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JANSMUSIC RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Moods & Impressions: Piano music by Cyril Scott
Christopher Howell - piano
TREM 104-2

Six pieces (1903); Two "Pierrot" Pieces, Op.35 (1904); Sea-Marge - Meditation (1914); Impressions from the Jungle Book (1912); Rainbow Trout (1916); Butterfly waltz (1915); A little Russian suite (1916); First Bagatelle (1919); Moods (1922); Inclination a la Danse (1922); Valse Sentimentale (1929) 

When I came across this disc I have to confess I was new to Cyril Scott, so maybe you will be too.  Cyril Scott was known as the English Debussy in his time, and indeed was highly praised by the Frenchman. He seems to have had some unfortunate tendencies towards silliness in his personal life however, and after initial success as a composer he seems to have lost popularity when he started dabbling heavily in spiritualism, which at that time was seen as rather odd behaviour.

Scott was one of the four composers who made up the "Frankfurt Group" along with Grainger, Quilter and Gardiner). Although there is some French influence to be heard, I very much think of this as English music. And a lot of English music I can do without.  But this has huge melodic appeal. And it's played utterly without the sentimentality that spoils performances of this kind of music.

All in all it's easy on the ear and lovely to listen to.  Each piece has an appeal of its own, be it the French influence in "Etude", the fluttering wings in "Butterfly Waltz", or the absolute spot-on portayals of "Sadness", "Lassitude" and "Energy" in the "Moods" pieces. There is a  delightful suite of pieces entitled "Impressions from the Jungle Book" which takes us through the dark threatening jungle, through the faltering light of the dawn, introduces us to all its creatures, with an appropriate crashing but fun Elephant Dance, and also tells us the story of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, just as well as if it were using pictures.  My favourite piece is the First Bagatelle, with its scrumptious jazz harmonies, and its infuriating time signature which had me counting furiously - the nearest I could come to a conclusion was alternating bars of 5/8 and 3/8 time.  I have since spoken to Christopher Howell and he tells me it is written in 8/8 but accented as 5/8 3/8, so full marks to me I think!