Two Fancies: On a May Morning:
Toccata - Moeran
Irish Lament: Cello Sonata - Moeran
Friday's lunchtime recital in the John Field Room was the first of two to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of E.H. Moeran. He was an Englishman who found inspiration in the wilds of Kerry, but his idiom was formed, as Una Hunt reminded us, under the influences of John Ireland, Percy Grainger, Delius and Debussy. In the piano pieces, Two Fancies (1926), On a May Morning (1922) and Toccata (1924), he had clearly not yet found an individual voice, yet they are polished examples of the English pastoral vein and Una Hunt played them with great charm.
The Irish Lament for cello and piano differs little from many another arrangement of an Irish tune, but the Cello Sonata is an interesting and ambitious work. There is plenty of interplay between cello and piano and the tendency of Moeran's music to relax into a swooning cantilena is held in abeyance. On Friday, William Butt and Una Hunt brought a welcome sense of urgency to the Sonata. Its claim to greatness remains dubious, but it was certainly worth reviving.
