Stanford VC (1875) & PC (1873) from Dutton

[matesic]

I'm not wishing to exonerate Mellor in any way (did anyone make a copy of his original review they could post here, for general amusement?), but if I'd been a potential buyer I might well have assumed it was the Op.74 concerto. Maybe Dutton could have put 1875 in brackets on the front cover to signal this isn't Stanford's best known D major violin concerto?

Of course, even the Op.74 hardly qualifies as "well-known". I have Anthony Marwood's CD and have enjoyed it on several occasions, but still probably wouldn't recognise an excerpt. This could be just my dodgy memory, but I wonder if Mellor's blunder illustrates a wider point about unsung composers and neglected repertoire. The virtual juke box of musical snippets in my head includes a vast  number of tunes (complete with harmony, instrumental colour and mood) from all the "great" composers but practically nothing of Stanford's apart from a few pieces I've actually played. It also includes a comprehensive store of popular songs from the 60's and 70's that I'm not hugely proud of, plus a few more recent acquisitions that I've found particularly enjoyable. To my shame, I can't recall a single snippet from a female classical composer.

I'd be very interested to hear from other enthusiasts of neglected repertoire (i.e. you all), as to how much of it you can voluntarily bring to mind?

[JimL]

I know the Stanford Op. 74 and could recognize a snippet from it if I heard it on the radio within seconds.

[matesic]

Recognition is certainly one level up from my memory of this piece, but can anyone here spontaneously whistle or imagine any of it? I suspect the vast majority of pieces that we come to know that well are those we first encountered in our youth or early adulthood.

[eschiss1]

For those who can read music, this may help jog memories of the Op.74 concerto (or introduce one to its outlines- though only that, as it's a reduction.)

[Alan Howe]

Although we're likely to be off-topic pretty swiftly here, I'd say that familiarity is mostly a function of how often one has listened to a particular piece of music. For example, I've had Klughardt 4 as my in-car entertainment for months and I now know it as well as any symphony by anyone else and would recognise it from just a few bars of any of its movements. I've even had a break from it and found that, on replaying the CD, I still knew exactly what was coming - as anyone listening to me humming in the car would testify!

As far as the two Stanford VCs in D are concerned, the very least I can remember is that the earlier work begins with a theme in which the trumpet features prominently, whereas Op.74 begins in a veritable 'twitter' of woodwind writing. I can't even imagine confusing the two.

[Gareth Vaughan]

They are, as you say Alan, distinctly different. But there is no excuse whatsoever for Mellor. It doesn't matter that they are written in the same key. They are two distinct works and they can only be compared (as clearly Mellor purports to do) by listening to them "side by side" as it were. This he, equally clearly, failed to do. He was simply arrogant and lazy - and has been found out, and serve him (and "Gramophone", which long ago lost all claims to be the periodical of quality and integrity founded by Compton Mackenzie) right.

[Alan Howe]

Here's the amended review, plus 'explanation' (but no apology), at the Gramophone website:

There's no question what constitutes the main course here and what the hors d'oeuvres. Stanford's D major Violin Concerto dates from his time in Leipzig and counted among its consultants none other than Joseph Joachim. Despite the shadows of Mendelssohn and Schumann, the score represents the Irish composer at his clipped, neat best, where restraint fuels both nobility and rapture.

The concerto's 16 minute opening movement, framed by stuttering, tripping ideas from soloist and orchestra respectively, includes a fantasy development of novelty and charm. The 14 minute Intermezzo carries an atmosphere of reposeful fortitude, like a person sitting quietly yet thinking ferociously. After a rigorous cadenza that movement tumbles into a freewheeling Allegretto scherzando finale, a rare example of a composer from these islands putting a convincing stamp on an established central-European design. Sergey Levitin, best known as Covent Garden's co concertmaster, revels in the music's sturdy vigour and meets its technical challenges but his tone is neither particularly rich nor sweet.

The unnumbered Piano Concerto of 1873, a precursor to Stanford's three mature examples, does appear to be a newcomer. As Jeremy Dibble's rich but diplomatic booklet notes suggest, it's less ambitious and far shorter than its concertante bedfellow here but interesting to hear despite its rather bloodless piano-writing and lack of sweeping momentum. Leon McCawley does his best with it. But, as in the Concert Overture of 1870, it's in the small details – enchanting writing for winds and miniature adventures in tonality – that we sense a composer getting into his stride.

This review was amended on June 22, 2018 to correct a factual error.
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/stanford-piano-concerto-violin-concerto

[Alan Howe]

...which, of course, is totally inadequate. It's an explanation without actually explaining what the 'factual error' was; an amended review published only on the website and without an apology. It's the ultimate slap in the face to those who have kept faith with this dumbed-down publication, but will do so no longer. And it's both rubbish journalism and incompetent editorial work. I mean, do they think we're stupid?

Wonder what Dutton are planning to do?

[matesic]

I'm sure most of you are familiar with Nicolas Slonimsky's Lexicon of Musical Invective. Mellor can't be accused of ill-judged invective, but he joins a select company of critics who have made complete fools of themselves in print. Like Slonimsky, I think amusement on our part is more appropriate than pompous indignation. What do we expect the Gramophone to do - crawl on its hands and knees to Westminster Abbey?

The danger of criticism is that you'll always be ridiculed sooner or later. I'd love to hear (once) Stanford's Ode to Discord in the hope that the music is funnier than the words - apparently he had Debussy and Strauss particularly in mind! Yes I know, well off topic.

[Alan Howe]

What do we expect the Gramophone to do - crawl on its hands and knees to Westminster Abbey?

A grovelling apology would do, i.e. metaphorical sackcloth and ashes. And why not, after all?

[matesic]

About as much chance of getting an apology as from a politician, or a surgeon, or a conductor. Actually I recall I once wrote a pompous letter of complaint to the Gramophone after they first introduced their "Artist of the Year", chosen purely at the whim of the editor. I didn't get an apology but a very nice letter of support from Lionel Salter who felt the reviewers were being subverted.

[FBerwald]

I completely agree with you @matesic but we are all really put off by this and this forum is a safe place to vent (within reason!).

In anycase there seems to be a substantial change in concert performances judging by the 2018 schedules and it's very encouraging to see more unsung repertoire being performed. Change takes time. Maybe Gramophone will catch up, maybe it won't but I don't think it has as much influence as it did before.