Sherwood Double Concerto for Violin and Cello

[Alan Howe]

Important news from that fine cellist Joseph Spooner:

"2016 will be a busy year recording wise. I'll be sending information about my chamber recordings at a later date, but here I thought I'd mention the exciting plans for the Double Concerto by Percy Sherwood (http://josephspooner.net/?p=689). Next year is the 150th anniversary of Sherwood's birth, and I am working with violinist Rupert Marshall-Luck and conductor John Andrews on the first performance and recording of this work. It will be a huge effort, but the BBC Concert Orchestra is lined up, and we are still looking for funding. If you know anyone who would like to help, please point them in the direction of our crowd-funding website. Thank you!"

Here are the details at Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1014933897/world-premiere-recording-of-sherwood-and-cowen-mas

World Premiere Recording of Sherwood and Cowen masterpieces

The most popular British symphonist before Elgar and a hugely influential figure in Victorian London, Frederic Hymen Cowen is now almost completely forgotten. He was  conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society, the Hallé Orchestra, the Philharmonic Society of London, the Scottish Orchestra (now known as the RSNO) and the Handel Festivals at The Crystal Palace. Cowen received honorary doctorates from Cambridge and Edinburgh in 1900 and 1910 respectively, and was knighted at St. James's Palace on 6 July 1911.

Not unlike his younger contemporary Sir Arthur Sullivan, he regarded himself primarily as a serious symphonic composer, but won most widespread acclaim for his lighter orchestral pieces, such as his Water Lily or his pretty overture, The Butterfly's Ball (1901). But his symphonies, like those of Parry, are a strong and individual contribution to a tradition of English music-making that is now tragically forgotten, and might with good cause be regarded as the most important Anglo-Jewish composer of the last 200 years.

The reputation of the Anglo-German composer Percy Sherwood (1866-1939) by contrast was a victim of the tumults of the 20th century. Born to an English father and a German mother in the cosmopolitan city of Dresden, he achieved an enviable reputation as a composer, pianist and teacher. During a visit to family in the summer of 1914, he was stranded by the outbreak of the Great War. He chose to remain in England thereafter, but dogged by poor health, he died shortly before the Second World War. Interest in Sherwood has grown in recent years, with the recording of his Second Piano Concerto by Hiroaki Takenouchi, and the complete surviving works for cello and piano by Joseph Spooner and David Owen Norris. Both these discs have received extremely warm reviews.

There can perhaps be no better way of marking the 150th anniversary of Sherwood's birth and cementing his reputation today than by recording the composer's Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra (1907–1908). This work – written at the height of Sherwood's career in Germany, not long before he was appointed a Royal Professor by the King of Saxony – will appear under the pioneering label EM Records, which in a few years has built an enviable reputation for bringing neglected masterpieces to music enthusiasts, with the world-class quality of its musicians and the polish of its production values attracting international acclaim. The soloists will be Rupert Marshall-Luck (violin) and Joseph Spooner (cello); both have garnered reputations for bringing unknown works to light, and Joseph is already fully immersed in Sherwood's idiom. The orchestra will be the BBC Concert Orchestra, itself famous for supporting rediscovered repertoire, conducted by John Andrews, with whom they have recently recorded a double CD of theatre music by Sir Arthur Sullivan.

[Gareth Vaughan]

This is very exciting news, but am I missing something? What work by Cowen is planned to partner the Sherwood double concerto?

[Alan Howe]

No, you're not missing something, Gareth. I couldn't find that rather important detail either. A symphony, perhaps?

[Gareth Vaughan]

We lack recordings of Nos 4 & 5. The scores and parts of all Cowen's surviving symphonies are in Fleisher.

[Mark Thomas]

Unreservedly good news but, as you've both pointed out, we only have half the story here.

[eschiss1]

looking forward to! He uploaded a good performance (with himself at cello, I mean, not someone else's) of Moeran's concerto to his YouTube channel recently, too; better known but not played at all often.

[Alan Howe]

I'm hoping to have some news about the Cowen coupling soon...

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks Alan. I really don't see how they expect people to contribute through Kickstarter knowing only half the picture.

[Alan Howe]

Quite.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I really don't see how they expect people to contribute through Kickstarter knowing only half the picture.

That's a very valid point and one which ought to be made strongly to the artists concerned, otherwise this project may never get off the ground.

[Alan Howe]

Don't worry. An investigation is underway.

[Alan Howe]

..and the news this morning is that the coupling is to be Cowen's Symphony No.5 in F (1887). This will also be a world premiere recording.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Thanks, Alan. Very interesting. I don't know the 5th. I did try to get the 4th recorded by Cameo Classics but circumstances prevented the recording from going ahead. I hope this project is successful.

[Mark Thomas]

Good oh! Thanks, Alan. I hope that the Kickstarter blurb gets amended too.

[Alan Howe]

I understand that the omission of the details of the Cowen coupling was actually due to a technical problem: apparently some of the information uploaded to Kickstarter fell off the page. It is now in the process of being sorted out.