Search - Bush, London Piano Quartet :: Alan Bush: Quartet for Strings & Piano; Phantasy for Violin & Piano; Sonata for Cello & Piano; Three Contrapuntal Studies for Violin & Viola

Good performances, but the music is mainly for the specialis

G.D. | Norway | 04/21/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Alan Bush remained throughout his life at the fringes of musical activity, and even though the fact that he has received no revival comparable to that of, say, Rubbra and Alwyn is often blamed on his political sympathies, I suspect that it is at least just as much due to his rather gritty and unapproachable musical style - despite its many qualities.



That said, the music here does not present the best case for the composer either (for that, seek out the symphonies). The rather early piano quartet contains several good ideas and sports a quirkily harmonic language with a lyrical undertow. Overall it is a more welcoming work than most of Bush's output, but the various ideas - including some beautiful touches - do no necessarily add up to more than the sum of its parts. It is very well performed here, however; in fact, it is hard to imagine a better case being made for it.



The even earlier Phantasy for violin and piano is a rhapsodical and not very memorable work, but the three Contrapuntal Studies are rather interesting and inventive. From the other end of Bush's career comes the Cello sonata, an assured and rather spirited work, but displaying more in the way of compositional skill than actual inspiration. The best movement is the reflectively lyrical Larghetto molto espressivo.



No qualms about the performances (fortunately, for I cannot readily imagine any of these works getting another airing anytime soon). Sound quality is also good - perhaps not always ideally transparent, but lifelike and warm. This is, then, an overall worthwhile disc, and probably a must for fans of British music of the period, but I would direct those merely curious about the composer to his symphonies."