Cyril SCOTT (1879-1970)

 

Orchestral Works, Volume 2

 

Piano Concerto No. 1

Symphony No. 4

Early One Morning

 

Howard Shelley (piano)

BBC Philharmonic/ Martyn Brabbins

 

Cyril Scott was an artist of immense standing amongst his contemporaries. Debussy wrote of him, ‘Cyril Scott is one of the rarest artists of the present generation…’ and Elgar acknowledged Scott’s influence in his treatment of harmony. Scott failed to receive attention after the First World War for he did not connect with the musical establishment as it developed. His posthumous lack of popularity is unfathomable as his music has a personality and integrity which demand, nearly half a century on, that we revisit it.

 

This release places Scott’s early masterpiece, the first Piano Concerto, alongside one of the larger orchestral works composed after the Second World War. Performed here by Howard Shelley, the large scale Piano Concerto was composed immediately before the First World War and premiered by Scott himself, with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of his friend Sir Thomas Beecham. Scott’s static and exotic harmony, and his use of ostinati, repeated motifs, exotic orchestral colours and the bell-like effect of repeated fourths lend the work an

oriental sound world. Scott himself said about it: ‘It’s as if Scarlatti had lived in China’. Symphony No. 4 was completed in 1952 but has not been performed until now and with this release receives its world premiere recording. Clearly influenced by Ravel and Debussy, particularly at the climax points, Scott composes melodic lines that are richly chromatic, and his orchestration is colourful and constantly changing. This work is coupled with Early One Morning, a single-movement ‘Poem’ for piano and orchestra.

 

Howard Shelley is, as usual, an impeccable soloist… this release represents a remarkable discovery in 20th-century British music: excellent recording, too.

The Gramophone

 

Scott’s scoring is extravagant but lucid, his harmony sensuous and involving, and his structures are free but controlled… This is a CD of terrific music, its demands comprehensively met by the musicians, and the recording.

International Record Review

 

Chandos CHAN10376