Richard Arnell: Complete Music for Violin and Piano
This recording pairs music for violin and piano by two young British composers who found themselves marooned in American exile by World War II: Richard Arnell (1917– 2009) and Stanley Bate (1911–59). Arnell’s music can be warmly lyrical and fiercely dramatic by turn, rather like its energetic and volatile composer. Stanley Bate was briefly a bright star on the musical scene, a brilliant pianist whose career was obscured from his British audience by the War and truncated by his early death. His First Violin Sonata has echoes of two of his teachers – Vaughan Williams and Hindemith.
Patrick Wastnage, violin
Elizabeth Dunn, piano (Tracks 1-15; 17-19)
Listen To This Recording:
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Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano, Op. 55 (1949)
- I Vivace
- II Andante
- III Andante
- Theme Andante
- Var. 1 Allegro
- Var. 2 Andante
- Var. 3 Vivace
- Var. 4 Lento, non troppo
- Var. 5 Allegro
- Var. 6 Presto
- Var. 7 Andante
- I Allegro
- II Lento
- III Tempo di Marcia
- IV Presto
- Passacaglia for Solo Violin, Op. 23
- I Allegro
- II Adagio
- III Molto vivace
Variations on an American Theme, Op. 76 (1953)
Stanley Bate: Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano, Op. 47 (1946)
Richard Arnell
Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano (1940)
FIRST RECORDINGS
MusicWeb International :
‘Violinist Patrick Wastnage, of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, premiered Arnell’s Piano Trio, Piano Quartet and Salute for String Trio in the presence of the composer. Both he and Elizabeth Dunn have extensive portfolios as chamber musicians and it shows in their dedicated, sensitive and thoroughly imaginative performances. These are all premiere commercial recordings and as such are warmly welcomed.’
—Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International
Art Music Lounge :
‘[Arnell] was a fine craftsman and knew how to construct well-written pieces, yet what makes the music work here are the performances of violinist Patrick Wastnage and pianist Elizabeth Dunn, both of whom really dig in to it with energy. […]
An interesting disc […].’
—Lynn René Bayley, Art Music Lounge
British Music Society :
‘The playing is full of vitality and conviction and deserves to give a new lease of life to these worthy pieces which were victims of the Glock-Keller austerity regime.’
—Richard Carder, British Music Society