Grainger: Jungle Book - Layton, Ainsley, Wilson-johnson (2011)

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Grainger: Jungle Book - Layton, Ainsley, Wilson-johnson (2011)

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This reissue commemorates the 50th anniversary of Grainger’s death in February 1961. Harmonium, four guitars, two mandolas, two mandolins, two ukuleles, piccolo, three clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoon, contrabassoon, two alto saxophones, horn, strings, piano, baritone and choir: and that’s just the scoring for one piece, the famous sea shanty Shallow Brown. Grainger’s Jungle Book cycle was recorded here (for the original Hyperion release) for the first time. The eleven contrasting movements vividly portray the sentiments of Kipling’s poetry and Grainger wrote of the cycle that it was ‘composed as a protest against civilization’.

Composer: Percy Aldridge Grainger
Performer: John Mark Ainsley, David Wilson-Johnson, Libby Crabtree
Conductor: Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble: Polyphony, Polyphony Orchestra

Reviews: This is one of those magnificent discs which as a full price product predated MusicWeb International - or at least pre-dated 1998 when MWI began to review classical CDs on a large scale. With the passage of time and the commercial reissue cycle becoming shorter we are now covering such lacunae as companies re-issue their catalogue and usually at bargain price. That’s the case with this admirable disc. It takes its second bow to mark the 50th anniversary of Grainger’s death in February 1961. Details of other celebratory events can be found at the Grainger Society website. />
My own Grainger journey began with Country Gardens and proceeded under the tutelage of BBC Radio 3. First there was the circa 1971 broadcast by Ashley Lawrence with the BBC Concert Orchestra tackling the wild Scotch Strathspey and Reel. Then came the feral celebratory eruption of dance and battle that is The Warriors. In 1979 I heard a deeply impressive broadcast of Green Bushes by the ECO and Steuart Bedford. In September 1982 there was a further Bedford broadcast of ten songs from The Jungle Book with Neil Jenkins (he of Lyrita Finzi songs fame) with the English Sinfonia and the BBC Northern Singers. After this a tape exchange with Mike Rostron gave me access to good FM quality cassettes of most of the BBC’s 1960s Grainger broadcasts including some no-holds-barred performances of the two piano works by Lisa Fuchsova and Paul Hamburger. This was consolidated by Thames Publishing’s first edition of The Grainger Companion edited by Lewis Foreman. The The New Grainger Companion as edited by Penelope Thwaites (champion also of Arthur Benjamin on whose biography she is at work) is now out from Boydells - and very good it is too. I should briefly mention that Penelope Thwaites with John Lavender recorded the Grainger two piano music across four Pearl CDs (SHE-CD 9611, 9623, 9631) in the mid 1980s - all now deleted, more’s the pity. She can be heard in three discs of the music for piano solo on Chandos CHAN 9895, 9919 and 10205 which also appear as part of the new and magnificent 19CD Chandos Edition box (CHANDOS CHAN 10638(19)).

The present Hyperion disc comprises 14 short pieces and the eleven episodes that comprise the Jungle Book set. These works are for voice, either solo or full choral, all with various configurations of instrumental support. These ensembles are often richly specified. The sea shanty, Shallow Brown is heard here in its full panoply for harmonium, four guitars, two mandolas, two mandolins, two ukuleles, piccolo, three clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoon, contrabassoon, two alto saxophones, horn, strings, piano, baritone and choir. Grainger was famous for the variety of versions of each of his pieces - some very simple - voice and piano and others more extravagant and with a peppering of ‘unconventional’ instruments including guitar, harp and baritone saxophone. The saxophones lend an abrasive grunt to the end of the Peora Hunt.

Grainger’s spiced and often deeply masculine settings encompass every step between Delian ecstasy and thuddingly rhythmic emphasis. The latter can be heard in The Hunting Song of the Seeonee Pack. Strange how his handling of the voices keeps making connection with Bantock’s writing for voices in Omar Khayyam. His penchant for sentimentality can be heard in Goodbye to Love which sounds rather as if he might have heard Mahler’s Adagietto. Libby Crabtree’s clarion silver illuminates so many of these tracks including The Only Son, The sprig of Thyme (with the then unheard of James Gilchrist) and Died for Love. The latter’s simple string accompaniment recalls Warlock’s pristine medieval settings. The harmonium’s elderflower wheeze is also a hallmark of these settings and you can hear it making its discreet obeisance in The Power of Love sung inwardly by John Mark Ainsley. Melancholy and introspection is maintained by Ainsley in Willow Willow with violin, strings and harp. David Wilson-Johnson takes centre-stage for The Three Ravens with choir, a wind nonet and that signature harmonium. The running of Shindand is another Kipling setting, this time for male voices a cappella. Grainger also made an arrangement of this piece for five cellos. The affecting Love Song of Har Dyal is for soprano (Libby Crabtree), strings, piano, harmonium, oboe and bassoon. This Eastern mood scena is subtly yet vividly coloured - night, the desert, the camels and the bazaar. The scoring for this version dates from 1958.

The generous notes are by Grainger expert Barry Peter Ould and include the sung texts alongside the commentary for each piece.

To sum up: generous timing, discoveries, Delian gauzy harmonies, tangy instrumentation, sentimentality, aureate vocal light, succinct and touching settings. Match this with the other Hyperion Grainger Polyphony disc (CDH55236), the Britten/Grainger Decca brace now on Eloquence (480 2205) and a smattering of the Chandos Grainger Edition and you have the makings of a strong Grainger collection and one rife with poetry and delight.