You really want to love this project. From the first tantalizing glimpses of his richly scored sound-world on labels such as Lyrita, Cyril Scott has seemed a composer worth exploring in depth, one tailor-made for the Chandos label’s emphasis on neglected British music. Alas, it was not to be. Each subsequent issue has only added to the decrescendo of artistic value in a composer whose genuine gift for orchestration stands in inverse proportion to his expressive depth.
The Cello Concerto is a case in point: it meanders along shapelessly from moment to moment, an utter emotional nullity. Scott uses the orchestra for contrast. Whenever things get too dull, he’s always ready with a harp glissando or prominent keyboard lick; but in terms of genuinely effective (or affective) contrast–of rhythm, harmony, melody–there’s precious little. Apparently the concerto was never performed during the composer’s lifetime, making this its premiere performance. Despite a very sympathetic effort from cellist Paul Watkins, it’s easy to understand why.
The First Symphony (1899) is even more curious, if only because its idiom is so much more conservative. Modestly tuneful, mostly placid, and effectively (if unadventurously) scored, it features a bifurcated variations-and-fugue finale that rises to a boisterous climax before a minor-key coda that’s as unmotivated as it is ineffective. Like so much English music of the period, the piece exudes a curiously passionless amiability that makes it almost completely forgettable, however pleasant. Certainly Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Philharmonic give the music a fighting chance to make an impression–but the problem is all Scott’s. As with other discs in this series, the sonics are good but low-level. Turning up the volume solves the dynamics problem while only emphasizing the musical one.
