Première recording of Percy Sherwood's Double Concerto

[Rupert Marshall-Luck]

The reputation of the Anglo-German composer Percy Sherwood (1866-1939) 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 his family in the summer of 1914, he was stranded by the outbreak of the First World 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 recordings of his Second Piano Concerto by Hiroaki Takenouchi and of the complete surviving works for cello and piano by Joseph Spooner and David Owen Norris, both discs having 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.

There is currently a crowdfunding campaign in place to help raise the money needed to make this recording happen.  If you would like to make a donation, please visit https://www.rockethub.com/projects/60297-premiere-recording-of-british-romantic-masterpieces.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Rupert - and welcome to UC! May we ask you to confirm what the coupling will be? The blurb refers to Cowen, but makes no mention of the work to be recorded...

[Rupert Marshall-Luck]

Hallo Alan!  Many thanks for the welcome!  The coupling will, I understand, be Cowen's Symphony no.5 - another hitherto unrecorded work.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Rupert. Might it be a good idea to make that clear in the website blurb? It could attract more supporters as Cowen is far better known than Sherwood (wrongly so, in my view, but....)

[Richard Moss]

Rupert,

Whilst I have been able to provide very modest support for one or two previous 'kickstarter' type projects, I'm unable to fund to the level of $75, as requested.

If you can accept a much more modest contribution (say $25) with say entitlement just  to a download only of music/booklet, I wonder if you would attract quite a bit more support.  The works proposed sound quite 'scrumptious' but as a pensioner on 'modest' means, I have to work to my own budget.

No offence if my suggestion is impracticable for you and the answer is 'no'.

Good luck anyway

Richard

[JimL]

Joseph Spooner - the name rings a bell...wait a minute...doesn't he have a YT video of the Moeran Cello Concerto recorded in Russia?

[Alan Howe]

Joseph recorded Sherwood's cello sonatas for Toccata.

[eschiss1]

and a CD (for Dutton?) of various late Romantic English cello sonatas and character pieces which I think I mentioned a year or three back here, too... Spooner seems to be starting out (continuing?) well by underknown Romantic music, it seems to me.

[JimL]

It is Spooner indeed who has a video of the Moeran concerto with the St. Petersburg State Symphony.  Although I think Moeran may be ever so slightly out of the remit.

[eschiss1]

That's up to the moderators, I guess. It's outside of this thread, certainly. I do wonder what's un-Romantic about Moeran's B minor cello concerto, though... it's not even occasionally bi/polytonal, like his sinfonietta is (now that work one probably can't discuss here- too bad for here...)

[badams@nl.rogers.com]

Can anybody give me a little more insight into how this rockethub thingie works?  I'm particularly wondering if you pledge support when do they actually come looking for your money/charge your credit card/whatever?  Immediately, when the goal is reached, what?

[Alan Howe]

News from Joseph Spooner:

Next year is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Percy Sherwood, the Anglo-German composer whose life and work I have been championing for some time. Some of you will have heard my recording of the works for cello and piano with David Owen Norris on Toccata. Violinist Rupert Marshall-Luck, conductor John Andrews and I are going to perform Sherwood's Double Concerto at the English Music Festival next May, and are planning to record the work with the BBC Concert Orchestra next summer; the disc will also feature the premiere recording of the Symphony no. 4 by Frederic Hymen Cowen (1852–1935).

Very interesting, of course, but there seems to be some confusion as to the coupling. I'll try to get clarification from Joseph ASAP...

[Gareth Vaughan]

Well neither the 4th (The Cambrian), nor the 5th exists in a modern recording. I think the 4th might have been done on an obscure label in LP days but I could be wrong. Incidentally, I'm not sure why the 4th has picked up that soubriquet. I don't think there is anything "Cambrian" about it.

[Alan Howe]

Quite. I think the crowdfunding blurb should be 100% clear, though.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I agree completely. Uncertainty does not inspire confidence.