It is an established fact that
during the 1930’s Eric Coates’s orchestral music displayed one of two
contrasting styles. On the on hand, there was the up-tempo, syncopated
‘dance-band’ mood used in The Three Men
and the London Again Suite. And on
the other, there was the post-Edward German ‘pastoralism’ which came to the
fore in The Meadow to Mayfair Suite
and the present work. Over his career, Eric Coates composed some 13 orchestral
suites: Springtime is the eleventh.
The Springtime Suite has three equally balanced movements: 1. Fresh
Morning: Pastorale, 2. Noonday Song: Romance and 3. Dance in the Twilight:
Valse which reflects the progress of a spring day. Each is around the four-minute mark. The work is scored for woodwind, brass, an
array of percussion including bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, side drum,
timpani and triangle as well as harp and strings.
Geoffrey Self writes that this
work has been overshadowed, even in the composer’s own mind. It is not
mentioned in his autobiography, Suite in Four Movements (1953). Self also notes
that it has not ‘received direct attention from the press.’ The work has been
unjustly neglected in comparison to several of his other Suites.
According to Payne, Coates was
working on the Springtime Suite at
the time he moved house from Baker Street to Berkeley Court. This music was
thought out ‘despite the chaos of unpacking.’ In a letter to Harold Lowe (12 June
1936) Coates explained that ‘the work is quite unpretentious and on the lines
of my old “Summer Days”, so please do not expect to hear anything
out-of-the-ordinary.’
Springtime Suite: Fresh Morning. |
The opening movement, ‘Fresh Morning’, looks back to the Edwardian pre-Great War era, with its innocent pastoral mood and carefree 6/8 rhythm. This certainly nods to Edward German, but also reflects the style of music that Coates was writing in the immediate post-Great War years. Coates introduces three tunes, all of which relate to the opening theme. Toward the conclusion, there is a delicious modulation into a loose and short-lived Gb major (7 flats). It is a perfect musical postcard of an English meadow, soaked in dew with the sun just peeping up from behind the hill.
This is contrasted by a
thoughtful ‘Romance’ that reflects on the sadness of a lost age or lover despite
its title being ‘Noonday Song.’ The movement opens with a wistful flute melody,
before the main ‘yearning’ theme is announced on the solo violin. This tune is characterised
by an upward leap of a minor 7th (e.g. G to F). This leads to a highly-charged
passage for full orchestra and harp culminating in a sweeping ‘allargando.’ The
movement closes with a quiet reminiscence of the opening flute melody. Self
writes that this movement alludes to some of the ideas included in the score Seven Dwarfs, later to be ‘recast’ as The Enchanted Garden.
The final movement, ‘Dance in the
Twilight’, is a splendid example of Eric Coates’ waltzes. I guess the impetus
and drive of this music suggests an evening ‘In Town’ rather that some rural
retreat or village hall. There are four ‘themes’ in this piece that are all
repeated with various endings. Its style may owe more to the ‘Scène du Bal’
from the Miniature Suite or ‘At the
Dance’ (Summer Days Suite) than to
the later ‘London’ based works such as From
Meadow to Mayfair. It is characterised by an optimism that seems
to blow away the sadder reflections of the previous movements.
The Springtime Suite was published by Chappell in 1937.
The first performance of Springtime Suite was on 13 May 1937,
played by Section C of the BBC Orchestra conducted by Eric Coates. Readers
should recall that the Coronation of King George VI had taken place on the
previous day.
This hour-long concert, mostly
conducted by Joseph Lewis, began at 6pm with Benjamin Britten’s delightful
movements on themes by Rossini, Soirees
Musicales. This was followed by the ‘Waltz’ from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and thee aria ‘Lend me
your aid’ from Charles Gounod’s opera Irene
(an adaptation of his The Queen of Sheba). The soloist was Parry Jones. The
second half of the concert included the Coates, Michael Balfe’s ‘Come into the
Garden, Maud’ and Haydn Wood’s Fantasia: The
British Empire. This last work was conducted by Wood.
For a modern view of Coates’s Springtime Suite, I quote a sentence
from Rob Barnett’s review of Eric Coates
conducts Eric Coates (Living Era Classics CD AJD201) He writes: The
mid-1930s were a productive time for Coates as we can hear in the rather
hackneyed-bland Springtime Suite
although the final ‘Dance in the Twilight’ is good and kicks the trend rather
well. (MusicWeb International, 7 Jan 2007). I disagree with contention that
this Suite is either hackneyed or bland. However, I can see that Barnett has a
problem with a stylistic appraisal of the final movement. As noted above, this waltz
does seem to belong to the city rather than the country.
Eric Coates conducted the Light
Symphony Orchestra in a recording of the Springtime
Suite made on 24 September 1937. This was released on HMV C2926 & 2927.
On the fourth side of these two 78rpm records ‘For Your Delight: Serenade’
(1937) was also included. Several subsequent recordings have been made.
There is a splendid recording of
Eric Coates’s Springtime Suite on YouTube. It is played by
the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by John Wilson. It was uploaded from the
now deleted CD ASV CD WHL 2112.
No comments:
Post a Comment