The Reception History of Alan Rawsthorne’s Concerto for String Orchestra (1949): Part 1

Introduction. Alan Frank (1953) suggested that ‘one of… [Alan Rawsthorne’s] most successful recent works is the Concerto for Strings only.’  He continues: ‘Here, in this somewhat severe work, it is purely the force and logic of the musical reasoning that carries the listener along.’ He feels that the slow movement ‘shows strongly that serious reflective mood which…[is] very typical of him.’ Perhaps a little mischievously, he submits that this middle movement is effectively a set of ‘melancholy variations’ on ‘God Save the Queen, which it resembles thematically!’ It is a good, brief overview of one of Alan Rawsthorne’s most successful works.

Sixty-four years after Frank’s comments, this work is still highly-regarded by enthusiasts of Rawsthorne’s music. Unfortunately, this is not mirrored in contemporary concert halls: it has been heard on only three occasions at the Proms (1949, 1950 and 1953). BBC Radio broadcasts (Genome: Radio Times) have been relatively rare. There is currently only one recording of this work available (Naxos). Three other versions have disappeared into collectors’ archives.

In this essay, I will explore the genesis of the Concerto for String Orchestra, the world and the Proms premiere, the immediate reaction to the music and selective responses to the work during the past 68 years. This is a ‘reception’ history rather than a technical investigation of the music. However, for completeness, I have included Alan Rawsthorne’s programme note for the work, as well as references to the analyses by Paul Hamburger, John McCabe and Alan Poulton. The essay concludes with a discography and select bibliography.

Genesis. By the end of the nineteen-forties Rawsthorne had established a significant niche in British music especially for chamber and orchestral works and film scores. During this period, major works including the Concerto for Oboe and Strings (f.p.1947) the Clarinet Quartet (f.p.1948) and the Sonata for Cello and Piano (f.p.1949) were given their premieres. The year 1948 saw the film scores and incidental music for Saraband for Dead Lovers, X-100, Trimlachio’s Feast and No Other Road. The same year as the Concerto for String Orchestra was premiered, the Sonatina for Piano was first heard at the Wigmore Hall on 8 April 1949.  The pianist was James Gibb. The only other production from that year was the Cadenza (to Mozart’s Concerto [No.10] in E flat major for two pianos, K.365). From a personal point of view, the composer had ‘amicably’ separated from his wife Jessie Hinchliffe in 1947.

The Concerto for String Orchestra was written for, and dedicated to, The Dutch String Orchestra of Amsterdam and their conductor Gerard Schurmann. This orchestra was specially formed to include the most important soloists and chamber ensembles in the country. Dimitri Kennaway explained (The Creel Volume 7, No.4 Issue 25, 2014) how Rawsthorne, whilst visiting Amsterdam in 1948 to hear a performance of his Symphonic Studies, was impressed by the orchestra’s playing and immediately proposed writing a work for them.

Gerard Schurmann was born in the former Dutch East Indies in 1924, leaving for England at an early age.  He studied with Rawsthorne. Aged 21, alongside a career as a concert pianist, he held the post of Cultural Attaché at the Dutch Embassy in London. Through the good offices of Eduard van Beinum, then conductor of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Schurmann was appointed (1948) as resident conductor of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Hilversum for a two-year period.

John McCabe (1999) has explained that Schurmann was more a protégé, colleague and close friend of Rawsthorne rather than a pupil. Gerard Schurmann is still active, aged 93 years. For a detailed study of the relationship between the two men, see Alan Rawsthorne and Gerard Schurmann: A Great Friendship by Dimitri Kennaway in The Creel (op.cit.)

Programme Note. For reference, I include a transcript of the hand-written programme note by Alan Rawsthorne.

Concerto for String Orchestra…Alan Rawsthorne

1. Largo Maestoso - Molto Allegro

2. Lento e Mesto

3. Allegro Piacevole

The first movement is vigorous and aggressive. Its two principal subjects are contrasted in various ways, but they are similar in mood, and subsidiary figures carry this feeling through most of the movement. The main subject is stated in the first two bars, Largo, after which the real tempo, Molto Allegro, is immediately established with a subsidiary theme. The second subject is easily distinguished by its new rhythm, and is decorated by scales on a solo violin. This is an important moment to be aware of. The music becomes quieter, though still restless and protesting, and a solo viola enters with a cantilena derived from the opening of the Allegro.  The development proceeds, with inversions of the main subject and a dotted figure derived from a diminution of the second. Some relief from the turbulent character of the movement is provided by a solo violin which plays a short section of quieter music in a slower tempo; the mood is gentler though rather sad, and the accompaniment keeps up a certain agitation with its tremolandos. Soon the original characteristics re-appear. The reprise of the second subject is accompanied by a vigorous counterpoint running above it; the movement ends abruptly.

The second movement is in three main sections. The violas start by playing the principal theme, a melody that is slow and very sad but with a hint of a march-like tread emphasised by pizzicato cellos and basses. It is developed by the entry of the upper strings, which take the music to a climax and down again to a cadence-theme or codetta. A re-statement of the melody in the cellos and basses follows, working up to a still greater climax. The tension relaxes, and the first section ends quietly. The theme of the second section is very solemn and is characterised by irregular bar-lengths. It passes almost imperceptibly into the third section, which consists of a short re-statement of the opening melody, and a few bars of coda.

The last movement follows without a break. Now the mood changes, and a much sunnier and more care-free atmosphere prevails. The form is rather looser and more expansive; a number of ideas are involved. At the opening a flowing tune is played in octaves by first violins and violas, unaccompanied at first, followed by a secondary subject of a more playful kind. This leads, after a little development, to a new section in a faster tempo; a violin plays solo passages over chords on the rest of the orchestra, and figures from this are developed in wayward rhythms. A new melody arises out of all this, treated in imitation as a duet between violas and cellos, after which some of the opening music is referred to. This perhaps gives the movement something of a rondo-like feeling. Another new section presently appears, a fugato on a subject derived from the principal theme of the first movement. Eventually this subject is combined with the main melody of the present movement, which wins the day and leads to a recapitulation. The piece ends with a resolute coda.

Alan Rawsthorne: A Hand-Written Programme Note from the Rawsthorne Archives.

To be continued…

Bibliography
Dressler, John C., Alan Rawsthorne: A Bio-Bibliography (Westport, Connecticut, Praeger Publishers, 2004)
Frank, Alan, Modern British Composers (London, Dennis Dobson Ltd., 1953)
McCabe, John, Alan Rawsthorne: Portrait of a composer (Oxford University Press, 1999)
Poulton, Alan, ed, Alan Rawsthorne, Essays on the Music (Hindhead, Bravura Publications 1986)
The files of De Gooi, The Observer, The Times, Western Morning News, The Creel, The Gramophone, Music Review, Musical Quarterly, Musical Times, Notes, The Radio Times and Tempo.

This essay was first published The Creel: The Journal of the Friends of Alan Rawsthorne Volume 8, No.3, 2017