JAMES WILLSHIRE

Coles & Holst: Solo works including Coles Sonata in C minor and Holst Egdon Heath Delphian DCD34209 ★★★

Scottish composer Cecil Coles (born 1888, died 1918 in WWI) did not make an indelible mark on musical history – but his trace becomes a little more vivid with this pleasing disc by James Willshire. Coles started out in what you might call ‘the international style of Mendelssohn’ and ended up in ‘the international style of Brahms’ with some forays into Englishy folk-tunes and frivolous salon pieces along the way. It’s pleasant stuff, and much of it sounds tempting enough for good amateurs to have a bash. But whether Coles would have become a true great had his life not been cut so cruelly short – and despite Willshire’s excellent advocacy – is not clear. The recital also includes lesser-known works by Coles’s friend and mentor Gustav Holst. We see Holst in folksy mode, in spiky mode, and in bitonal-cum-atonal mode. Again, it’s impressively played, but none of it warms me to Holst’s forays into keyboard repertoire.