Granville Bantock Orchestral Works
Hebridean Symphony; Prelude to ‘The Bacchae’ of Euripides; English Scenes

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Rumon Gamba

Chandos CHSA 5380

Chandos.net

Granville Bantock hardly had the upbringing of a struggling artist. Born in central London in 1868, the son of an eminent gynaecologist, he was destined for the Indian civil service until poor health put paid to that plan. Music got him instead: he studied at Trinity College and the Royal Academy of Music, then toured the world conducting a musical comedy company. That is not the obvious route to a professorship.

His big break came at the New Brighton Tower concerts in Cheshire. He quickly enlarged the orchestra and championed his British contemporaries, often giving an entire programme to a single composer: Parry, Stanford, Holbrooke, Cowen, Edward German and others. Elgar called him "the most fertile musical brain of our time", and then put his name forward, so Bantock was appointed the first Principal of the Birmingham and Midland Institute School of Music. He later took over from Elgar as Peyton Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham and stayed until 1934. His style mixed Wagnerian romanticism with English and Scottish folk music and a taste for the exotic East. Sibelius was among his admirers, and when a society was set up in Bantock's memory after he died in 1946, the Finnish master was its first president.

The real prize here is English Scenes, and why it has gathered dust for so long is a mystery. Bosworth commissioned it after the success of Russian Scenes in 1899, with the thriving amateur orchestras of Edwardian England in mind. When it was published in 1904 it failed to catch on, and it was soon overshadowed by Bantock's similarly titled Old English Suite from a rival publisher. That is a pity, because this is a delightful piece full of vivid pictures.

In the opening 'Pastorale', the woodwind are divine and set the scene with a lovely lilting theme. Then comes a gem of a one-minute 'Episode', which Bantock headed "A drunken clarinet player and an old fiddler outside. The village inn." The 'fiddler' is in fact a mournful solo viola, and a thump on the bass drum ends the movement and makes the listener jump.
The highlight is the 'Benedictus', subtitled 'In Church': a slow procession over a tolling bell, with harp and brief brass chorales used to fine effect and a beautifully judged diminuendo at the close. Bantock intended a Wedding March as his finale, only for Bosworth to insist on a Hornpipe. Bantock was privately furious, but the resulting 'Sailors' Dance' shows what an accomplished orchestrator he was, and the orchestra plays it with a light touch, spot-on rhythm and well-judged tempi. Throughout, the textures are perfectly balanced, and the scoring evokes each scene exactly. It is a delicious discovery.

The disc opens with the Hebridean Symphony, one of many works by many composers inspired by Scotland. Composed in 1915 and first performed in Glasgow the following year with Bantock conducting, it is widely regarded as one of his finest works. The influences are easy to hear, even if they are hard to separate. The Wagner and Richard Strauss of Bantock's youth are present in the lush harmony and swelling climaxes, and Rimsky-Korsakov in the brilliant orchestral colour. Listeners may also hear similarities to Bax, though that probably says more about their shared passion for the Celtic north than any direct borrowing. It is a single-movement work, and Bantock writes superbly for brass, as he does again in the Prelude to The Bacchae of Euripides.

Rumon Gamba and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra are on top form, attentive to every nuance and playing with real elegance. Every section excels, the tutti passages are well controlled, and the lower strings and percussion add richness to the sound. Chandos provides a warm, detailed recording. Bantock's parents had other plans for him, and English music is richer for their disappointment.