's writing for both cello and piano is virtuosic, what strikes the ear is the quality of his melodic inspiration - the lyrical immediacy of his tunes suggests Schubert, set in a style of Brahmsian richness". Utterly spot on right, I believe.

Alas, with the great majority of Ashton's manuscripts (and the family house) lost forever I reckon this is one of the great losses in musical history. And here's a speculation (that someone more knowledgeable will quickly demolish, but no matter, live dangerously and stick out the neck for that is the only way to learn): given that so much of Ashton's music - or at least that which we know - is so thoroughly Germanic then, had his music survived and Ashton reckoned to be a major figure, then I wonder what might have been the course of early 20th century English music when so many English composers were (intentionally or not) vigorously asserting their independence from Germanic models and idioms. Think on it: I, for one, can't quite imagine the young RVW setting out quite in the way he did in an English musical culture where Ashton was reckoned a major and dominant figure.

However enough of the 'what if...?' game! In the meantime bravo to Evva Mizerska (who, to my loss, I have not encountered before) and Emma Abbate for the quality of their performances, and of course a resounding bravo to Toccata for publishing the CD.

Ho, ho, the other Toccata CD handed over by the postman contains the two Orchestral Suites of Vissarion Shebalin. Probably quite out of bounds on the UC site!

[Alan Howe]

I agree: the loss of so much of Ashton's music is a disaster. Where I disagree is the notion that, had Ashton been reckoned a major figure and his music survived and been performed, then the course of the development of English music would have been different. The fact is that Britain already had two stand-out composers thoroughly schooled in the German manner, namely Stanford and Parry. If Ashton had been added to them, one could argue that the counter-reaction might have been even more extreme. Still, it's an interesting debate...

Meanwhile, can't wait for my copy of the CD to arrive!