Chamber Works

If you happen to be looking for beautiful modern music, here's a good selection. I can't say that it's Berkeley's best; it's the first time I've heard any music he composed. All I can say is that I - a fairly regular guy who doesn't know much about music - like it.

There is some dissonance, but it's often pleasant and never downright jarring. I'm pretty sure it's generally tonal, but there are some points that I don't know about. Anyway, it is not the Schoenberg or George Crumb nonsense that turns people off from modern classical music (although I confess that I enjoy Schoenberg rather more than most people). It sounds more like Mendolssehn or Bruch than most 20th century music. Maybe it could be classified "neo-romantic" or something; but on the other hand, it is more pretty than passionate.

If you like the music of Leos Janacek, you will probably like this.

You might also try music by Toru Takemitsu, George Enescu, Ottorino Respighi, Zoltan Kodaly, Paul Moravec, or Phillip Glass -- or of course, Debussy or Shostakovich.

I think this is my only Lennox Berkeley CD, and I must have bought it because of the attractive picture on the booklet cover! But the music is fine -- it's played by Australian players and was recorded in two different venues in Melbourne between 2000 and 2003. The venue for the solo piano pieces (Melba Hall) sounds better than the other, and from that venue the pianist Len Vorster shows an ability to characterize the short movements of the Five Short Pieces (1936) and the Six Preludes (1945) with rhythmic life and tonal colorings that are very appealing. The slower movements are eloquent, and eloquently played. The very brief Andantino for Cello and Piano (1955) has a lovely singing quality too. The Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo (1939) have the feel of etudes, stretching the player's resources and sounding most "modern" of all the pieces on the disc. The substantial chamber pieces are the Sonatina for Violin and Piano (1942) and the Concertino for Flute, Violin, Cello, and Piano (1955). The latter is the more interesting (and better recorded?), with all four instruments playing in the outer two movements (the finale is a toe-tapping dance-like rondo, very appealing), while in the inner two movements, Aria 1 and Aria 2, the instruments are paired -- flute and cello in 1, piano and violin in 2. The recording doesn't flatter the flute's higher reaches, but both of these slow movements are lovely, with Aria 2 perhaps the highlight of the disc. Interesting stuff, then. The Concertino has an odd make-up of instruments, but there's no reason why the piano pieces couldn't find their way into concert programs.