Commemorating Roberto Gerhard

Searching the News Bank online database reveals virtually no references to Anglo/Catalonian composer Roberto Gerhard at present. Despite 2020 being the 50th anniversary of his death, little has been done to commemorate this event. 

As far as I can detect, there are no new recordings of his music planned for this year. Clearly, Coronavirus 2020 has had a major impact on ‘live’ music, but I do wonder just how much attention would have been paid to him otherwise. He is not a composer one is likely to hear on Classic FM, despite there being several works or movements that would fit the narrow stylistic parameters of their broadcasting. 

Roberto Gerhard is well represented on CD, download and streaming. I guess that nearly half of his catalogue has been recorded. That said, there appears to have been very few releases in recent years. Presto Classical website lists 73 CDs currently available. These include a few discs entirely devoted to the composer, but most appear to be compilations featuring several composers. The most extensive survey of Gerhard’s music was issued by the Chandos label back in the 1990s.

Gerhard’s music ranges from the ‘approachable’ to the ‘difficult.’ It is often characterised by wit, a distinctly Iberian feel, complexity, and sometimes enchanting beauty. The stylistic range occupies a continuum from ‘light’ music, nationalist (Catalan) works to densely serial compositions by way of electronic scores, new instrumental procedures, and formal constructs

Brief Biography of Roberto Gerhard

• Roberto Juan René Gerhard born in the Catalonian town of Valls, Tarragona on 25 September 1896
• Studied piano with Enrique Granados and Felipe Pedrell in Barcelona, 1915-22.
• Published first work, Shéhérazade: song cycle for soprano and piano, 1917.
• Met Arnold Schoenberg in Barcelona, 1922.
• Studies in Vienna and Berlin with Schoenberg, 1923-28.
• Returned to Barcelona, 1929.
• All-Gerhard concert in Barcelona, 22 December 1929. Several works premiered at this event including the Wind Quinter (1928), Seven Haiku for voice and ensemble (1922, rev.1929), Concertino for string orchestra (1929), Six Folksongs from Catalonia (1928) Not well received.
• Married Leopoldina (Poldi) Feichtegger in 1930.
• Appointed Professor of Music, at the Escola Normal de la Generalitat, Barcelona, 1930.
• Head of the Music Department, Biblioteca de Catalunya, 1931–38. He edited much 18th century Catalan music.
• Adviser to the Ministry of Fine Arts, in the Catalan Government (1932-38) and to the Central Musical Council of the Republican Government, 1937–38.
• After the demise of the Republican Government, he emigrated to Paris, then to Cambridge, where he was offered a research scholarship at King’s College.
• Teaching at Summer School of Music at Dartington, 1956.
• Appointed Visiting Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan, 1960.
• Teaches composition at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, Massachusetts, 1961.
• Composes Leo for ensemble, which was to be Gerhard’s Last completed work, 1969.
• Roberto Gerhard dies at his home in Madingley Road, Cambridge on 5 January 1970.

Major influences on Gerhard’s music includes Catalan folk music, serialism, ballet, film, and theatre, as well as the early experiments in electronic sounds. Composers who influenced his music include Felipe Pedrell and Manuel de Falla from Spain, and Igor Stravinsky and Bela Bartok from the main trajectory of 20^th century music. Clearly, his years studying with Arnold Schoenberg had a major impact on his creative style. As a basic (simplistic) aesthetic principle, Roberto Gerhard’s oeuvre can be regarded as a unique synthesis of Catalan folk music and Schoenbergian serialism. This is not the full story but allows the listeners to approach the music with a considerable degree of understanding.

The diversity of Roberto Gerhard’s achievement can be explored in many of his most important works. These include the four completed symphonies, including the remarkable Symphony No.3 ‘Collages’ for orchestra and tape. Gerhard was working on a 5^th Symphony when he died. Other major orchestral works include the Concerto for Orchestra, and three concertos – for piano, harpsichord, and violin. Between 1934 and 1949 Gerhard wrote several stage works including the ballet scores Ariel, Soirées de Barcelone, Don Quixote and Pandora. In 1949 the radio premiere of his only opera, La Duenna was given by the BBC. This work was based on the eponymous comedy written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The score fused folk music and atonal structures. It was not fully staged until 1992.  Gerhard’s catalogue includes several chamber works, including two string quartets, the early Wind Quintet and the three ‘star sign’ based pieces, Gemini, Leo, and Libra, for several instrumental combinations. The most important choral work was an adaptation of Albert Camus’s The Plague for narrator, chorus, and orchestra. As noted, he was an early exponent of electronic music in the UK. Major contributions in this genre include the Audiomobiles I-IV and Caligula. Despite having been taught piano by the noted Spanish composer and pianist Enrique Granados, Gerhard wrote few works for the instrument. The most important are the early ‘proto-serial’ Dos Apunts (1921-2) and the ‘serial’ Three Impromptus (1950). There are also piano arrangements of Soirées de Barcelone and Dances from Don Quixote.

Six Essential Works
I have chosen six works that provide a good introduction to Roberto Gerhard’s music. Three important criteria have been considered. Firstly, that the music is easily available on CD, streaming or YouTube. Secondly, this limited selection must include pieces from across the composer’s career and finally, they can be challenging, but must not be off-putting or overly ‘difficult’. (Links accessed 29/08/20).

1. Ariel: Ballet (1934) for orchestra
2. Don Quixote (1940-41, 1947-49) Ballet in one act
3. Violin Concerto (1942-45) for violin and orchestra (see below for links)
4. Symphony No.1 (1952-53) for orchestra
5. Concerto for orchestra (1965)
6. Leo, Chamber Symphony (1969)

And, finally, if you have only time to hear one work:
It is difficult to select a single work from Gerhard’s catalogue, for as noted above, there were several stylistic trajectories, each resulting in much important and imaginative music. I have chosen the Violin Concerto which seems to transcend his entire career.

Roberto Gerhard's Violin Concerto was composed between 1942 and 1945 and was first performed in Florence during 1950. From the very first note, we are in a post-romantic soundscape which is at once familiar, yet mildly challenging. It has been described as 'radiant and expressive.' This Concerto is a successful blend of 'lush bi-tonality and occasional serialism' which never becomes confused. The entire work can be typified as 'bitter-sweet.'  The three movements are a varied mix of styles and mood. The first is lyrical and is presented in ‘sonata’ form complete with obligatory cadenza. There are several allusions to Spanish music in these pages – but it is not ‘folk music’ by any stretch of the imagination. The slow movement is a tribute to Arnold Schoenberg and, as such, it uses material from the Viennese composer’s 4th String Quartet. This is the emotional and introspective heart of the work. Interestingly, for a ‘violin’ concerto, Gerhard makes use effective use of the piano in this movement. The finale is by and large, a romp. Complete with the quotation from ‘La Marseillaise’, it is full of energy and exuberance. The composer meant the ambience of this music to define ‘freedom’. There is a more sober moment in the middle of this movement, but it soon gives way to a stunning presto - complete with castanets - which ends the piece in a strong and ‘defiant mood’.

Currently, there are two versions of the Violin Concerto available on CD. Both, to my ears, are equally good. The earliest was released on Argo ZRG 701 in 1972. Violinist Yfrah Neaman (is accompanied by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis. In 2008 it was re-released on Lyrita (SRCD.274). It was coupled with the Symphony No.4 ‘New York.’ The other version was released on Chandos (CHAN 9599) in 1998. The BBC Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Matthias Bamert with the violin soloist, Olivier Charlier. This CD was coupled with the Symphony No.1. The Chandos recording has been uploaded to YouTube and the Lyrita one here (both accessed 29/08/20)