There are now, as there have always been, very, very few recordings of the chamber music of
Arthur Bliss. This is not for want of quality:
Bliss was a supremely skilled composer whose works had a large international audience between the two world wars and whose chamber works are as brilliant and moving as the chamber works of
Elgar, Walton, or
Vaughan Williams. But as with so much brilliant and moving music, there is only so much room for great music on the shelves of record collectors, and
Bliss has been pushed off the shelf by Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. This is a shame because this disc of chamber music by
Bliss is as lovely and affecting as any disc released around the same time.
Bliss' Quartet in B flat is as beautiful a quartet as was composed in the '20s, with fluent writing and a heart-rending Sostenuto slow movement, his Conversations for winds and strings is sprightly and touching, and his early Quartet in A major is energetic and enthusiastic with a graceful closing Allegro vivace. The performances by England's
Maggini Quartet, along with wind players
Nicholas Daniel and Michael Cox, are dedicated and completely convincing. Naxos' sound is as warm and clear as the best major-label productions. Anyone who likes English music of the early twentieth century or who simply likes great chamber music recordings would like this wonderful disc.