WILLIAM BAINES (1899-1922): Silverpoints, Paradise Gardens, Coloured Leaves, Twilight Pieces, Tides, 7 Preludes (rec. 1971), E.J. MOERAN (1894-1950): 2 Legends, Stalham River, The White Mountain, Toccata, Prelude, Berceuse, Bank Holiday (rec. 1970).

Catalogue Number: 02J061

Label: Lyrita

Reference: SRCD.266

Format: CD

Price: $18.98

Description: It is hard to decide which is more unfair - that a prodigious talent such as that of William Baines should be cut short by tuberculosis at the age of 23, or that in such a ridiculously brief life he managed to produce such a substantial body of fine and beautiful music. The presence of Scriabin undoubtedly looms large in the background to the young composer's harmonic thinking, and perhaps the most apt comparison is with a fellow Englishman of mystical leanings, Cyril Scott, but there is certainly an individual voice developing here, and the results are worthy to stand comparison with Scott, Balfour Gardiner and the like. Titles like Coloured Leaves, Labyrinth (A Deep Sea Cave) and The Burning Joss-Stick (all from Silverpoints) owe something to Scott, and may suggest a sepia-tinted olde-worlde view of Blavatskyan mysticism, but the music stands on its own merits, and will not disappoint. Parkin recorded some of these pieces again in a release we offered in September 1998 on Priory. The 30 minutes (this is a 79-minute disc) of Moeran's music are mostly of early works in the vein of Ireland and make a fitting coupling in terms of mood. Eric Parkin (piano).

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