Whilst in Glasgow a few weeks
ago, I discovered (and purchased) an old vinyl LP from Mixed Up Records in
Otago Street. It was an album that I had not seen or heard of before,
presenting works by four diverse ‘modern’ British composers. All but one of
them are now dead. Knowingly, I have only heard one of these works before.
The four pieces were:
Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-2012): Calendar for chamber orchestra
Alexander Goehr (b.1932): Two Choruses, op.14
Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016): Leopardi Fragments for soprano,
contralto and chamber ensemble
Malcolm Williamson (1931-2003): Symphony for voices.
This album was one of eight [?]
sponsored by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and issued by EMI Records in
the mid-nineteen-sixties. For details of each albums’ content, see my blog-post
on 28
May 2017. The series’ aim was to
create a ‘broad conspectus of the musical scene over the past 30 years’ (The Gramphone January 1965) from the
perspective of 1965. This involved selecting music from composers as wide-ranging
as Kurt Weill, Pierre Boulez, Malcolm Williamson and Charles Koechlin.
The jury of the 1966 Koussevitzky
International Recording Award hailed the series as ‘a collaboration between a
philanthropic foundation, a recording company and the music world…of the
highest importance and significance,’ whilst selecting Peter Maxwell Davies’s ‘Leopardi
Fragments’ for a special prize.
‘Four British Composers’ (ALP
2093) was issued in 1965 by EMI and was subsequently re-released on Argo (ZRG
758) in 1974. The album included sleeve notes by Anthony Payne and a
comprehensive insert with texts, musical examples and programme notes written by
the composers.
Payne, on the rear cover
of the LP, presents an overview of the album. He explains that during the late
1950s younger British composers who had ‘accepted the innovations of the
Viennese serialists’ [Berg, Schoenberg and Webern] were beginning to gain a
reputation. Due to the ‘time-lag characteristic of British music’ and a ‘certain
innate conservatism’ a diverse group of composers had arisen. These tended to
avoid the excesses of the ‘extreme continental experimenter’ by developing
their own voice which takes ‘what best suits them from various source. None of
the composers represented on this album ‘found it necessary, in accepting the
Schoenbergian experience, to restrict himself to twelve note (or even serial)
methods.’ Payne concludes by suggesting that all four composers ‘write against
the background of serialism, but has also to a greater of lesser extent integrated
it with other methods.
For anyone, at that time, wishing
to explore a good cross-section of the ‘newer names on the English musical
scene…this [was an] attractive [disc].’ JN (The
Gramophone September 1965) felt that this ‘record will provide an admirable
chance of getting to know four of the most recent generation of English
composers to establish a reputation and to recognize their very distinct musical
personalities.’
The album presents four works
that are not necessarily ground-breaking in their achievement. None of them
could be regarded, in hindsight, as being a major contribution to each composer’s
catalogue. All four men have produced ‘larger and deeper’ works that have
confirmed and expanded their several reputations. What this album does deliver is an ‘early’
understanding of their ‘individual musical characters.’ It was a timely historical
artefact.
From the perspective of 2017, it
is unfortunate to say that only Peter Maxwell Davies seems to have maintained a
commanding presence in the mind of listeners. Alexander Goehr is known to the musical
cognoscenti, but is hardly a household name. Richard Rodney Bennett is now best
recalled for his film scores (Murder on the Orient Express and Four Weddings and a Funeral)
with his ‘serious’ music largely slipping into the shadows. It seems that Malcolm
Williamson has been forgotten. Even the promised cycle of orchestral music from
Chandos Records was curtailed in 2007.
All four works on this LP are
available on CD. Richard Rodney Bennett’s Calendar, Alexander Goehr’s Two
Choruses, op.14 and Peter Maxwell Davies Leopardi Fragments have been released
on Icon Music among Friends: Melos, Warner Classics 5099991851451. This is a remastering of the original LP.
Malcolm Williamson ‘Symphony for Voices’
has been given a new recording on Naxos 8.557783 (2006). I am not aware of that
the version on this present LP has been re-issued.
I will investigate Richard Rodney
Bennett’s Calendar for chamber ensemble in a subsequent post.
Thank you for this comment, I didn't realize that Naxos had recorded anything by Malcolm Williamson, though I had tried to interest them in tackling the composers symphonic output especially as at least one of the symphonies (The fourth, if I remember correctly.) has never been performed.
ReplyDeleteMalcolm Williamson's music is broadcast by ABC Classic FM on a regular basis, almost every week. This coming Sunday you can listen to the complete 'Our Man in Havana':
ReplyDeletehttp://www.abc.net.au/classic/music-listings/?date=2017-07-16