Peter Dickinson’s works have many
musical influences including ragtime, jazz, musicals, and pop, coupled with
electronic playback, serial music, aleatory and traditional forms. Composers
who have a clear impact on Dickinson include Stravinsky, Berkeley, Satie and
Ives. Yet all this is not just pieced together like beads on a string, but is
cleverly synthesised into the composer’s unique voice. For newcomers to Peter
Dickinson’s music, I suggest listening to the Satie Transformations first. This is an excellent essay, a
masterpiece really, that exhibits his method of working to great advantage. One
of the composer’s tools is a device known as ‘style modulation’ where ‘serious’
and ‘popular’ musical styles are mixed together in a subtle and satisfying
manner.
The liner notes explain that Transformations is ‘a dream-like fantasy
about the eccentric French composer Erik Satie (1866-1925). It was commissioned by the Feeney Trust for
the 1970 Cheltenham Festival and received its first performance there on 31
July. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Meredith
Davies.
The Transformations are based on three of Satie’s best known piano
pieces: the first three Gnossiennes
(there are seven in all). The concept is
to bring together ‘straight and swung’ elements, sometimes played consecutively:
at times concurrently. The music has considerable sophistication at a formal
and orchestral level, in spite of its undoubtedly accessible style.
It should be recalled that Peter
Dickinson and his sister, the mezzo-soprano Meriel Dickinson, played an
important role in the re-discovery of Satie’s music in the 1960s and 70s. In
fact, the composer’s recording of Satie’s solo piano music has been ‘an
international best seller for over 20 years.’ (ALC 1276).
For a bit of fun, A Birthday Surprise cannot be
overlooked. Dickinson has provided three variations that breathe a refreshing
sense of innovation into this quotidian and hackneyed tune. It was commissioned
for the 100th birthday of the great classical music impresario Sir
Robert Mayer (1879-1985). The Surprise
was premiered at the old Free Trade Hall, Manchester by the Hallé Orchestra
under Elgar Howarth on 30 June 1979.
The Five Diversions: Prelude, Aria, Ragtime, Saraband and Finale was
originally devised for clavichord. Dickinson had acquired a Hugh Gough
instrument in 1963 and had decided that this required ‘modern’ music as well as
‘old.’ He made arrangements of Duke Ellington as well as the present ‘Diversions’. The composer regards these five pieces as
being ‘light’. I disagree. In spite of being immediately approachable, with the
usual Dickinsonian eclecticism, they have a profundity, especially in the slow
movements, that is both moving and thought provoking. In 1970 Dickinson made this
present striking orchestral version of the score.
Bach in Blue (2004) has been ‘dished up’ for piano solo, for
violin, clarinet and piano (2012) and now in the present version for clarinet,
violin, piano and strings (2015). The thematic material is garnered from the
ubiquitous 1st Prelude of JSB’s ‘48’. Not at first obvious, the composer soon reveals
the well-known keyboard figurations into the music, supporting blues-infused clarinet
and violin solos. It is a lovely piece.
Merseyside Echoes is fantastic, enjoyable and evocative. Few people
in the world will not have heard of Liverpool’s greatest export –The Beatles.
Folk of my generation prized every song and album and hung on every word
uttered by the ‘Fab Four.’ What Dickinson has achieved is a definitive piece of
crossover music: it also showcases his skill at working with ‘dissimilar genres
and sound worlds.’ The score was a commission for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra and was first heard in 1988. It is dedicated to the composer’s son,
Jasper.
The formal characteristic of Merseyside Echoes is a ‘rondo’ based on
a ‘fanfare’ culled from an early organ piece (I am not sure which particular one).
The ‘episodes’ of this rondo are the songs. Often the melodies are presented simultaneously
reminding the listener of Charles Ives. Interestingly, and perhaps perversely,
there are no direct quotations from the ‘Boys.’ Yet listening to this piece I
felt that I ‘knew’ and ‘remembered’ these tunes from the ‘Summer of Love.’ It
is not a criticism to say that the songs are pure pastiche: they are exceptional pastiche. Dickinson could
have been employed by Brian Epstein any day!
I have noted before that Merseyside Echoes ought to have a direct
appeal to all ‘baby-boomers’ and all who love the music of the ‘Fab Four’. It
demands to be heard on Classic FM as well as on the concert platform.
All enthusiasts of the eccentric Gerald Hugh
Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners (1883-1950) will be grateful for Peter
Dickinson’s masterly book on the composer, artist, novelist, man of letters,
and aesthete, published in 2008. The
present ‘Suite for the Centenary of Lord Berners’ originally saw light
of day in 1974 as incidental music for the Granada TV adaptation of H.E. Bates’
short story A Great Day for Bonzo and
adapted for its present purpose in 1983.
It was formerly written for clavichord, but was arranged for orchestra
in 2015. There are six diverse movements: Blues, Jig, March, Dirge, Waltz and a final Blues. All these numbers
are delightful, but I am always particularly attracted to the Waltz.
The earliest, and most
challenging, piece on this disc is Monologue
for strings. It was composed in 1959 whilst the composer was a graduate student
at the Julliard School of Music in New York.
Dickinson writes: ‘We knew that the contest required quiet music, and
that the sponsor’s tastes were rigidly conservative… [yet]… I simply wrote what
I wanted.’ It is a dark, lugubrious work that derives its musical material from
the notes, but not the tune, of ‘People will say we’re in love’ from the 1943
Rogers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma.
This is an outstanding
retrospective of the Peter Dickinson’s orchestral music. It is brilliantly played,
finely recorded and well-presented. The liner notes by the composer make
essential reading. I get the distinct impression that the BBC National
Orchestra for Wales under the baton of Clark Rundell, thoroughly enjoyed
recording these varied pieces of music.
This is an essential CD for all
admirers of Dickinson’s eclectic style of composition in particular, and for
approachable, sometimes challenging, but always enjoyable ‘modern’ music, in
general.
Track Listing:
Peter DICKINSON (b.
1934)
A Birthday Surprise (1979)
Satie Transformations (1969-70)
Five Diversions (1963 rev. 1970)
Bach in Blue (2004/12/15)
Merseyside Echoes (1988)
Suite for the Centenary of Lord Berners (1974/83/2015)
Monologue for Strings (1959)
Lesley Hatfield (violin), Robert Plane (clarinet) (Bach in
Blue)
BBC National Orchestra for Wales/Clark Rundell
HERITAGE HTGCD
211
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.
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