Première recording of Percy Sherwood's Double Concerto

[Alan Howe]

Oh, that's excellent. This a must-buy for me - it'll be fascinating to hear an orchestral piece from Sherwood's pre-WW1 maturity in Germany.

[Mark Thomas]

I'm very happy with the coupling too but, although Cowen's Concertstück is a strong and inventive piece, I do think that both the symphonies which have been recorded start well only to tail off as the movements progress. So, really welcome though another Cowen symphony will be, on the evidence of Sherwood's works which have so far been recorded I suspect that his concerto will prove to be the highlight of the disc.

[Alan Howe]

I agree. There's no doubt in my mind who the more interesting composer is.

[FBerwald]

I second that. It's a pity that so much of Cowen's music is lost to us now.

[Alan Howe]

The Sherwood PC2 is not really a representative piece. It is a very late work (1932) whereas the Double Concerto was written nearly a quarter of a century earlier, at the height of the composer's maturity. In order to have some idea of Sherwood's capabilities, we have to turn to the Toccata CD of his cello sonatas. I also have a computer-generated rendition of the first movement of Sherwood's 3rd Symphony (1905-7) which is a very powerful piece indeed.

Mind you, I'm all for more Cowen!

[Gareth Vaughan]

From what I have seen of the MS of the first PC that is a more attractive piece than its successor. But I have not seen the whole work yet.

[Mark Thomas]

Em Marshall-Luck wrote to me on 10 June: "we hope to release the disc in the Autumn." Unfortunately, we've pretty much run out of Autumn now and Winter approaches. Sigh....

[JeremyMHolmes]

Did she specify the year..?? 

[Mark Thomas]

Ouch!

[Alan Howe]

Two days ago Em Marshall-Luck wrote:
<<My next communication will be to announce the availability from EM Records's website of a batch of exciting new releases.>>

Let's hope the Sherwood/Cowen CD is among them. I think we should bear in mind the costs involved in releasing CDs of orchestral music these days.

[Mark Thomas]

Indeed, but this was supposedly crowd funded wasn't it? I too hope that the release is imminent, of course.

[Alan Howe]

The crowd funding has reached £5,137, i.e. 49% of the £10,500 total cost. Who knows what the implications of this are...

[JeremyMHolmes]

Both works to be broadcast on R3 next Monday afternoon (26th).

[Alan Howe]

Can anyone therefore record BBC Radio 3's Afternoon Concert next Monday (26th), starting at 2pm? Thanks!!!

[Mark Thomas]

I will, of course. It may be our only chance of hearing these works in the foreseeable future...