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Musical Opinion

Marking the centenary of Yorkshire composer William Baines (1899-1922), this generously filled disc consists of a wide selection of his piano music, followed by a set of songs and concludes with a substantial piano piece written by Robin Walker in tribute to Baines.  At the keyboard throughout the programme is Duncan Honeybourne, a musician with an innate understanding of the melodic and structural strengths of Baines’ music.

The programme begins with Paradise Gardens, an exquisite tone poem that marries elegance with intensity.  In Honeybourne’s deeply considered, wonderfully assured account the score unfolds with a perfect balance of inevitability and spontaneity.   In The Naïad, fluid, cascading outer portions frame a central episode of controlled ecstasy, perfectly judged in this reading.  Silverpoints is a set of four vignettes in which the opening ‘Labyrinth’ evokes the sea’s profound mysteries with its implacable recurring figure, while ‘Water Pearls’ is a sparkling, airy scherzo, ‘The Burning Joss-Stick’ has a tenebrous grandeur, and ‘Floralia’ is a joyful rural idyll.  Duncan Honeybourne’s painterly skills ensure these colourful miniatures resonate with the listener.  

Tides  consists of two dramatic tone poems: ‘The Lone Wreck’ is a memorable depiction of a deserted seacraft and ‘Goodnight to Flamboro’’ is a darkly wistful seascape that builds to a fierce climax and ends with a ray of hope.  They receive detailed, ideally paced performances.  The Island of Fay contains some of the most impassioned, harmonically adventurous music on the disc and its intricate, sinuous lines are relished here.  

Pictures of Light is a set of three pieces assembled posthumously by Frederick Dawson: ‘Draft-Light’ is a sustained, mesmeric study that sounds fresh and vibrant, while ‘Bursting Flames’ has a capricious energy, and ‘Pool-Lights’, the composer’s final composition, has an austere, glacial calm.  The set of Eight Preludes was constructed by the pianist Robert Keys from manuscripts left by Baines and they make a satisfyingly varied collection. Nos.1 and 4, which are untitled, have the rigour of an étude, while ‘Ebbing Tide’, ‘Shade-Imagery’ and ‘Wind Sprites’ are perhaps the most instantly evocative, responding readily to Honeybourne’s interpretative imagination.

Tenor Gordon Pullin joins the pianist for Baines’ Five Songs, a compact cycle that begins gently with ‘Fountains’, to an enchanting text by James Elroy Flecker and continues energetically with the darting ‘Fern Song’, with lyrics by John Banister Tabb.  ‘By the Sea’ is a hypnotic, contemplative setting of poetry by Christiana Rosetti, while the Sappho setting ‘A Lyric (The Vigil) has a restless, shadowy quality and the cycle ends impressively with the vigorous, buoyant ‘Morning’ to words by Rabindranath Tagore.

The disc concludes with an intensely committed performance of At the Grave of William Baines, written by the composer Robin Walker in 1999.  This brooding, darkly powerful score captures the turbulence and the extreme highs and lows of Baines’ life and also preserves within its winding, ornate melodic lines something of the young composer’s own euphoric pianism.  Duncan Honeybourne shapes the music with an unerring sense of climactic points so that, despite its considerable intricacies, the piece evolves cogently and with an unassailable sense of rightness.

William Baines is an important voice in early twentieth-century British music and he has been well served by this impressive release.  The ardent and noble rendering of Robin Walker’s heartfelt homage is a considerable bonus.  Highly recommended.