The Scottish Romantics:
Impressionistic Piano Works Murray McLachlan, piano Divineart 2-5003

I do not recommend that this interesting anthology be heard at one sitting. Nor should listeners expect 78 minutes of music that sounds Scottish. Only MacCunn’s Six Scottish Dances, which are hugely enjoyable, robust and extremely well written for the piano have a Scottish flavour. These are not anaemic transcriptions but original pieces which may simply be dismissed as Victorian. The Kerchief Dance has a classical feel about it recalling both Mozart and Beethoven. The Plaid Dance is wonderfully evocative particularly after the drama of the Dirk Dance.

The other piece of MacCunn’s is a Valse which is a slow improvisatory piece with a meandering melodic line and a curious chromaticism.

The pieces by McEwen are more substantial and of greater purport although the quality varies. The Four Sketches begin with a dark prelude which hints at the Funeral March in Chopin’s second sonata; it is a picture of brooding but eventually clearing skies. It has an ambiguous rhythm. The brief Quasi Minuetto is in 5/8 time and has a flippant, casual nonchalance. The Elegy is another uneasy piece whereas the final Humoreske is also ambiguous. And yet these pieces have a depth belied by the title of sketches.

The Sonatina is structurally satisfying and is a rewarding work with a clear and uncomplicated texture. And it is what it claims to be ... a short sonata. The central slow movement has a marvellous directness. The finalé is a scherzo of uninhibited fun. There is no overstatement, no extremes, no pomposity or grand empty gestures. It is music for music’s sake.

One can but hope that Murray McLachlan records McEwan’s Piano Sonata.

The Three Keats Preludes are evocative, Debussy-like, charming miniatures which convey their respective titles. This is followed by a more substantial triptych On Southern Hills conveying moods rather than melodic or thematic material. The music lacks depth and spends an inordinate amount of time in the upper register of the piano. I have never heard White Oxen to be so delicate. Debussy’s arabesques are behind the second piece Drifting Clouds and the overlong finalé lacks a sense of direction. The Five Vignettes from La Côte d’Argent were written in 1913 and are appealing because of their simplicity and brevity. It is attractive but rather pale music.

Mackenzie’s music has lucid thematic material and makes proper use of the most expressive register of the piano. High Spirits and Harvest Home are exciting pieces calling for a pianist with a cool head and steel fingers and McLachlan does not disappoint. Chassé aux Papillons also calls for dexterity and skill and is successfully evocative. Schumann’s Arabeske is not far away. The Trois Morceaux recalls Chopin not only in style but also in the titles: Valse, Nocturne and Ballad. Well written and instantly likeable. The Nocturne is especially fine, the gem of the disc.

A welcome disc ... very welcome indeed.

Reviewer
David Wright

And for a second opinion
For some reason (I think undoubtedly economic) the advent of CDs has unearthed a world of neglected unheard music - especially piano and vocal which previously had their home in the salon of the gifted amateur. I suggest economic - yet I also believe that there is a decided move towards a nostalgic realisation that what in the harsh light of the late twentieth century has been discarded, even reviled, for its sentiment, is now being taken up again, dusted over, and recognised for what it is - craftsman-like music that has a direct, even sensuous, appeal - what Bernard Shaw called one's "singing in the bath musical stock".

A truly Scottish element in music has been difficult to assimilate in the classical language of the academies - and only now, in the music of such composers as Ronald Stevenson, are we hearing again what is derived from genuine Scottish folk sources - powerful yet often limpidly beautiful and not from the kind of tartan element that, at its worst, has its proper home on the terraces of Ibrox.This present disc is of the former variety - music of instant appeal - and from a company significantly styled Divineart Ltd. This CD also comes with a health warning "The divine art of music toucheth the very soule". Disciples of Nyman and Pärt need read no further - this is not for you.

But for the genuine music-lover this pot-pourri of "Scottish Romantics" will be something of a revelation. It will also be the cause of much frustration. Because this is the kind of music that the fairly competent pianist would rush out to buy and play. Alas, it will not be found unless in the boxes of the second-hand dealers. Three composers are represented - only one of whom will be at all widely known and that only for the one work. Hamish MacCunn (pictured so elegantly in Pettie's famous painting "Two Strings to her Bow) will certainly be familiar for his stirring overture Land of the Mountain and the Flood. Here however he is represented by his Six Scottish Dances - the outer movements echoing Bartok and Grieg, framing the Kerchief Dance and Plaid Dance - music of a delicate and unforgettable charm. A suave Valse (More Gallic than Gaelic) sophisticated as Poldini) concludes his contribution.

A.C. Mackenzie, one-time Principal of the R.A.M. (and according to Bax a man "with a notable gift of frenzy") is even less well known. Undeservedly. Odds and Ends they may be - but they are the expression of a highly cultured mind - with the fragrance of the Glasgow of Lamond). If Mendelssohn had been born in 1847 (instead of dying then) and had lived in Edinburgh he might well have written just such music as Chasse aux Papillons and Valse Sérieux - the latter reminiscent of Chopin certainly, but also of Raff and Moskowski. There will be few who do not at once warm to the lovely Schumannesque melody of his Nocturne (especially the tender rising end phrase of the tune) or thrill to the grand Victorian heroic element of the Ballade. The final spirited Harvest Home is a tour de force, yet within the competence of a good pianist - played here with great verve.

Rather more than half the disc is given to the entire piano output (with the exception of the big Piano Sonata) of John Blackwood (not Blackwell) McEwen also a former Principal of the R.A.M. - perhaps the least Scottish-sounding of the trio - certainly the most progressive in his use of the keyboard and the most impressionistic. While the suite On Southern Hills rather outstays its welcome the Quasi Minuetto (from Four Sketches) and the Sonatina will captivate the listener. The pianist Murray McLachlan, a persuasive advocate of much that is unfamiliar plays here a dual role and is superb in both. His exciting advocacy at the keyboard, is quite matched by his eloquent programme notes - some of the finest most literate notes by any musician that I have come across. No doubt some will criticise the hectic pace of his final Harvest Home but this really demonstrates quite conclusively his great joy in the music that is so far removed from the desperate aridity of so much present day expression. A disc to be highly recommended - music publishers take note.

Colin Scott-Sutherland