Catalogue Connection: 25056

When I wrote my six part blog Celebrating British Music I knew that such an undertaking would inevitably leave out some fine composers that deserved a mention. Brian Chapple (b.1945) may not be a household name but he has written some attractive music of real substance. He attended the Royal Academy of Music studying composition with Lennox Berkeley and piano with Harry Isaacs. His orchestral work Green and Pleasant was winner of the BBC Monarchy 1000 Prize in 1972. Its premiere took place in Bath when, conducted by Norman del Mar, it was broadcast and televised. Brian Chapple has received commissions from and premieres by the London Sinfonietta (Venus Fly-Trap), the London Mozart Players (Little Symphony, 1982), BBC Singers (Lamentations of Jeremiah, 1984) and the New London Orchestra (In Memoriam, 1989).

His work with the Highgate Choral Society resulted in two substantial choral, orchestral commissions, (Cantica, 1978) and (Magnificat, 1987) and the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral has premiered his Missa Brevis, Ecce Lignum Crucis and St Paul’s Service, 1996, a tercentenary commission.

The Choir of St Pauls Cathedral has recorded Chapple’s Ecce Lignum Crucis on a Hyperion disc entitled Passiontide at St Pauls. Chapple’s other works include a Piano Concerto premiered by Howard Shelley in 1979, the Choral symphony In Ecclesiis, Songs of Innocence, Five Blake Songs, Five Shakespeare Songs, a Piano Sonata and other piano works.

It is a recording of some of his piano music that has been issued by Divine Art Recordings played by one of our finest piano duos, Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow.

The opening work on this disc, Burlesque, was originally written for two pianos, eight hands and was premiered in 2000. This new version of the work from 2005, is for two pianos four hands. The opening marked Con moto slowly builds with richly sonorous playing from Goldstone and Clemmow whilst the following section, Con brio, has a Spanish flavour showing this duo’s supreme accuracy, playing as though one.

The third section, what the composer in his notes describes as a moto perpetuo, brings lithe rhythmic playing before the finale section which really swings with joyful playing of jazz rhythms and not a little virtuosity.

We enter a somewhat different world with Chapple’s earlier Piano Sonata (1986) commissioned by Julian Jacobson and premiered by him at the 1986 Dartington International Summer School.

The first of the three movements is a short Adagio where the music seems to search around for a theme. The second relatively short Allegro movement again seems to leap around without obviously settling on a theme. The final movement progresses through an Allegro energico, a Largamente and Adagio tranquillo before a final short Allegro. It is in this movement that the themes searched for in the first two movements are seemingly resolved. There is certainly a resolution in the Adagio tranquillo section before the brief Allegro coda.

So engrossed was I by this sonata that I took Anthony Goldstone’s superb pianism for granted. His performance really is magnificent.

Brian Chapple’s Bagatelles diverses for solo piano consist of nine pieces, all seemingly fragmentary, and I was not convinced when reading the composer’s notes that they would ‘coalesce into a twenty three minute work of some weight.’ To my surprise the longer final bagatelles do just that and, by the penultimate bagatelle the work pulled together forming a work of some substance.

Caroline Clemmow’s playing of these pieces is wonderful and contributes much to the works cohesion. The richness of her playing towards the end of the work is superb.

Chapple’s Requies, for piano solo was written around the time of the first Gulf War and it was television images of destroyed armoured cars and the dead strewn across the landscape that led to this piece. Lasting around eleven minutes, this is an expressive and sombre piece that can indeed conjure up the feeling of wandering amongst the debris of war and the thoughts that it provokes. Anthony Goldstone really gets inside this work conjuring up an intense and mesmerising performance.

The disc ends with Four Pieces from ‘A Bit of a Blow’ for piano duet. No wonder a previous version of this music for solo piano was entitled ‘Swing’s the Thing’ as jazz rhythms embrace these pieces in a piano performance of style and panache showing this duo’s astonishing artistry and versatility.

It is a great pleasure to be able to welcome a disc of unfamiliar music by a composer who is not well known but who has something to say and the ability to say it interestingly and economically.

Brian Chapple studied with Lennox Berkeley and, although his music is very different in character, it shares Berkeley’s careful craftsmanship and precision of effect. He has apparently written many orchestral and choral works, none currently available on record as well as these and other piano works. The present disc offers a useful and enjoyable overview of his music in recent years and raises the obvious question as to why music of such quality is not heard more often.

As the composer points out, the oldest piece here – the Piano Sonata – is also the most challenging to the listener … and to the performer, although it seems to hold no problems for Anthony Goldstone. It was commissioned for Julian Jacobson with funds from the Arts Council and first played at the Dartington Summer School in 1986. There is a real sense of evolution from the short opening Adagio, through a relentless Allegro, to the long finale which eventually works its way back to the character of the opening movement. I found it gripping from beginning to end, as I did the more recent “Bagatelles diverses”. Despite their name this is the longest piece here, moving again from short character pieces towards a more extended and substantial final movement. The remaining solo item – “Reliques” – dates from the First Gulf War and from the composer’s reaction to pictures of a long line of wrecked armoured vehicles with their dead occupants. I found this a powerful piece, rather after the manner of film music with its haunting echoes of bugle calls.

The remaining two pieces are for both players, and are lighter in character. The Burlesque was originally for four pianists at two pianos. It consists of four short movements, including a tango, a moto perpetuo, and a big-band style finale. The final piece is another arrangement, this time of music for saxophone quartet. Again there are four movements – even shorter and even more approachable.

I have not seen scores for any of the music, but the playing of both players seems wholly convincing, and indeed wholly at the service of the music. There are full and useful notes and the recording quality is excellent. I very much hope that Divine Art will have the success they deserve with this enterprising and very enjoyable disc. Perhaps what the composer has to say may not always be profound or original, but he says it so well and interestingly that it is a pleasure to be in his company for the duration of this disc.

Certainly a find for those that love to discover the new, Chapple is a rising classical piano composer that is still bubbling under. He can write in the vein of Debussy or Gershwin just as easily as he can slip into the excesses of 70s free/progressive jazz. Goldstone and Clemmow tackle his works alternately in duo and solo mode and bring him the kind of exposure that will move him from the ranks of the cult hero. Dazzling players in their own rights, this is a solid set that opens the ears whether moving through fun or serious works. Tasty.