COMPOSERS: Gunning
LABELS: Albany
ALBUM TITLE: Gunning Orchestral Music
WORKS: Piano Concerto
PERFORMER: Olga DudnikSlovak Radio Symphony OrchestraChristopher Gunning
CATALOGUE NO: TROY 686
Christopher Gunning is best known for his film and television scores, and
composes in a conservative, tonal
idiom. These pieces are all expertly
written, but they beg for the addition
of some pictures – as it is they don’t
have a real harmonic direction.
The first movement of the Piano
Concerto creates a series of moods,
but it sits down a lot, as the piano
decorates a succession of slow-moving
harmonies. There’s more rhythmic
excitement in the faster sections, but
they rely overmuch on the piano
playing in octaves with punctuating
chords from the orchestra. Gunning
describes the slow movement as a
reflective night piece, and it certainly
has a peaceful quality, but there’s far
too much of the piano playing scales
up and down against moody sustained
strings, and that recurs in the last
movement. Olga Dudnik deals with
the technical demands of the piece,
but there’s not much more for her to
get her teeth into.
Storm! never becomes violent
enough to justify its title, and
the Symphony provides echoes
of Walton, Rawsthorne, Arnold,
Holst and others without finding an
individual voice. The performances
are alert, with some nicely shaped
wind solos, though ensemble is not
always watertight. The recording
is clear. Martin Cotton