Bowen - Symphonies nos. 1 & 2
BBC Philharmonic / Davis
Chandos CHAN10670

Release date May 2011

Why has York Bowen’s music been so neglected? Pianists may be familiar with his work as an editor of Associated Board piano exam pieces; but a recent flurry of CD releases has revived interest in his own compositions. The Dutton and Hyperion labels have been his main champions, issuing various orchestral, chamber and instrumental works, including Danny Driver’s superb performances of Bowen’s third and fourth piano concertos for Hyperion. This new Chandos disc is also well worth hearing, and very interesting for the light it throws on Bowen’s development as a composer. Born in London in 1881, York Bowen received his first piano and harmony lessons from his mother, and aged 14 won the Erard Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied piano and composition. (He also became an accomplished organist, viola and horn player.) At the age of 19 he was invited to play his First Piano Concerto at the Proms under Henry Wood, and was recognised by musicians as diverse as Saint-Saëns and Sorabji as one of Britain’s most talented composers and pianists. However, post-World War 1 his romantic style and unwillingness to embrace emerging influences led to his music becoming neglected. Bowen wrote his first symphony (here receiving its world-premiere recording) in 1902. Showing the influence of Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn, among others, it is a sunny and imaginative work, demonstrating a sure sense of orchestration and, in the first movement, a deft handling of thematic development. The slow movement with its wealth of orchestral colouring possesses beauty and lyricism, while the Finale is cheering and fluid. Memories of the punchy brass interjections from that movement are awakened in the grand opening statement to the altogether grander Symphony no. 2, composed in 1909 for a much larger orchestra that includes two harps, six horns and triple woodwind. The shifting harmonies and surge and retreat of the music in the big-boned first movement are typically Elgarian and ultimately gripping. The slow movement is a complete contrast, its dreamy chromatic textures reminiscent of Debussy. An effervescent Scherzo is followed by a final movement remarkable for the organic nature of its development. As Robert Matthew-Walker sums up in his booklet essay accompanying the disc, ‘For Bowen, clearly, in both of his first two symphonies, there was no such thing as a ‘finale’ problem – here is an assured composer absolutely certain in the music’s sense of direction and in the positive, life-affirming nature of the works he has created.’ This disc is on special offer until the end of May - do try it!

Reviewed by Anne McAlister