Maurice Lindsay continued his exploration
(Hinrichsen’s Musial Year Book 1947-48)
of music by Scottish composers performed in Scotland by examining the contribution
from the BBC. He began by praising the
BBC Scottish Orchestra which had developed from ‘a ragged body of players (long
years ago) to a highly sensitive unified instrument…’
He noted that their conductor,
Ian Whyte (1901-60) had performed two orchestral works by Francis George Scott
1880-1958) ‘a very distinguished composer, and a figure of European stature.’
The first was the ‘attractive’ overture ‘Renaissance’ (1937) which probably had
more to do with the Scottish literary renaissance of the 20th
century than that begun in Italy during the 1300s. Apparently, at that period
(1945-6) it was frequently performed. The other work by Scott was the ballad
for tenor and orchestra, Edward, Edward.
(1943) which was a ‘masterly setting of one of the best of the old ballads.’
Scott is now recalled for his songs (where remembered at all) of which he composed
more than 300.
The orchestra also gave the
premiere of Ian Whyte’s tone poem ‘Edinburgh’ which Lindsay declared a ‘work of
considerable intellectual strength which one would want to hear again.’ I have
heard this work in a radio broadcast (28 March 1994) and would concur. It is surely time for a retrospective CD of
Whyte’s orchestral music.
Another important work heard during
the 1945/6 season was Cedric Thorpe Davies’ First Symphony. This had won second
prize in a Daily Express competition
to produce a ‘Victory’ symphony. The winner was Bernard Stevens (1916-83) with his
‘Victory Symphony.’ Thorpe Davies’ work had been performed in London under the
baton of Constant Lambert and in Liverpool with John Barbirolli. I have heard this symphony in a recording from
a radio broadcast: it deserves a full professional recording.
Finally, Maurice Lindsay notes ‘a
significant volume’ of Francis George Scott’s songs which were published in 1945
by Bayley and Ferguson. These eight songs for baritone included settings of
texts by several Scottish poets, including George Campbell Hay, Robert Burbs,
William Soutar and Hugh MacDiarmid.
Lindsay considered 'The Old
Fisherman' and ‘The Kerry Shore-Loch Fyne’ by Campbell Hay, as being ‘the most
moving songs I have ever heard.’ He recognised that the use of poetry written in
the Scots’ language ‘may keep singers away from his work.’ However, this volume
also included four songs in ‘standard English.’
The MacDiarmid poem, ‘Reid-e’en’, is written in that author’s ‘Renaissance
Scots’ which was very much his own literary language.
There is a CD of Francis George
Scott’s songs issued by Signum Records in 2007. It is reviewed on MusicWeb
International. None of the songs in the 1945 album are included on this retrospective.
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