This is the latest release in MPR’s critically acclaimed series of largely unrecorded chamber music by the unjustly neglected British composer Arnold Cooke and features music for flute, clarinet, cello and piano played by the Pleyel Ensemble. This CD contains the Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano (1965), the Quartet for Flute, Clarinet, Cello and Piano (1965) with works for solo clarinet and flute plus Cooke’s fine Sonatina for Alto Flute and Piano. It’s a labour of love for Producer and MPR label owner Mike Purton as Arnold Cooke lived at the other end of the road where MPR are based in the village of Five Oak Green in the beautiful English county of Kent, known as The Garden of England, surrounded by fruit trees and hop fields. Although Cooke studied with Hindemith, his music sounds very English but with roots in the contrapuntal music of J.S. Bach. Listeners may also detect the influence of Brahms and Shostakovitch, but Cooke’s music definitely highlights the composer’s own individual and very pleasing voice.
