Poor Arthur Sullivan. You’ll recall from the film bio Topsy Turvey that he badly wanted recognition as a “serious” composer. He never got it. Contemporaries and posterity see him as half of the Gilbert and Sullivan duo that created the finest light operettas in the English language, so Arthur forever will be known as “Gilbert N Sullivan.” This disc of his “serious” compositions helps to explain why. The “Irish” Symphony is a well-wrought work, with abundant, if often anonymous melodies. The opening horn and wind sequence promises much. What follows delivers significantly less, some attractive melodies neatly worked out and building to an allegro section, the whole sounding like warmed-over Mendelssohn. There’s plenty of charm throughout, and even some depth in the andante espressivo second movement–more andante than espressivo, but still worth a listen.
The selections from the Tempest Suite, impressive for a composer not yet out of his teens, offer a similar helping of charm and the In Memoriam Overture has an attractively nostalgic opening but quickly meanders into inconsequential banality. Such harsh judgements must come with the reminder that this is the music of a young composer barely into his 20s crafting his works from established models. His later development into full-fledged genius with the great operettas confirms his promise, albeit in a direction he never wished to go. Richard Hickox leads fine performances though I recall an old LP of the Irish Symphony by Sir Charles Groves that lit a brighter fire under the piece. This one’s for G&S fans curious about Sullivan’s youthful “serious” works and for devotees of mid-19th century British music.
