Sadly, British Methodism has been
in decline for many years. The figures tell the story. In 1906 there were around 800,000 chapel members
in the United Kingdom. This dropped to around 600,000 in 1980. Forty years on,
there are estimated to be about 173,000 people ‘who have made and sustained a
commitment to Christian discipleship within the Methodist Church.’ There are
many more who are not formally members, but regularly attend services. The
fallout from this decline, has been the closure of many chapels, in both cities
and towns. Some of these buildings have historical associations dating back more
than two centuries. The High House Chapel in Ireshopeburn, Upper Weardale, is a
good example. Built in 1760, it was until last year the world’s oldest
Methodist chapel still in regular use. It
is recorded that John Wesley visited some 13 times. Originally having more than
250 members it declined to 20 by the time it closed its doors to worshippers
during 2019. Fortunately, the nearby Weardale Museum, located in the old manse,
has bought the redundant chapel and aims to restore it. It will become a
heritage centre and arts museum. Rachel Swaffield, chair of the Friends of High
House Chapel has indicated that ‘it is a fantastic opportunity for the museum,
while maintaining it for its Methodist history.’ (Teesdale Mercury, 31
May 2019). It is possible that the venue will still be used as a place of
worship.
The present DVD records a special
concert given on 1 June 2019, as a part of the fund-raising activities. It
featured a retrospective of music by North Country composer David Jennings. The
soloists were Pamela Redman, violin and Ken Forster, piano. For details of the
composer, please visit his excellent website.
The recital opens with Three
Irish Pieces for violin and piano, written in 2011. Jennings has explained
that when he wrote these pieces, he had not visited Ireland. They were
dedicated to his fiancée, now his wife. She hails from Ireland. The opening
number was inspired by W.B. Yeats’s poem ‘When you are old.’ Perhaps a strange
choice for a piece dedicated to one’s future wife! Remember that the last verse
dwells on the fact that ‘Love fled’ and ‘Hid his face among the stars.’ This
music is romantic and poignant. The second piece is an expressive ‘nocturne’
which is flowing and sincere. A touch of Vaughan Williams here, I think. The
finale is a romp. This ‘jig’ has all the fire and passion that would be
expected from Irish musicians after a glass (or two) of Guinness. It is a thoroughly enjoyable Suite.
David Jennings’s Three
Sonatinas, op 2 were completed in 1985. The composer had just become a
teenager. I understand that they have been subject to ‘a little mature
revision.’ Their musical style nods to Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen
although they are never pastiche. That said, they are not like so many
sonatinas: didactic pieces designed to improve the tyro pianist’s technique. The
first two have three movements each and No.3 has four. Each movement is given a
title, some of which are generic, like ‘Prelude’, ‘Minuet’ and ‘Finale.’ Others
are a little more poetic, such as ‘Elegy’, ‘Nocturne’ and ‘Moto Perpetuo.’ My favourite movement is the ‘Nocturne’ from
Sonatina No.2. All three Sonatinas
present wistful and sophisticated music that never falls back on sheer
sentimentality or mawkishness. Although
I have not seen the scores, I can confidently state that they are technically
difficult, without being virtuosic, demanding the listener’s concentration from
the first note to the last. They are a superb achievement for a 13-year-old
schoolboy.
When I reviewed (here)
these pieces back in 2012, I felt that all three sonatinas should be heard at a
sitting, in numerical order. That is what has happened on this DVD, save the Three
Lyrical Pieces are interposed just before No.3. And this was played after
the interval. I still hold to my original contention.
These Three Lyrical Pieces,
op.17 were composed in 2010; they are dedicated to fellow composer Robin Field
and his wife, Jean. Jennings explained
that the middle movement ‘Cavatina’ was the first to be written. It was a
commission from ‘The Lakes 2010 Piano Competition.’ This piece is a delight,
nodding back to the musical language of the Sonatinas. Jennings felt that it was too short (just
under two minutes) to ‘stand on its own’ so he wrote the opening ‘Evening
Twilight’ which found its muse in a water colour by George Barret, Jr.
(1767-1842). The last number is a rather peculiar little ‘Waltz’ which seems to
have got its traditional attributes mixed up: every so often the music falls
into 4/4 time. Harmonically, this is the most ‘advanced’ of these Lyrical
Pieces. Nothing too ear bending, just a little bit of welcome piquancy.
David Jennings’ Passacaglia and
Fugue (In memory of Arthur Butterworth), op.12 is a concatenation of two pieces
composed several years apart. The opening ‘passacaglia’ was originally part of
the finale of his Piano Sonata. op.1 which was begun in 1988 and completed in
its original form in 1995: it was further revised in 2009. Interestingly, this
Sonata was much admired by Arthur Butterworth (1923-2014).
The second part of op.12, the
‘Fugue’, was formerly included in the composer’s Serenade for orchestra,
op.16. The remarkable thing about this
piece is that it is not an elegy as such. There is nothing depressing or sombre
about this music. The passacaglia opens
with a beautifully expansive tune heard first on the piano and then the violin.
This is elevated music, without a hint of sentimentality. The fugue on the other
hand is bouncy and full of energy, with a surprisingly powerful coda. Paul
Conway (Musical Opinion, July-September 2019) has suggested that
‘Jennings chose to convey something of Arthur’s positive and forward-looking
character.’
The Harvest Moon Suite,
op.19 was written in 2010. It is inspired by the work of six nineteenth century
English watercolourists. As the composer is keen to point out, this is not a North
Country Pictures at an Exhibition. The key difference is that Modest
Mussorgsky wrote music that was largely dramatic, whereas Jennings has created
a suite that is typically romantic and lyrical but also sometimes deeply
reflective in mood. There are six descriptive movements: ‘Stags in Knole Park’
(Robert Hills), ‘Aira Force’ (Edward Richardson), ‘The Haunted Abbey’ (William
Payne), ‘Harvest Moon’ (George Barret, Jn), ‘Harlech Castle’ (Thomas Miles
Richardson) and ‘Innisfallen Lake’ (George Fennel Robson). Stylistically, these pieces are in the
trajectory of 20th century British piano music. Echoes may be heard
of John Ireland and York Bowen. Yet this is not pastiche, but a genuinely
attractive suite that speaks in the composer’ own ‘dialect’. I guess the
success of the Harvest Moon Suite derives from the inherently
bitter/sweet nature of the musical language. Finally, it is worthwhile to
search for these paintings on the Internet.
The last work was the ‘world
premiere’ of the heartfelt A Weardale Rhapsody for violin and piano. For
those whose geography is a wee bit rusty, Weardale is a valley largely in
County Durham which runs from the grouse moors around Burnhope Seat in the high
Pennines, eastwards towards Durham. The River Wear itself flows along this
valley, eventually falling into the North Sea at Sunderland. Weardale was once
important for lead mining, and several relics of this industry can be found
here. It was the workmen and their families who were part of the impetus for
the Methodist Revival which became a stronghold of the faith in the late 18th
century.
David Jennings told me that this Rhapsody
was ‘inspired by the landscape, people and history of the valley.’ He insists
that he aimed ‘to write a work that is direct and of broad appeal which
celebrates a surprisingly little-known, but nevertheless very special part of
our country.’
The is a tri-partite work,
although there is a strong impression of through-composed music here. The
opening is lyrical, with wonderfully exhilarating upward violin passages (larks
ascending?). This music is poised in mood. The central section introduces material
that is folk-like in character. The piano part is toccata like in sound. If I
didn’t know the title of this piece, I would have wondered if Scotland might
have been the stimulation here. Eventually, the opening theme returns, but this
time in a more decorated form and much richer in texture. Here are birds
singing and water gurgling down rills. The work fades away into the early
morning mist, with some quiet harmonics on the violin accompanied by multi-note
arabesques on the piano. It is a lovely, evocative work that achieves its
stated aim of ‘rhapsodizing’ on the Pennine landscape.
During the performance, the music
was accompanied by a splendid ‘visual aid’ projected onto a screen behind the
soloists. These featured photographs of Weardale captured by ‘talented local
photographers’ however, the DVD viewer does not see enough of this.
There are two issues with this
excellent conspectus of David Jennings music. Firstly, it must be accepted that
it is not a ‘professional studio recording.’ This is not a criticism of the
violinist and pianist’s performance, but quite simply the recording. An ‘electric’
piano was used, and this sounds good. As
it is a live performance, there are one or two coughs, some applause and the
odd thing falling to the floor.
Secondly, and I think more
significantly, there is no booklet. The composer told me that he personally
introduced each piece, but it was not included in the DVD. This is a pity.
Apart from reading my review[!], the viewer will need to investigate details of
each work from other recordings of this music, where available. Furthermore,
there is no ‘cueing’ on the disc. The programme is divided into two ‘parts’ but
the viewer has to guess where they are in the programme. This is helped by the
fact the titles of the sheet music can sometimes be seen on the piano… I guess
that a little text note introduced onto the DVD would have been helpful.
This is a great introduction to
David Jennings instrumental music. Several of these pieces appeared on the
Divine Art record label (dda 25110) in
2012 (reviewed here
and here).
However, the Three Irish Pieces, the Passacaglia and Fugue for violin
and piano, and the recent Weardale Rhapsody are ‘premiere recordings.’
The DVD is priced £10 with all
proceeds going to the Weardale Museum. It is available from Rachel
Swaffield; her email is rachel_swaffield@hotmail.co.uk
(note the underscore between her names). It can also be ordered directly from
the Weardale Museum, Ireshopeburn, Bishop Auckland, DL13 1HD (Tel: 01388
517433) during the periods the museum is open.
DVD Details:
David JENNINGS (b.1972)
Three Irish Pieces for violin and piano, op.20 (2011)
Sonatina No.1 for piano, op.2 no.1 (1985)
Sonatina No.2 for piano, op.2 no.2 (1985)
Three Lyrical Pieces for piano, op.17 (2010)
Interval
Sonatina No.3 for piano, op.2 no.3 (1985)
Passacaglia and Fugue for violin and piano, op.12 (1988,
rev.2017)
Harvest Moon Suite for piano, op.19 (2010)
A Weardale Rhapsody for violin and piano, op.22 (2018)
Pamela Redman (violin), Ken Forster (piano)
Rec. High House Chapel, Upper Weardale, County Durham, 1
June 2019
Oculum Productions 2020 [62:14]
No comments:
Post a Comment