I recently wrote an appreciation of Arthur Butterworth’s excellent tone-poem The Path across the Moors, in which I suggested that in spite of it having been issued on a ‘light music’ CD, it had considerable depth and emotional content beyond what is normally considered belonging to that genre. I sent the composer a copy of my article and fortunately he approved of what I had written. However, he sent by return some additional comments which deserve to be noted for posterity. There is no doubt in my mind that Butterworth is the‘Composer of the North...
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
For many listeners, the Cotswolds represent a ‘pastoral’ ideal for their music and poetry. It is easy to be transported into thoughts of some rural idyll that never really existed, except as wishful thinking. The names of the villages are evocative: Ducklington, Filkins & Broughton Poggs and Upper Swell. Rolling hills and field patterns and honey-coloured stone buildings seem to typify this area of outstanding natural beauty even in the first...
Sunday, June 22, 2014
I thought I would have a look at works given their premieres at the 1964 Cheltenham Festival. It is interesting to see how half a century has dealt with these compositions. John Wilks: Beata L’Alma for soprano and orchestraHumphrey Searle: Song of the Sun, Op.42 for unaccompanied chorusAlan Rawsthorne: Symphony No. 3Peter Maxwell Davies: Veni Sancte SpiritusHarrison Birtwistle: Entr’actes and Sappho FragmentsRobert Sherlaw Johnson: Sonata for Piano (1963)Alun Hoddinott: Sonata for Harp, Op36Lennox Berkeley: Diversions –four pieces for eight instrumentsWilfrid...
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Everyone loves Piccadilly. Whether it is the statue of Eros which was once deemed to be the centre of the Empire. Or perhaps it is the promise of high-octane shopping in Regent Street. Maybe it is afternoon tea at the Ritz or heading down Haymarket towards the theatre or a snifter at the club. Perhaps it is just to see and be seen? Remember Bunthorne in Gilbert and Sullivan’s delightful railing against the aesthetic movement, Patience: he chose to...
Monday, June 16, 2014
Continuing my exploration of the much misaligned ‘Cheltenham Symphony,’ I find that the genre has tended to become rarer from 1957 onwards. Between 1945 and 1956 there were some 20 symphonies or symphonic works receiving their first performances at the Cheltenham Festival. The following dozen years produced only thirteen. Four years, 1958, 1959, 1967 and 1968 saw no new works from this genre performed. However, I believe that the survival rate is greater that for the previous decade. Some of these works have gained a tentative foothold...
Friday, June 13, 2014
At one time the expression ‘Cheltenham, Symphony’ was used as a disparaging term. Peter Pirie in his The English Musical Renaissance (Victor Gollanz, London, 1979) states that the phrase ‘was coined to describe a work in simple-minded sonata form, simple-minded tonality, and simple-minded faith in a scissors-and-paste method of composition.’ He further contended that ‘a certain division in English music became apparent at this time: young progressive composers were arising in England and they saw what was happening.’ Perhaps the reader may be reminded...
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
When ASV records released the second volume of British Light Music Discoveries(CD WHL2126) in 2000, I was delighted to find Arthur Butterworth’s attractive tone poem The Path across the Moors (1958) included alongside music by composers such as Malcolm Arnold, William Blezard, Anthony Hedges and Philip Lane. I am not convinced that The Path is ‘light’ music except in so far as it is tuneful and approachable. On the other hand, it cannot be...
Saturday, June 7, 2014
A very short, but important post: Ten composers that I consider worthy of rediscovery. Odd recordings of their music exist in the catalogues, but typically they have been ignored by concert promoters and record companies:-Francis Chagrin (1905-1972)Peter Racine Fricker (1920-1990)Ian Hamilton (1922-2000)Daniel Jones (1912-1993)Priaulx Rainier (1903-1986)Humphrey Searle (1915-1982)Robert Still (1910-1971)John Veale (1922-2006)Ian Whyte (1901-1961)William Wordsworth (1908-1988)All of the above are important ‘symphonists’ – except for Priaulx Rainier....
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Every year there are a number of first performances or ‘novelties’ at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts. This year (2014) is no different with new works by John Adams, Sally Beamish, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Jonathan Dove, William Mathias and Roxanna Panufnik. But how many of these will survive concert and record (whatever media) life over the coming half century? I looked at the list of ‘novelties’ from 1964 as presented in David Cox’s book The Henry Wood Proms (BBC Publishing, 1980) and found that the story is mixed. I list only the British...
Monday, June 2, 2014
Mayfair is a part of London that I feel very at home in. I guess it is the expensive hotels and opulent houses. Beginning at Handel’s former residence in Brook Street, the explorer can discover the Church of St George in Hanover Square, hear the nightingale in Berkeley Square, have quick snifter in The Punch Bowl public house before shopping in the Burlington Arcade and indulging in afternoon tea at Claridges or The Dorchester. Vivian Ellis...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
