This is a puzzling release. Joseph James, the arranger, isn’t a person but a duo: Stanley Joseph Seeger and Francis James Brown. What they have done is take these two piano classics (transposing the Schumann from C to F for some reason) and arrange them for string orchestra. The notes speak of the arrangers’ faithfulness to the originals while at the same time suggesting that their work renders the music with a more contemporary sound. Leaving aside the question of whether or not you can have it both ways, neither observation strikes me as particularly meaningful.
Essentially, what the arrangers have done is give the tunes to solo strings and the accompaniments to the larger ensemble. The result has a certain concerto grosso feel that is not just inappropriate (“contemporary” indeed!), but it very quickly becomes predictable and ultimately tiresome. And unlike other piano-to-strings arrangements such as Grieg’s Holberg Suite, which was freshly re-imagined for the orchestral medium, the process here sheds no new light on either work. The Liszt piano concerto arrangement of the Schubert, for example, is far more rewarding (and exciting) than the work of Joseph James, which merely softens the original and drains it of rhythmic tension.
The performances are very good, however, and there’s no denying their high standard. Orlando Joping leads the ECO and members of the Schubert Ensemble in well-judged, lively interpretations that in the final analysis only serve to emphasize the somewhat monochromatic, less-then-interesting quality of the arrangements. It’s not his fault that the project itself is something of an albatross. Still, and for all of that, if the thought of hearing these two works arranged for strings intrigues you, then you might enjoy this nicely played and warmly recorded disc. Forewarned is forearmed.
