Duncan Honeybourne piano
Heritage HTGCD 121
Reginald Redman (1892-1972) although born in London, had his roots in the South and West of England. After working as a bank employee and amateur organist, he became a student at the Guildhall School of Music. He then became Organist of Stanmore Parish Church and Music Master of Harrow School’s preparatory division.
After three years, he took the step which was to define the rest of his professional life when he accepted a post as orchestral pianist and chorus master with what was then known as the Cardiff Station Orchestra. He remained with the corporation until his retirement at the age of 60.
Much of Redman’s output for piano was written for his wife. He had married Evelyn Amey in 1922 and she played his music frequently in concerts and broadcasts. In his excellent notes, Duncan Honeybourne states that most of Redman’s piano music seems to have been written in 1920s before the demands of his work for the BBC became more insistent.
This well-filled disc contains 24 tracks, but the longest piece is one second short of six minutes, the third in the set of Three Preludes. It is regrettable that Redman was not tempted to write a work using a broader canvass, such as a sonata. The notes contain a reference to a Violin Sonata, part of a broadcast tribute to the composer after his death, so one must assume that the stresses of Redman’s work with the BBC precluded him from devoting time to such a project.
This is beautifully crafted music, elegant and displaying several stylistic influences, notably French, as in the Three Preludes, which all have a descriptive French title and verse. Elsewhere, Ireland’s shorter piano pieces come to mind. Redman was also a recognised authority on Chinese music and one is made aware of this, with the occasional pentatonic turn of melodic phrase and a fondness for the intervals of a fourth and fifth.
Duncan Honeybourne is a most persuasive advocate of this repertoire, most of which I suspect will be completely new to listeners. While the mood is mostly lyrical, there are various effective contrasts along the way. On the Cornish Coast, perhaps inevitably, seems to recall Bax’s Tintagel.
While Redman seems to eschew the more extreme technical demands of the heroic piano repertoire, the performer makes the point that what is required are, ‘warm melodic lines and a keen colouristic imagination, as well as nimble fingers and, at times, a relaxed and unselfconscious virtuosity.’ Honeybourne has these qualities in abundance, and I would warmly recommend this disc to anyone with a liking for well-crafted keyboard music.
Review by Martyn Strachan