This is a splendid opportunity
for me to backtrack to the beginning of Christopher Guild’s survey of Ronald
Stevenson’s piano music. Although I had previously reviewed Volumes 2, 3, 4,
and 5 of this cycle for MusicWeb International, the initial volume,
released in 2015, seemed to have slipped past me. I have made extensive use of
the learned liner notes provided for this album in my review.
The CD opens with A Wheen Tunes fae Bairns tae Spiel dating from 1964, but not published until 1967. The title “translates” as “A Few Tunes for Youngsters to Play.” They were written for Stevenson’s youngest daughter, Savourna, to perform. Despite their brevity and relative technical ease, they are rewarding for a pianist of any ability. The four numbers are Croon, Drone, Reel and Spiel. Listeners will detect the influence of Percy Grainger and Béla Bartók in these pages. Certainly, Grainger is evident in Croon and Drone and there is a Scottish flavour to Reel and Spiel (Spiel is Scots for “Play” as in any game). All four are over in the blink of an eye.
A Scottish Triptych is a key work. It was created over an eight-year period, beginning in 1959 with the Keening Sang for a Makar: In Memoriam Francis George Scott. Scott was a Scottish composer recalled for some of his 300-plus songs and piano music. He was part of the Scottish Literary Renaissance along with writers and poets such as Hugh MacDiarmid, Edwin Muir and William Soutar. The basic melodic material for this stark and dissonant piece is derived from the cipher FGS – F, G and Eb. Ronald Stevenson included a quotation from Scott’s song, ‘St Brendan’s Graveyard: Isle of Barra’ with text by Jean Lang.
Love him or hate him, “Marmite” poet Hugh MacDiarmid had a huge influence on Scottish letters in the twentieth century. He was also known for his outspoken political views, some of which Stevenson came to share. The second “panel” of the Triptych is the Heroic Song for Hugh MacDiarmid is full of rhetorical flourishes and animated conversation. Stevenson has used a medieval Scottish New Year song as one of the melodic sources for this piece. The Song successfully presents three facets of MacDiarmid’s character – “The Poet Speaks,” “The Poet Laughs,” and finally, “The Poet Dreams.” Stevenson achieves this by contrasting acerbic music with something much more spiritual. Yet, there is another side to this music: this is an evocation of the Scottish landscape as well as the poet. The Heroic Song was commissioned by the BBC in celebration of the poet’s 75th birthday. It was first broadcast (a year or so late) on 6 January 1969, played by the composer.
The final part of the Triptych
is the Chorale-Pibroch for Sorley MacLean. Maclean (1911-1996) was a
Gaelic poet whose muse included European history, socialist politics as well as
wide-ranging Scottish traditions. For many years, Sorley MacLean lived on the lovely
isle of Raasay near to Skye. Stevenson’s take here includes the use of the
pibroch (a form of music for Scottish bagpipes, consisting of a theme and
variations) Calum Salum’s Salute to the Seals. This is a “haunting
lament of brushed, hammered and plucked strings…” It is my favourite section of
the Triptych: it manages to evoke the misty seascapes where “we in
dreams behold the Hebrides!”
The South Uist (Hebridean) Folk-Song Suite (1969) is easily approachable. These are settings of original folksongs collected and published by Margaret Fay Shaw. They reflect the crofting and farming communities in the years between the two World Wars. Stevenson wrote about these pieces: “In this suite sounds the music of a day in the life of an island woman, with its toil and rest against the background of sky, sea and land.” These are “working” and “living” tunes. The Sailing Song is lively and cheerful. This is followed by the A Witching Song for Milk with its enigmatic left-hand figuration. A Little Mouth Music mimics the local vocal accompaniment to a reel. The title of the next number Waulking Song suggests music sung by the womenfolk when they were “waulking” or fulling cloth. The speed of this miniature builds up and brakes as the material is softened. Spinning Song opposes a melody in triplets against an accompaniment in semiquavers. A good representation of the task in hand. Next is A Tired Mother’s Lullaby written in ternary form, with a faster middle section. This is quite beautiful: heart-breaking in its simple, but powerful impact. Equally effective is The Child Christ’s Lullaby which presents a moving tune, “bathed” in soft modal harmonies. A wonderful close to this haunting suite.
A Rosary of Variations on Sean O Riada’s Irish Folk Mass (1980) is an ideal “marriage of vocal and instrumental styles.” The liner notes explain that the themes were “borrowed” from O Riada’s music. It evolves through several variations that balance complexity with simplicity. This is a long composition (fifteen minutes) that explores many moods, including some “fierce” passages that seem far removed from the nature of the Mass. Despite the liner notes insisting that this “is one of Stevenson’s finest works,” I cannot get my head around it. It just does not work for me.
The final offering, Scottish Folk Music Settings, features ten well kent (and not so well known) Scottish Tunes. These were written between 1956 and 1980 and published by the Ronald Stevenson Society in 1999. They are all “Lovingly and reverently dedicated to the memory of Percy Grainger.” Songs include the sad, modally infused Ca the Yowes which suggest the clarsach. Those of us who are getting on in life will appreciate the nostalgia of Rabbie Burns’s John Anderson, My Jo, with its subtly wrought canonic counterpoint. Lang have we been parted, evokes for this listener at any rate, half remembered walks with now “Absent Friends and Lovers.” There is a huge sadness in The Hielan’ Widow’s Lament. Equally longing is the Ne’erday Sang, commemorating the Old and the New Year with all its regrets and possibilities. It is quite simply flawless.
This CD needs to be explored slowly. Certainly, the South Uist Folk-Song Suite and the Scottish Folk Music Settings must be heard as discreet pieces. It is all too easy for these tiny miniatures to blend into one amorphous mass of sound.
Christopher Guild’s playing is
always sympathetic and are imbued with a deep and scholarly understanding of
Ronald Stevenson’s music. It cannot be faulted.
As always with Toccata albums, the liner notes are excellent. These were authored by David Hackbridge Johnson and provide everything the listener needs to know to enjoy and understand this remarkable music. Non-technical descriptive analysis is balanced by well-considered contextualisation of each piece. There is a brief introduction to Ronald Stevenson, as well as a note about the soloist.
This is a satisfying CD in every
way. It makes a perfect introduction to Ronald Stevenson’s music. I know (as
mentioned above) that it has been followed by a further four volumes. Hopefully
several more are planned.
Ronald STEVENSON (1928-2015)
Piano Music, Volume 1: A Celtic Album
A Wheen Tunes fae Bairns tae Spiel (1964)
A Scottish Triptych (1959-67)
South Uist (Hebridean) Folk-Song Suite (1969)
A Rosary of Variations on Sean O Riada’s Irish Folk Mass (1980)
Scottish Folk Music Settings: (1956-80)
Christopher Guild (piano)
rec. 21 and 24 August 2014, Recital Room, Edinburgh Society of Musicians, Edinburgh
TOCCATA CLASSICS TOCC 0272
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