Beyond Twilight
Works by Horrocks, A Coleridge-Taylor, Dunlop, Marie Dare et al
Alexandra Mackenzie (cello), Ingrid Sawers (piano)
Delphian DCD34306 62:39 mins
‘What’s in a name?’ wonders Shakespeare’s Juliet, lamenting the divide between the Montagues and Capulets. Centuries later, women continue the speculation, with many hampered by the societal implications of their given moniker – particularly if they intend to author words or compose music. Of the 14 largely unknown works featured on Beyond Twilight, several were inscribed only with androgynous initials. AE Horrocks (1867–1919) – Amy – studied at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) and went on to have several pieces performed at the Proms. Her 1901 piece Twilight (Rêverie) was rediscovered in the RAM library by cellist Alexandra Mackenzie and pianist Ingrid Sawers during the pandemic. Very much a cello solo with piano accompaniment, it has hints of Grieg, with languorous melodies that stretch out like a contented dog by a fire.
The work opens a recital containing other short pieces the duo found during their 2020-21 trawl; the majority are premiere recordings. Some, such as Chanson espagnole, the third part of Ivy Parkin (1886–c1963)’s Three Pieces are fairly simple, with clean melodic lines and a jaunty accompaniment. Others, like Andante Religioso by Harriett Claiborne Dixon (1879–1928), who became a RAM Associate, are more rhapsodic – Sawers solders the inner filigree with a steady hand.
During the late 1940s, the Isle of Jura was home to a famous literary resident: George Orwell moved into Barnhill, the remote farmhouse where he wrote 1984. But, it turns out, he was not the only creative inspired by the misty Scottish wilderness at that time. Marie Dare (1902-76) began her Hebridean Suite in 1947, adding further contrasting movements in 1951. From a shimmering Sheiling Song to a shaded sea shanty, Mackenzie plays with appropriate panache. Claire Jackson