Elisabeth Lutyens: Piano Music Volume 1

One of the recurring features of previous reviews of this CD (The Guardian and MusicWeb International) is the pointed fact that although great emphasis is being made by the media and concert promoters on playing “classical” music by women composers, these tend to be contemporary - alive today. Despite this rhetoric, few works are heard by a generation of composers from the mid to late 20^th century. These notables include Priaulx Rainier, Elizabeth Maconchy, Doreen Carwithen, Grace Williams and Elisabeth Lutyens. Gary Higginson has suggested that they may “scare the horses” if played too often, so are best avoided. This is especially the case with the last named. 

There is no doubt that Lutyens music is challenging, uncompromising and sometimes just hard work. For enthusiasts of British music, it is a million miles away from much of the received repertoire. But as Gary Higginson says wisely in his review, it is possible to like Lutyens and Finzi.

I am grateful to Nigel Simeone’s liner notes in my preparation of this review. The earliest piece on this disc is Plenum I, op.87 (not op.86 as stated in the text) completed in 1972. This was the first of four pieces devised for various instrumental forces. (Plenum II is for oboe and thirteen instruments, Plenum III for string quartet and Plenum IV for organ duet). “Plenum” is the Latin word for “fullness.” And this is appropriate. Lutyens once wrote that the title implied “Plenum Spatium – a space completely filled with matter…in musical terms, silence filled, emptied and refilled with sound.”

Three interesting points: the work has no bar lines, the entire piece is an example of a palindrome, one of her preferred formal devices, and there is a limited use of extended playing techniques such as “plucking or stopping the piano strings by hand.”

The best description of what the music sounds like is a “static soundscape,” where silence is as important as the notes. It is a truly beautiful work.

The Five Impromptus, op.116, dates from 1977. They were written for the Australian pianist Roger Woodward, who does not seem to have played them. Once again, there are no bar lines, thus allowing the pianist considerable rhythmic flexibility in their interpretation. It is suggested that the underlying structure may be a “compressed sonata” with “a discursive opening movement of accelerations and slowings-down, and a brief succession of quiet chords functioning as a central slow episode.”  If this analysis is correct, the complete set of Impromptus must be heard in the order written – and not excerpted. It is easy to describe these pieces as “gritty,” however, there is more than this. It is approachable and presents interesting and sometimes ravishing sounds. Anton Webern may be the inspiration behind this piece. This is a magical work that suspends time. There are moments of repose, and even the odd hint of a common chord.

The next work chronologically, are the Seven Preludes, op.126, commissioned by Jeremy Brown, and first performed by him in 1978. Several commentators have noted the influence of Claude Debussy in these pages. Lutyens herself had stated that her own music sat within the tradition of “French clarity” over “German expressionism.” Certainly, she had revolted against the diet of Brahms she had endured at the Royal College of Music! Like Debussy’s eponymous work, Lutyens’s Preludes are prefaced with a “descriptive subtitle” placed at the conclusion of each number. These were taken from John Keats’s writings. Examples are Strange Thunders from the Potency of Song, The Shifting of Mighty Winds That Blow Hither and Thither All the Changing Thoughts of Man and Starlight. There is a good balance in these pieces between an incipient impressionism, vigorous energy, and a despondent lyricism.

The Great Seas, op.132 (1979) is a major work by any stretch of the imagination. It is a long piece, lasting for seventeen minutes. In it, Lutyens explores her emotional response to the oceans in all their moods. To what extent her twelve-tone technique is clear in this piece, I am not sure. There does seem to be considerable flexibility in the planned progress of this music. The liner notes suggest that the “note rows were less closely tied to close-knit formal structures” than her earlier music. There is a timeless atmosphere here: one feels that it could go on for ever.

The latest piece on this disc is La natura dell’Acqua (The Nature of Water), op.154, written in 1981. It was to be her final work for the piano. Once again, silence here is as important as the written notes. At times, the music sounds like a monody, but here and there she introduces chords of varying density. Sometimes, just single notes are played and decay. The aesthetic behind this beautiful piece is artistic. Lutyens wrote “If you look at five paintings Turner did of the same subject, the first is lush and naturalistic, the one he did late in life you can hardly see what it is. It’s like late Cezanne. I’ve noticed that with old age – with certain exceptions – people know what to leave out. There is just the skeleton.”

Martin Jones is an ideal interpreter of these revelatory, and often enigmatic pieces. He brings a deep understanding and sympathy to this music, which rubs off on the listener.

The liner notes are excellent and make essential reading for anyone who wishes to enjoy (yes, I did say enjoy) these remarkable works.

There is nothing to fear in this CD. Despite Elisabeth Lutyens’s anecdotal fearsomeness in nature and in her work, all these pieces are approachable, even to listeners who do enjoy her despised “cowpat” school of music. I would suggest that if you like Debussy and early Messiaen you will enjoy virtually everything in this recital. And one last thought. In some of her documentary film scores, Twelve Tone Lizzie herself resorted to cow-and-gate pastoralism,

I hope that this CD is genuinely the first of several explorations of Elisabeth Lutyens piano music – both published and in manuscript.

Track Listing:
Elisabeth LUTYENS (1906-83)
Seven Preludes for piano, op.126, (1978)
The Great Seas, op.132 (1979)
Five Impromptus, op.116 (1977)
Plenum I, op.87 (1972)
La natura dell’Acqua, op.154 (1981)
Martin Jones (piano)
Rec. 28 April 2021, Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth, UK
RESONUS RES10291
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this CD was first published.