Restless Genius

Pavans and galliards by the Elizabethan master of melancholy, complemented by a new recording of Benjamin Britten’s magnificent Nocturnal inspired by both Dowland’s music and by the playing of Julian Bream.

Pavans and galliards by the Elizabethan master of melancholy, complemented by a new recording of Benjamin Britten’s magnificent Nocturnal inspired by both Dowland’s music and by the playing of Julian Bream.After the success of ‘The Golden Age of the Guitar in Europe’ (2CD, 96157), Brilliant Classics releases a second album by the French guitarist Pascal Boëls, a unique collection of music by 17th and 20th-century English masters. In a booklet introduction, the guitarist explains how he sees Dowland as ‘a universal genius, eternal wanderer who – already! – knew how to rub shoulders with all facets of the human soul.’

Soul isn't a feeling, a sound or a movement. It's a connection, a current in the air – the spark of recognition, emotions leaping across live wires. It's the way a sinewy bassline steers your hips and eyes to the stranger across the club. It's how a handful of humble words can give millions the inspiration to overcome. It's the genius of a simple chorus that can explain the hard truths you couldn't last time you saw her.

Although Benjamin Britten's guitar music represents a very small part of his oeuvre, it contains all the dramatic genius of his greatest works. Britten’s interest in the guitar sprang from his friendship with the famous English virtuoso Julian Bream (1933-2020), to whom his guitar works are dedicated. Bream began performing with Britten’s partner, the tenor Peter Pears, in 1952. In order to expand the duo’s concert programs, Britten (1913-76) dedicated the sixth volume of his Folksongs arrangements to them. Written between 1956 and 1958, these songs illustrate both the composer’s affection for English musical heritage and his conception of the art song.

Funny coincidence (as if that childish concept even exists at all) that among my favorite current prog bands, namely Mostly Autumn and Drifting Sun, both decided to raise their craft by introducing topflight recruits to the group. Mostly Autumn hired Henry Rogers, a superlative drum guru who immediately impacted the latest 2021 release Graveyard Star, while my 'bon ami' Pat Sanders cleverly brought in (though I must say I guessed right on my first try, much to Pat's chagrin!) the illustrious John Jowitt, a bass maestro who has played with a horde of top prog groups (Aaah, look it up!). I liken him to the UK's version of Tony Levin, in that not only are they much in demand whilst mastering their instrument but are both a pure joy to watch play, so effusive is their level of passion. Plus, they are both bald as a cue ball.

Dmitry Shostakovich had a kind of protean musical genius that could take the shape of any container it was poured into. But what would have happened if his genius had been less adaptable? He might have ended up like Gavriil Popov: virtually unknown 100 years after his birth and 32 years since his death. These two composers had remarkably similar backgrounds. Both were daring young stars ascending in the Soviet firmament until the state intervened and censured them in the 1930's. Shostakovich adapted and recovered artistically; Popov did not. With this excellent new recording of Popov's early 1st Symphony, Leon Botstein and the London Symphony show us just how big Popov might have been. There are echoes of Shostakovich's tart writing, but there is also much that is original.