Cyril Scott - Chamber Works (Gould Piano Trio)

Information

Composer: Cyril Scott

• Piano Trio No. 1
• Trio for Clarinet in B flat, Cello and Piano
• Clarinet Quintet
• Piano Trio No. 2
• Cornish Boat Song

Gould Piano Trio

    Lucy Gould, violin

    Alice Neary, cello

    Benjamin Frith, piano

Robert Plane, clarinet

Mia Cooper, violin

David Adams, viola

Date: 2010

Label: Chandos

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Review

The fact that Cyril Scott (1879–1970) was musically educated in Germany from the age of twelve, and there enjoyed his first success as a major composer, did much to overshadow his later image as a composer of English music.

The present disc starts in 1920 with the First Piano Trio, written at a time when his style was moving towards a mixture of French and English influences. It is a score of intense beauty whose final Rondo giocoso smoulders with a passion that eventually erupts in an outpouring of amorous rapture. I hope that Scott would have wanted the yearning quality the players of the Gould Piano Trio bring to the slow third movement, for their whole performance is couched in gorgeous sonorities. The short Cornish Boat Song for piano trio is equally charming, and you can download an extra track of their account of the Little Folk-Dance from the Chandos website.

The one-movement Second Piano Trio came much later in 1951 and, while not atonal, Scott’s music had hardened in mood and he was experimenting, if not always successfully. The same year brought the Clarinet Quintet, followed four years later by the Clarinet Trio, both worthy of our attention in such well-prepared accounts, though they struggle to find memorable thematic material. Four premiere recordings in vividly realistic sound.

— David Denton

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Cyril Scott (27 September 1879 – 31 December 1970) was an English composer and writer born in Oxton. He studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt under Iwan Knorr. Scott produced around 400 musical works, including concertos, symphonies, operas and piano compositions. His innovative use of free rhythm, particularly in his First Piano Sonata (1909), is believed to have influenced Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Beyond music, Scott authored about 20 books and pamphlets on occultism and natural health, advocating dietary and alternative medical approaches, including alternative treatments for cancer.

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Since winning 1st prize at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, the Gould Piano Trio has performed internationally at prestigious venues including Wigmore Hall and New York's Weill Recital Hall. Renowned for championing contemporary music, they have commissioned and premiered works by composers such as James MacMillan, Mark Simpson and John Casken. Alongside extensive touring, the Trio is dedicated to education through masterclasses and festivals. Their recordings span both core repertoire and neglected British works, earning recognition from critics and audiences worldwide.

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