SOMM Recordings’ fruitful collaboration with Leon Bosch, renowned double bass player and director of I Musicanti, has recently produced a group of world-premiere recordings, which consist of four delightful and interestingly disparate British Piano Quintets. The two quintets by Percy Godfrey (1899-1945) and Richard Walthew (1872-1951) fall within a post- Romantic idiom reminiscent of Rachmaninov’s music, while those of John McCabe (1939-2015) and Ivor Hodgson (b.1959) share terrific rhythmic vitality and modern harmonies whilst remaining entirely accessible.

Although the music of Percy Godfrey is little known these days, he received two notable awards around the turn of the last century. In 1902, he won a competition for a Coronation March for King Edward VII and, in 1899, he was awarded the prize for a newly-announced chamber music competition. That winning piece was his Piano Quintet in E flat major heard on this release.

The quintet by Richard Walthew is titled Phantasy Quintet. Walthew was an important figure in English chamber music during the first half of the 20th century, having a natural affinity for the genre. His single movement Phantasy Quintet is his most successful chamber work, and it recreates the spirit of the Elizabethan consort through a varied statement-counterstatement-restatement format.

John McCabe produced works in virtually every genre, including music for television. His theme tune for the 1973 family drama series, Sam, became a huge hit and was the inspiration for his 1989 chamber work, Sam Variations. As McCabe noted, “The theme itself is never heard direct – the nearest we get to it is in the rather enigmatic coda….But all of the material is taken from the theme and transformed in a variation-like way…”

Among the varied works by the prolific composer and double bass player, Ivor Hodgson, is a set of nine concerti – including one he wrote for the pianist, Peter Donohoe, who is featured on this release. Hodgson’s first Piano Quintet, featured here, was inspired by four Derbyshire inns, as indicated by the names of the four movements: The Quiet Woman, Earl Sterndale, Buxton; The Waltzing Weasel, Hayfield; Moonlight over Mount Famine, The Lamb Inn, Chinley Head; and The Oddfellows, Whitehough, Chinley.

The mixed instrument chamber ensemble I Musicanti – hand-picked by the group’s artistic director, international double bass virtuoso Leon Bosch –  comprises some of the most experienced and respected musicians in the UK. Their previous collaborations with SOMM include Giovanni Bottesini: String Quintets, SOMMCD 0645 (“vivacious, colourful, flowing and finely nuanced accounts” – BBC Music Magazine) and Nimrod Borenstein: Piano Concerto, Shirim, Light and Darkness, SOMMCD 281 (“dramatic and energetic accents from the orchestra” – Pizzicato.) This recording features pianist, Peter Donohoe; violinist, Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay; violist, Robert Smissen; cellist, Ursula Smith; and double bassist, Leon Bosch.