Alan Rawsthorne (1905–1971) was a significant composer of his generation (which also included Tippet, Alwyn and Lambert). Although coming later to music than his contemporaries, having briefly studied both architecture and dentistry, he developed a very personal and unmistakable harmonic language together with a markedly constructive approach to form. Of the fine corpus of chamber music published during his lifetime there are only two works for violin and piano: the “Concertante” (the first work of his to be published, in 1937) and the masterly Sonata of 1958.

Two early, unpublished sonatas were composed for the violinist Jessie Hinchliffe, who Rawsthorne married in 1934. Both are in two movements. The shape of the violin melody and the harmonic implications at the opening of what is evidently the earlier are at once entirely characteristic. Its second movement displays an unbridled, youthful exuberance with even a hint of jazz. The first movement of the later sonata is a theme and variations, Rawsthorne’s earliest essay in a form that was to run like a thread through his entire compositional output, and already displaying his original approach to it. The second movement (which includes a passage already present in the earlier sonata) became, in a revised version, the “Concertante” mentioned above.

Despite some hints of compositional immaturities in both works, John McCabe observed the sudden emergence of thematic material from which the Rawsthorne was later to draw limitless inspiration, and how much of the mature composer is already present.

Also composed for Jessie Hinchliffe, at about the same time as the sonatas, is “Pierrette”. Subtitled “Valse Caprice” it is a delightful character piece, totally unlike the sonatas, and evidence of a versatility later revealed in Rawsthorne’s film music. In orchestrated form it was included in the score for “Uncle Silas”. The version with piano remained unpublished until 2008.

A significant composition of Rawsthorne’s early maturity is the Theme and Variations for Two Violins, written in 1937. It was first performed by Jessie Hinchliffe and Kathleen Washbourne early that year, and their performance at the Festival of the International Society of Music in London in 1938 received early critical acclaim important in establishing his career. Decca released a recording of the 1938 performance, the first commercial recording of his music.

Bringing early, previously unrecorded works together with those of Rawsthorne’s established repertoire makes this an important and fascinating release.

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At the 2024 English Music Festival we welcomed for the first time the choral ensemble Excalibur Voices. The audience was astounded at the brilliance of the concert that this vocal group delivered: their programme was perfectly crafted and constructed, and the performance was superb. We are therefore delighted to announce a recording of choral works with the group, who, with their conductor, Duncan Aspden, are passionate about English choral song and combine rhythmic suppleness with an ear for choral colour and a musicianship embedded in poetry and story-telling.

The forthcoming disc includes three charming and beautiful part-songs by Gustav Holst, Five English Folk-songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, the beautiful Song of Proserpine by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, the astounding Magdalen at Michael’s Gate by Sir Henry Walford Davies and three songs by Herbert Howells, including the world première recording of Creep Afore Ye Gang. Also featured is Alan Rawsthorne’s A Rose for Lidice — an intense, sparse lament in which fragmented phrases give voice to the tragedy of a Bohemian village razed by the Nazis in 1942, and to the rose garden planted there in memorial.

We are proud to be presenting more world première recordings on the disc, including two songs by John Ireland, which contain all the hallmarks of that delightful melodist’s charm, typically supported  by characterful and idiomatic piano parts. Edgar Bainton’s In Youth Is Pleasure and Abou Ben Adhem are also world première recordings and they demonstrate that that cathedral favourite And I Saw a New Heaven was no one-off: evoking colours and conveying narrative to the highest level, these are neglected treasures indeed. Finally, we are delighted also to be able to feature the world première recordings of Songs of Escape by Robin Milford — rhythmically strongly-defined songs crafted with judicious chromaticism, in which the texture uses the choir more “orchestrally” than most. This disc promises to be both an important and a stunningly beautiful release, but we urgently need your support to make this expensive recording!

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