Robin MILFORD: Festival Suite, Miniature Concerto, Fish

Robin Milford (1903 - 1959) was close to Gerald Finzi, both in friendship and in music. This 2004 Hyperion disc presents eight of his works for (or with) string orchestra, played by the Guildhall Strings under Robert Salter. The music has a neoclassical coolness somewhat like Lars-Erik Larsson, but the melodies are distinctly British, with both Finzi and the string works of Holst coming to mind. The works are Miniature Concerto in G for Strings, Festival Suite, Elegy for James Scott, Fishing by Moonlight for piano and strings, Interlude for flute and strings, elegiac meditation for viola and strings, two interludes for flute, strings, and piano, and the suite Go, little book for flute, soprano (in the first movement only) and strings. Morsels that won't fill you up but always leave you wanting more. You can listen to excerpts from the CD here.

From the Gramophone review:

Robin Milford (1903-59) is a name new to me, and a delightful
discovery. As Lewis Foreman remarks in his booklet-notes, Milford's
(choral) music did not survive the 'stellar outburst' of Walton's
Belshazzar's Feast. Yet in its own, quiet gentle way, everything
instrumental he wrote haunts the memory just as readily as a more
spectacular piece. As the opening Fishing by Moonlight (a pastel-shaded
siciliano for piano and strings) so winningly shows, the melodic lines
twist gently in unexpected ways, and there are similar unostentatious
harmonic shifts. The Miniature Concerto which follows has a delicate,
bouncy opening movement. The Adagio is unassuming but touching, and the
folksy finale is irresistibly jaunty. The expressive Elegy for James
Scott, with its (thoroughly absorbed) Vaughan Williams influences, and
a memorable solo violin interlude, is a little gem; so is the Elegiac
j1vleditation for viola and orchestra which, with its bitter-sweet
melodic line, could be worthy of Elgar. In a way, Milford is a Jean
Françaix-styled miniaturist, though not in the least French. This is
music more in the manner of the Hoist St Paul's Suite and Warlock's
Capriol Suite, only slightly more insouciant. Milford writes
delightfully for the flute (here the nimble Julian Sperry), and his
pair of folk song arrangements ('John Peel' and 'Drink to me only') are
most personable, while the Interlude for Flute and Strings explores a
personal vein of nostalgia. But my favourite work here is Go, little
book, which opens with a brief and engagingly sung quotation from a
Robert Louis Stevenson poem, then offers seven concertante flute
vignettes of remarkable variety: 'The Wit', unexpectedly, is a winsome
Andante, followed by a lovely, simple portrait of 'The Living River',
with 'The Nightingale' providing the chirping conclusion.

This is music for an English summer evening, with a glass of wine to
hand - rewarding in its unpretentious, melodious, nicely crafted way;
especially when played with sympathy and elegance by Robert Salter and
the excellent Guildhall Strings and so naturally balanced and recorded
by Andrew Keener. Don't miss it.

Disc, booklet, and case are in mint condition, but the rear coverslip is missing.
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About Jimmosk's CDs
I sell high-quality, little-known works, mostly 19th- and 20th-century. Many of the CDs are used, some are still-sealed, and most are the only one of that disc I have to offer. I sell a low volume of CDs, but that way I can listen to each (except the sealed ones :-) and describe the music to give you a better idea of what you're in for before you plunge into the unknown! More information about some composers may be available on my Unknown Composers Page.
-Jim Moskowitz