A few days ago I posted a résumé of the works that were given their first performance at the Henry Promenade Concerts during 1913. Today I briefly consider those performed fifty years later at the 1963 series. In some ways not a lot has changed. There are still works by composers who have disappeared from view as well as works by established composers. Please note that not all these works were premieres: a fair few were simply their first outing at a Prom Concert.
Richard Rodney Bennett: A London Pastoral
Lennox Berkeley: Four Ronsard Sonnets
(BBC Comm)
Arthur Bliss: The Enchantress
Benjamin Britten: Simple Symphony,
Cantata Misericordium, War Requiem
Francis Burt: Fantasmagoria per
orchestra (BBC Comm)
Peter Racine Fricker: Song Cycle: O longs
desirs (BBC comm)
Roberto Gerhard: Piano Concerto
Henry Purcell: Come ye sons of art
away; Welcome to all pleasures.
Arthur Sullivan: Trial by Jury
Michael Tippett: The Midsummer
Marriage Act III
William Walton: Variations on a
theme by Hindemith
Perhaps
the most surprising thing from the above list is the complete disappearance of
Richard Rodney Bennett’s A London Pastoral.
This work for tenor and chamber orchestra has not been recorded (to my
knowledge). It would seem to be a work worthy of some investigation: the review
in the times suggests that it the music was ‘poetic and beautiful in
abstraction.’ The work is based on poems by William Wordsworth, John Lydgate
and Laurence Binyon.
Arthur
Sullivan’ Trial by Jury has remained
popular since its first performance on 25 March 1875 at the Royalty Theatre.
However, it must have made a pleasant evening’s entertainment at the all Gilbert
and Sullivan night on 10 August 1963. Other music that evening included
extracts from The Pirates of Penzance,
The Gondoliers, Iolanthe and ‘that infernal nonsense Pinafore.’
I
could find out little about Francis Burt’s Fantasmagoria
per orchestra however he earns a place on this blog by being an Austrian/British
composer. The work seems to have totally disappeared from view.
Peter
Racine Fricker's orchestral song cycle O
longs desirs also seems to have vanished without trace – however this is
like most of that composer’s music. He
is surely ripe for rediscovery. The work was performed by the composer’s wife
the soprano Catherine Gayer. It is a setting of the French poet Louise Labé, (c. 1520 or 1522-1566).
Benjamin Britten’s ‘novelties’
have fared best of all. Certainly the War
Requiem is regarded as a 20th century masterpiece. The Simple Symphony is given many
performances around the world, has been recorded countless times (35 versions
are currently listed on Arkiv) and is regularly featured on Classic FM. The Cantata Miserecordium is possibly one of
the composer’s less popular works.
The
Enchantress by Sir Arthur Bliss is rarely
heard in the concert hall, however there was a recording of the work issued on
Chandos. It is a work that deserves to be in the public domain.
Michael Tippett’s A Midsummer Marriage may not be the most
performed English opera, but it has retained a toe-hold in the repertoire. The first performance of this work was a
Covent Garden on 27 January 1955, so the Prom performance of Act III was really
a little bit of catching-up. A couple of recordings of this work have been
released, the most famous being the Phillips version conducted by Colin Davis
dating from 1970. It was subsequently reissued by Lyrita in 1990.
Finally, Lennox Berkeley’s Four Four Ronsard Sonnets, William Walton’s Variations on a theme by Hindemith and
Roberto Gerhard’s Piano Concerto have all managed to retain a fragile place in
the repertoire. However, I guess that performances are few and far between. Walton has at least seven recordings of the
Variations, and Gerhard two and as far as I can tell Berkeley has one of the
Sonnets.
So
the 'winner' from the Proms novelties of
1963 would appear to be Benjamin Britten with all three of his works
still firmly in the repertoire.
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