Susan Milan & London Chamber Music Group - Goossens: Five Impressions of a Holiday, Pastorale et Arlequinade, Four Sketches, Suite & Three Pictures (2022) [Hi-Res]

Sir Eugene Goossens is most remembered for his energetic conducting career and his entrepreneurial skills, arranging concerts of new music and famously introducing Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps to English audiences; but virtually all of his own music has faded into obscurity. Hearing this 2004 Chandos release helps explain that misfortune, if the five chamber works presented here are indicative of the rest of his neglected oeuvre. One might easily mistake the Sketches (4) for flute, violin and piano for a work by an ingenious French Impressionist, or find the Impressions (5) for flute, cello and piano and the Suite for flute, violin and harp overly lush and insipidly pretty, even for prewar fare. On the other hand, Goossens provides some spicier harmonies and greater melodic interest in his Pictures (3) for flute and piano, and a good deal of tonal ambiguity in his Pastorale et Arlequinade for flute, oboe and piano; these marginally adventurous pieces make the disc somewhat more tolerable for modern ears. Flutist Susan Milan turns in fluid performances of appealing tone, though her high range is a little thin and less pleasant than her lowest octave; and the London Chamber Music Group is engaging in its largely supportive role. Chandos offers its usual fine recording quality. © Blair Sanderson