Customer Reviews

Constant Lambert: Piano Concerto; Romeo and Juliet; The Bird Actors; etc.

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I was unfamiliar with the music of Constant Lambert until I read a review in Gramophone of this disc. At the outset, Lambert's music is tuneful and beautifully orchestrated, displaying his precocious talent since four of the works on this disc were written before he was 21 years old.

Constant Lambert was a composer (a pupil of Vaughan Williams), conductor, broadcaster and critic. In the opinion of William Walton he was the best reciter of Façade he had heard. Romeo and Juliet was written for Serge Diaghilev in 1926. Compared to the ballet by Prokofiev, Lambert's is a free treatment of the story, in two tableaux, essentially a ballet within a ballet. The first tableaux begins in a ballet classroom with the corps de ballet dancing minus principles who arrive late. The second tableaux is a rehearsal of scenes from Romeo and Juliet including the first meeting between the lovers, the duel between Romeo and Tybalt, the balcony scene and the death of Juliet. The ballet is performed with spectators looking on who enthusiastically applaud at the end. The staging dismayed both audiences and critics but the music is loaded with charming dances and beautiful melodies.

The Elegiac Blues was composed when Lambert was just 22 and was performed in 1928. It begins with a blues melody that is at once seductive and develops slowly building instrument by instrument before becoming quiet. The short piece was written in memory of Florence Mills, a singer-dancer in a jazz band known as The Blackbirds.

The Piano Concerto is a wonderful work from 1924 that is stunning in its maturity and originality. It is cast in four movements that are played without break. The score survived only as a two piano score until Jonathan Plowright (who performs the concerto on this disc) took up the concerto in 1988; the orchestration was indicated in the score and was realized by Edward Shipley and Giles Easterbrook. The concerto dazzles with a brilliant and demanding part for the soloist.

The Bird Actors is an overture that had been incorporated in Romeo and Juliet but was removed and rescored in its present form. Prize Fight is a short ballet influenced by Eric Satie and unperformed until 1969. The ballet follows the outline of a boxing match and is scored for a small orchestra. The music is nicely descriptive, including a bell to signify the start and end of a round. The tune "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" is included.

Altogether this is a marvelous introduction to the music of Constant Lambert. If you like the innovative music of Les Six you will probably like the wit and satire that Lambert incorporates in his music.