There is a three-fold hermeneutic that can
be used to appreciate Ronald Stevenson’s music. The first principle to
understand is that he is an eclectic composer. Stevenson has used scales and
structures from around the world. Secondly, he was a man born out of his time.
He ‘sits’ in a trajectory of virtuoso romantic pianists including Franz Liszt,
Ferruccio Busoni, Percy Grainger, Ignaz Paderewski and Leopold Godowsky. All
these men were distinguished composers and applied themselves to original works
and writing arrangements, transcriptions and fantasias of other people’s music.
And thirdly, Ronald Stevenson was born in Blackburn, Lancashire on 6 March 1928,
but early on adopted Scotland as his ‘national’ home. He took a huge interest
in Scottish literature, music, politics (he was a Marxist for many years) and
sociology. He knew several writers of the Scottish Literary Renaissance,
including the wayward but brilliant Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley Maclean. Which
brings us round in a full circle. Despite being enthusiastic and knowledgeable
about ‘world music’ at a time when few bothered, it is the Scottish musical
world that colours much of his work.
Volume
2 of Kenneth Hamilton’s conspectus of Stevenson’s piano music begins with the
first and third numbers from a A Scottish Triptych with the Norse
Elegy sandwiched between them.
I
found the first piece of the Triptych the hardest to come to terms with.
Some of the music’s progress is harsh and dissonant: it feels that is has been
hacked out of Highland granite. Yet, other moments in this ‘wailing for the
dead’ create a sense of magic and wonder. This Keening Sang [not ‘song’
as in the booklet] for a Makar was dedicated to the masterly, but now
largely overlooked Scottish composer Francis George Scott (1880-1958). Where
recalled, he is best known for some of his 300-plus songs. Scott was part of
the Scottish Renaissance along with writers Hugh MacDiarmid, Edwin Muir and
William Soutar. Ronald Stevenson has included a quotation from Scott’s song, ‘St
Brendan’s Graveyard: Isle of Barra’ (Jean Lang).
The
second ‘panel’ of the Triptych was a ‘Heroic Song for Hugh MacDiarmid’. This
was included in Volume 1 of this series.
The
‘Chorale Pibroch’ (1967) dedicated to the Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean (1911-96).
His poems are like Stevenson’s music in that he fuses diverse elements, including
Scottish traditions, with a deep understanding of European history, literature,
and (socialist) politics. His poetry has
been translated into English by several hands, including the poet himself. Sorley
MacLean lived within sight and sound of the sea on the island of Raasay, near
Skye.
Ronald
Stevenson has used ‘extended piano techniques’ with glissandi played directly
on the strings. There are pipers’ drones
and Scotch Snaps. A rhythmical allusion to ‘Scots wha hae wi’ Wallace bled’ is
heard, but uses an original (by Stevenson) melody, ‘Pibroch: Calum Salum’s
Salute to the Seals’ written for the Highland bagpipes. The Chorale Pibroch is
quite a harsh piece in places, but sometimes expresses the magical,
mist-covered coasts and hills where ‘we in dreams behold the Hebrides’
Enthusiasts
of Edvard Grieg will recognise a well-kent tune in the Norse Elegy for Ella
Nygaard (1976-79). Lookout for a very stylised ‘take’ on the opening of the
A minor Piano Concerto. Equally subtle is a reference to the opening bars of
Mozart’s 40th Symphony. Stevenson takes these two theme-ettes and
creates a set of variations which vacillate between tranquil and ‘tormented’.
The title refers to the late wife of the Norwegian sculptor, physician and
friend of Percy Grainger, Kaare Nygaard. (This work’s title is printed
throughout with only one ‘a’ in Nygaard. Is this deliberate or an error?)
Two
works that seem to nod towards Percy Grainger’s piano music are the Barra
Flyting Toccata and the Toccata-Reel: ‘The High Road to Linton’. The word ‘flyting’ refers to a stylised
‘debate’ between men/women of letters, who delight in being more and more
abusive towards each other’s poetic and literary abilities or lack of them. But
they are usually the best of friends! Stevenson’s Toccata is full of life,
features boogie-woogie riffs and complex counterpoint. The Toccata-Reel is
based on an old Scottish fiddle melody which Stevenson takes, and twists and
turns it to his own ends by using it as a basis for a short but vivacious set
of variations. Linton is a village in Peeblesshire where Ronald Stevenson spent
much of his life and wrote a large proportion of his music.
Kenneth
Hamilton (in the liner notes) overplays the Brigadoon qualities of Frank
Merrick’s Hebridean Seascape, arranged here for solo piano by Ronald
Stevenson. This is an impressive panorama by any standards. I concede that it
has all the attributes of a film score. But there is not really a sprig of
heather or a tartan ‘bunnet’ to be seen amongst the Thalbergian ‘sea-spray’
arpeggio decorations. The musical onomatopoeia describing the seagulls may be a
wee bitty o’er the top, but overall the piece works well, without being ‘kailyard’.
Think Cornish Rhapsody (Hubert Bath) and the listener will not go far
wrong. The original music is the slow movement of Merrick’s Piano Concerto No.2 (1936?). This can be
heard as written on NIMBUS NI8820-25. The complete concerto (along with No.1)
is available on YouTube, however, I do hope that one day it will be issued in a
new CD version.
To be continued...
Track
Listings:
Ronald
STEVENSON
(1928-2015)
A
Scottish Triptych: Keening Sang for a Makar: In memoriam Francis George Scott
(1959)
Norse
Elegy for Ella Nygaard (1976-79)
A
Scottish Triptych: Chorale Pibroch for Sorley Maclean (1967)
Toccata-Reel
“The High Road to Linton” (includes a Coda by John Fritzell) (1978)
Barra
Flyting Toccata (1980)
Frank
MERRICK
(1886-1981) /Ronald STEVENSON: Hebridean Seascape (c.1936? /1986)
Little
Jazz Variations on Purcell’s “New Scotch Tune” (1964/75)
A
Threepenny Sonatina: Homage to Kurt Weill [Sonatina no.5] (1987/88)
Recitative
and Air: In Memoriam Shostakovich (1974)
J.S.
BACH (1685-1750)/Leopold
STOKOWSKI (1882-1977)/Ronald STEVENSON: ‘Komm, süsser Tod’ BWV 478
(1991)
Henry
PURCELL
(1659-95)/ Ronald STEVENSON:
Hornpipe
(1995)
Three
Grounds: Ground in C minor (1955); Ground in E minor, transcribed as Ground in E
flat minor, (1957); Ground in D minor (1958)
Toccata
(1955)
The
Queen’s Dolour- A Farewell (1959)
Kenneth
Hamilton (piano)
Rec.
No date/location given.
PRIMA
FACIE
PFCD 107
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