PCs by Eric Chisholm

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I agree with Alan's point above - what's in a name? Besides any insistence on a straight-jacketed conception of 'romantic' would itself be a decision inconsistent with what I understand to be one tenet of romanticism, namely, there can't be tight rules determining what counts as 'romantic'.

But that's just an academic squabble. What is great news is that the Chisholm concertos are to be recorded by Hyperion - whether or not they are included in RPC doesn't matter too much.

I had been dimly aware of the name Chisholm for some years. But he became a name to be reckoned with after I'd read his book on the Janacek operas (marvellous accounts of them!) Then for the first time I heard two pieces of orchestral music - the Pictures from Dante and the Ossian symphony. Like many others I thought these truly stunning things - and hence my excitement (aided and abetted by the passages quoted above by Albion) over the projected recording.

However main point of the posting: what do people think of the Murray McLachlan recordings of the solo piano music on Divine Art, of which so far we have 6 volumes, with (I think) another 2 to go?

I've been dipping into them over the past 2 months, and am still finding my way. I got them largely as a consequence of the high praises by John France, Rob Barnett & others on MusicWeb - here is stuff to get the teeth (or rather the ears) stuck into, I thought. There are some extraordinary things here: some of it, extracts from the Piobaireachd (and thank heavens I'm not a R3 announcer!), I'm having difficulty with not quite knowing how to listen to it. Other things are truly stunning - try the Sonata in A called 'An Riobain Dearg' in Vol 1. This is an amazing work (that also calls for pianism of a very high order). Imagine if you can Debussy, Busoni, Bartok and Sorabji all thrown together - but then the music is very distinctive and not at all like any one of them. Not just amazing stuff, but I'm coming to the conclusion that here we have what is very great music. The 6 Nocturnes with the collective title 'Night Song of the Bards' on Vol 6 is similarly impressive.

In short, I'm really glad to have got these CDs and will certainly add the remaining volumes. But question: what do others make of this music? I'd be very interested to read of reactions.

Peter

[patmos.beje]

Chisholm's Hindustani Concerto is a wonderful piece, albeit it required repeated hearings for me to form this view.  It ranks as one of my favourite newly discovered pieces from 2010.  According to John Purser, in his 2009 biography 'Erik Chisholm, Scottish Modernist 1904-1965: Chasing a Restless Muse' (p.140), Chisholm much preferred his second concerto to his first, the Piobaireachd Concerto, which is also a splendid piece. 

However, by no stretch of the imagination could either Concerto be described as 'romantic'.  I would be astonished if they featured in the Hyperion RP Concerto series as they are a far cry from the type of music that is typically discussed on this forum.  I don't think one can really regard Chisholm as a romantic composer.  He promoted modern music through the 'Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music' through which he brought Bartok, Casella, Sorabji, Hindemith, Medtner and Walton, among others, to Glasgow.  Schoenberg was also invited but required fees which the Society couldn't meet.

In 1997 I spoke to Hyperion who, at that time, were considering recording works by Chisholm, presumably on the recommendation from John Purser who completed the sleeve notes for several of Hyperion's Scottish Romantics series.  However, I never got the impression Chisholm was to be included in the Scottish Romantics series.  Nothing came of Hyperion's plans until I saw the recordings by Danny Driver announced in a newsletter on the Erik Chisholm site http://www.erikchisholm.com/ect/index.php.  In recent communications with Chisholm's daughter Morag, initiated by my purchasing a private CD from the Chisholm Trust, it was clear that she is fully aware of the Hyperion recording.

I mentioned the anticipated Hyperion recording to a senior QC at the Scottish Bar who is the current organiser of the Scottish Piano competition.  He informed me that Danny Driver is a previous winner of the competition's Erik Chisholm prize, which may partly explain why he is to record the Chisholm piano concertos.

Ronald Brautigam's very fine performance of the Piano Concerto No 2 'Hindustani' with the BBC SSO conducted by Clark Rundell is available on a non-commercial CD which can be purchased from the Scottish Music Centre, subject to the purchaser signing a contract not to distribute the recording.  See  http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/catalogue/c34367/

However, the Hyperion recording, which presumably will come out in 2011/2012, will certainly be on my list of CD purchases.

I hope Hyperion or Dutton will record Chisholm's Violin Concerto of 1950 which is another of his pieces influenced by Hindustani music.

[M. Henriksen]

Thanks for all the information patmos.beje! I read your post with great interest.
Wether Chisholm's music has romantic elements or not (and I'm not musically educated to discuss that anyway), I think it's great to see the composer increasingly represented in the catalogues.
I don't think it's a problem discussing Chisholm on this forum, even though he might be in the outskirts of the main theme here. I let our Administrators decide.
Thanks again!


Morten

[Pengelli]

There are two whole pages about Chisholm and  some very detailed reviews of the Divine Art cd's of his piano music in the January edition of International Record Review,for anyone who doesn't know. The article is so enthusiastic I think I'm going to have to buy one myself & bung on those ' Pictures from Dante',forthwith.

[Pengelli]

Of course,most of you know,but someone might not,and the article is so detailed it could justify paying £5 to IRR,for the Jan 2011 copy,if you're not a subscriber.

[Alan Howe]

I'd pay double the cover price for IRR. Good job they don't know...

[jerfilm]

Perhaps it boils down to expediency.  It must be easier to put together the forces and score for a Chisholm disc,  than, say, to do the same thing for a Helen Hopekirk PC or Arthur Whiting.  I have no problem with them releasing the Chisholm, but please, not as an RPC.....

Jerry

[Gareth Vaughan]

I think it very unlikely that Erik Chisholm's PCs will be issued by Hyperion as part of the RPC series. On the other hand, I think it very likely they will be recorded by Hyperion.

[Alan Howe]

...must have been a slip (or an off-target guess) by Robert M-W, then.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I could be wrong. It just doesn't seem likely they'd be in the RPC series. Anyhow, this is all just sterile speculation until the disks appear.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I have just received the following e-mail message from Mike Spring at Hyperion, which, I think, clarifies the issue:

"I've just noticed a thread has appeared on the Raff forum on the subject of Chisholm. I can confirm we are recording the piano concertos in June but they, most definitely, are NOT part of the RPC series. Please post this information - it should stop a few arguments!"

[Alan Howe]

Well ferreted out, Gareth! Thank you. Would that journalists were accurate in these things...

[JimL]

I have just received the following e-mail message from Mike Spring at Hyperion, which, I think, clarifies the issue:

"I've just noticed a thread has appeared on the Raff forum on the subject of Chisholm. I can confirm we are recording the piano concertos in June but they, most definitely, are NOT part of the RPC series. Please post this information - it should stop a few arguments!"

Well, send him our greetings (and remind him that we're not the Raff Forum anymore - we're the Unsung Composers Forum!)

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Splendid! Bit of agitation on the UC site and record companies sit up, take note, and send a message back via Gareth. Exactly as it should be. I do hope we're gathering a reputation as a crew to be reckoned with. And heavens, if record companies took note of all the suggestions made on the site, then they might sell a few more imaginative releases instead of the umpteenth version of a tired old chestnut (or even worse 'Classics for Babes' that I noticed on the MDT site today!), and the world would be a better place. I go off on an impossible fantasy - just think of a world in which the UC site would be near redundant because any wish you had would somehow be immediately gratified. Contra Schopenhauer, it wouldn't at all be a world in which we ground to a halt through sheer boredom.

Enough of fantasy. Really ace news about Chisholm and Hyperion. I'm itching to hear this disc, and keep fingers tightly crossed that the intended project turns out well.

Incidentally, re. my earlier posting about the Murray McLachlen recordings of Chisholm's solo piano music, there's an enthusiastic review of Vol 6 in the series by Jonathan Woolf on MusicWeb tonight. With smile on my face I feel partly vindicated because he too picks out the Six Nocturnes: Night Songs of the Bard as a major piece. It is, I am sure.

Peter

[FBerwald]

Splendid! Bit of agitation on the UC site and record companies sit up, take note, and send a message back via Gareth. Exactly as it should be. I do hope we're gathering a reputation as a crew to be reckoned with. And heavens, if record companies took note of all the suggestions made on the site, then they might sell a few more imaginative releases instead of the umpteenth version of a tired old chestnut (or even worse 'Classics for Babes' that I noticed on the MDT site today!), and the world would be a better place. I go off on an impossible fantasy - just think of a world in which the UC site would be near redundant because any wish you had would somehow be immediately gratified. Contra Schopenhauer, it wouldn't at all be a world in which we ground to a halt through sheer boredom.
......

Peter

Hallelujah!!!!!!