Lennox Berkeley: Six Preludes for piano, op.23 (1944): The Premiere – Radio Broadcast

As mentioned in my previous post, Lennox Berkeley’s Six Preludes for piano, op.23 (1944) was first heard during a recorded broadcast on the BBC Third Programme which had begun broadcasting on 29 September 1946.  The recital had been recorded on the 7 July.

The Radio Times (11 July 1947) gave due notice of the recital. It was the first in a series of Contemporary British Composers due to be broadcast in 13 July at 7.00pm.  Other concerts would follow, dedicated to the music of diverse composers including Elisabeth Lutyens, Humphrey Searle, Patrick Hadley and Herbert Howells.

British pianist, critic and composer Harold Rutland (1900-77) provided a short introduction to the recital (and the series) which was printed in the Radio Times:

“The first programme of this new series is devoted to music by Lennox Berkeley, a composer who is recognised as possessing gifts of no common order. His work has style and imagination and a fine, clear texture that recalls certain eighteenth-century masters He was born in 1903 and studied in Paris under Nadia Boulanger.”

Several Berkeley works featured in the 13 July programme. The recital opened with the String Trio, op.19 composed in 1943 and dedicated to Frederick Grinke, Watson Forbes and James Phillips. This Trio bears a stylistic tension between a Gallic influence and nods to Mozart. It was played by the London String Trio.

This was followed by Berkeley’s Six Preludes, op.23 played by Swiss pianist Albert Ferber (1911-87).

Sophie Wyss (1897-1983), also from Switzerland, sang several songs including ‘D’un vanneur de ble aux vents’, (1924, rev.1925) the ‘Ode du premier jour de mai’ no.2 from Five Songs, op. 14 (1940) and ‘The Low Lands of Holland’ (1947).  They are settings of texts by Joachim du Bellay, Jean Passerat and the final number an anonymous folk song. Wyss was accompanied by the composer. Only the first two of these songs have been recorded – (CHAN 10528).

The final work in this imaginative review of Lennox Berkeley’s music was the Viola Sonata, op.22. This powerful piece was composed in 1945 at the end of the Second World War and certainly reflects the mood, stresses and strains of the period. However, it is not in any way negative: neither is it unremitting aggression or blatant ‘war-music.’

The Viola Sonata was given its first performance by its dedicatee Watson Forbes, the violist and the pianist Denise Lassimoine on 3 May 1946.  At the BBC Concert the it was performed by Watson Forbes and Alan Richardson.