PCs by Eric Chisholm

[Alan Howe]

Hyperion are to record Eric Chisholm's two piano concertos in their RPC series, according to an article on Chisholm's piano music in this month's IRR. The soloist will be Danny Driver.

[M. Henriksen]

Absolutely great! Having very much enjoyed the Dutton recordings of Chisholm's Ossian and Pictures of Dante, this will be in my shopping list for sure. Are these concertos recorded before? I seem to remember a topic on this forum mentioning something about it.


Morten

[Mark Thomas]

I'll admit to total ignorance of Chisholm's music, barring the clips which appear on the Eric Chisholm site, but is his idiom really romantic in any way?

[albion]

The first concerto has been recorded before - http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/db/CART/product_details.php?product_id=3821, but the second hasn't.

From the website of the Erik Chisholm Trust:

The Piobaireachd Concerto [No.1]: First performed in 1935 with the composer at the piano. Quotes from reviews of early performances show it was very well received.

"Erik Chisholm as a composer has never been at a loss for ideas and the score of the concerto is marked by steady application on the part of all concerned. Interest is properly shared by orchestra and soloist, the ideas are often happily treated and variety of colour and effect has been carefully provided. The Scherzo worked up towards the close to a brilliant climax. The finale also finished brilliantly and included plenty of vivacity" Glasgow News, 1935.

"Undoubtedly one of the most ambitious attempts at a large scale work in a Scottish idiom from the pen of a native composer. Of Erik Chisholm's originality there can be no question. The concerto is no mere stringing together of snatches of idiomatic Scottish phrases, but a skilful piece of workmanship in which the resources of the full orchestra and the solo instrument are well exploited" Evening Times, 1940.

"The concerto was full of Scottish character. The composer himself played the solo part in brilliant style" The Scotsman.

It took 60 years for this work to return to the concert platform. Read in Archive Section of the performance at the RASMD Glasgow in 2000.

In August 2000 Murray McLachlan played the concerto with the Kelvin Ensemble conducted by Julian Clayton at a NAYO festival concert in Glasgow.

Piano Concerto No. 2 ['Hindustani']
The Piano Concerto No.2 was first performed in Cape Town in 1949 and in the following year was broadcast on the BBC Radio Third Programme. It was enthusiastically received by the critics, Ernest Newman writing of it 'I was particularly intrigued by the skill with which the composer has managed to fuse Hindustani modes of expression and European ways of thought and factors of design into a single organic whole. I was greatly intrigued by it'.
It had many performances and broadcasts in the composer's life time but after his death, was not heard again until 2007 when it was specially recorded for broadcast one evening in 'Scotland's Music", a BBC Radio Scotland's series of weekly programmes.
John Purser, writer and presenter of the series which ran for a year, comments 'The Concerto emerges as a major achievement in terms of over-all conception, technical innovation and brilliance and superb handling of the orchestra'
The soloist, Dutch pianist Ronald Brautigam, said of his experience "It is a great privilege to be working on such a wonderful Concerto! I have completely fallen in love with the piece. The work is definitely challenging, but the wealth of musical ideas, the refinement of the slow movement, the humour and boisterousness of the finale make one forget that at times fingers need to be scraped off the keyboard'.
As yet a full broadcast has not taken place and no commercial CD is available but the Erik Chisholm Trust has a copy of the BBC SSO recording, which it is pleased to lend out to interested listeners.

[M. Henriksen]

is his idiom really romantic in any way?

Reading parts of the Chisholm site you refer to, I see that the composer is described as a modernist, progressive etc.
That wasn't my first thought in my encounter with his music, but maybe Albion can give us a better introduction of the composer's musical idiom than I can? Musical terms is not my thing..
When I hear the piano pieces available via the Chisholm-site I think of Bartok and Geirr Tveitt. Chisholm's music has this distinctive use of Scottish folk music in his output, in the same way as the other two used the folk music of their countries. Calling Chisholm's music for romantic might be wrong, but it's certainly tonal and a safe composer to investigate if you like British music from the same period.


Morten

[thalbergmad]

I admire these works (although they are presently on the edge of what is acceptable to my ears) & i am glad they are being re-recorded, but in my humble opinion (which is often wrong), they have absolutely nothing to do with the romantic movement as i know it.

Thal

[albion]

is his idiom really romantic in any way?

Reading parts of the Chisholm site you refer to, I see that the composer is described as a modernist, progressive etc.
That wasn't my first thought in my encounter with his music, but maybe Albion can give us a better introduction of the composer's musical idiom than I can? Musical terms is not my thing..
When I hear the piano pieces available via the Chisholm-site I think of Bartok and Geirr Tveitt. Chisholm's music has this distinctive use of Scottish folk music in his output, in the same way as the other two used the folk music of their countries. Calling Chisholm's music for romantic might be wrong, but it's certainly tonal and a safe composer to investigate if you like British music from the same period.


Morten

Put it this way - on the strength of their very considerable merits, I wouldn't be surprised if Hyperion have decided to record Chisholm's piano concertos with the excellent Danny Driver as soloist - on the other hand, I'd be very surprised if they were truly scheduled to appear as part of the RPC Series!

[M. Henriksen]

That is a good point, Chisholm doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the names in Hyperion's RPC series. Still, that is what Alan wrote in the first post.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see!


Morten

[vandermolen]

Apologies if this has already been discussed but I thought that Chisholm's 'Pictures from Dante' (with the Bates 3rd Symphony on Dutton) was a sensational work. I also liked his 'Ossian Symphony' on Dutton.

[albion]

Apologies if this has already been discussed but I thought that Chisholm's 'Pictures from Dante' (with the Bates 3rd Symphony on Dutton) was a sensational work. I also liked his 'Ossian Symphony' on Dutton.

Strongly agree with all these appraisals - I sincerely hope that the Hyperion project isn't a red herring!

[Alan Howe]

I was simply going on Robert Matthew-Walker's report in IRR this month, p.19. In any case, if the Hyperion RPC series can include Korngold, Ireland and Bowen, then why not Chisholm?

[thalbergmad]

My ears detect a gigantic difference between the concerti of Chisholm and the likes of Bowen.

Musically I have not the ability to explain it, it is only an opinion on what i have heard.

Thal

[JimL]

The Korngold definitely didn't belong in the RPC Series.  Even a work such as Dohnanyi PC 2 stretches the limits of Romanticism, although the 1st (from 44 years earlier) doesn't.

[Alan Howe]

Romanticism...what's in a name? Don't we want Hyperion to record these things?

[thalbergmad]

Of course, but not in that particular series. It would somehow erode it to start recording concerti that are clearly not romantic.

Suggest scrap the Chisholm and do the Kenmuir.

Thal