Cheltenham Festival: Twenty-Five Years of New Symphonies (1970-1994)

In 2014, I published two blog posts detailing the performance of symphonies at the Cheltenham Festival. The numbers are telling. The first decade or so (1946-1956) featured some 21 examples of the genre. The following 12 years (1957-1969) produced only 14 symphonic works. Looking at the next 25 years (1970-1994) has witnessed 7 examples. Most years in this quarter century did not feature a symphony.

It seems that the so-called and much mal-aligned ‘Cheltenham Symphony’ rapidly became a dying art. I hope to be able to investigate the years 1995 to date in a future post.

1970 William Alwyn – Sinfonietta for strings (Festival Commission)

1973 Anthony Gilbert- Symphony (Festival Commission)

1979 Malcolm Arnold – Symphony for Brass

1981 George Lloyd – Symphony No.4 (first public performance)

1985 Zsolt Durko – Sinfonietta for brass dectet

1985 Graham Whettam – Symphonic Prelude (Festival Commission)

1990 Paul Paterson – Symphony, op.69

None of these works have achieved more than a toehold in the concert repertoire, except for the Arnold and to a lesser extent the Alwyn.

It is good that William Alwyn’s astringent, neo-classical Sinfonietta should have several recordings. The premiere was on Lyrita SRCS.85 back in 1975. The composer conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This was re-released on CD (SRCD.229) in 1992. The following year Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra issued the Sinfonietta on Chandos (CHAN 9196) coupled with the Symphony No.5 and the Piano Concerto No.2. Finally, as part of their survey of Alwyn’s orchestral music, Naxos (8.557649) released a CD coupled with the Symphony No.4. David Lloyd Jones conducted the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Equally successful in the ensuing years has been Malcom Arnold’s Symphony for Brass Instruments, op.123.  The earliest recording was by the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble on a remarkable Argos LP (ZRG 906) published in 1979. This was coupled with Leonard Salzedo’s Capriccio for brass quintet and Raymond Premru’s evocative Music from Harter Fell. The Symphony was reissued as a part of the Decca boxed set of Arnold’s symphonic works, (Decca Universal 4765337, 2006).  The same year the Fine Arts Brass issued a CD of Arnold’s brass music on Nimbus NI 5804, which included the Symphony.

           

For a work as important and impressive as George Lloyd’s Symphony No. 4 it is hard to believe that there are only two recordings currently available. The first, by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Edward Downes, was released on vinyl in 1984 (Lyrita SRCS 129). It has subsequently been reissued (Lyrita, SRCD.2258, 2007) coupled with Lloyd’s Symphonies Nos.5 and 8.  In 1988, the Albany record label, AR 002R, issued a CD with the composer conducting the Albany Symphony Orchestra. My preference is for the Downes version.

Finally, there is a single recording of Zsolt Durko’s ‘astonishingly’ complex Sinfonietta performed by the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble on Chandos 8490, 1987. It is a remarkable piece of ‘modern music.’

It seems that the time may be right for the symphonies by Paul Patterson, Graham Whettam and Anthony Gilbert to be revived.