A rare non-Nimbus ESO recording (made in 1997), a wonderful disc of the music of John Joubert
Temps Perdu, Sinfonietta, The Instant Moment
English Symphony Orchestra, conducted by William Boughton, with Henry Herford (baritone)
BMS 419CD (1997)
“Music of real distinction … a memorable creation indeed”
Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone, October 1997
“This disc was issued to celebrate John Joubert’s seventieth birthday in 1997, and features première recordings of Temps Perdu — Variations for String Orchestra, the Sinfonietta, and The Instant Moment. These are taut, well-constructed works, full of a very English melancholy and wistfulness … The song-cycle The Instant Moment, which concludes the disc, is a powerful work sung well by Henry Herford. This is strong and heady stuff, in committed and sincere performances by the English String Orchestra and William Boughton.”
Albion Magazine Online, Spring 2010
“The string work and the Sinfonietta immediately leap to the very front order of such works in 20th-century Great Britain — a highly competitive field with the likes of pieces by Holst, Finzi, Vaughan Williams, Bridge, Britten, Tippett, and more. They are simply exquisite. As one might imagine from the Proustian title, Temps Perdu: Variations for String Orchestra is drenched in a marvellous sense of expectancy, yearning, and nostalgia. It is written with great refinement, and I have fallen in love with it. The Sinfonietta is another gem, with echoes of Sibelius floating through the first of its three movements. Having heard the Toccata disk, the superlative quality of Joubert’s settings of five D.H. Lawrence poems in The Instant Moment was no surprise. Committed performances by the English String Orchestra and baritone Henry Herford, under conductor William Boughton, make this disk indispensable to any collection of British music.”
R.R. Reilly (www.insidecatholic.com) April 2010
MusicWeb International reviews: October 2003