Arthur Butterworth: North Country Impressionist: Part 1

Arthur Butterworth’s (1923-2014) catalogue contains a wide variety of music in various genres. He has sought inspiration from a number of sources including history, legend, literature and landscape. Some of his works are ‘absolute’ in the sense that they do not have any descriptive of allusive titles; however, there are a considerable number of compositions that have been inspired by topography. This includes the exciting Italian Journey and the Tundra Suite for large wind band. There is also an Exmoor Suite now withdrawn and the fine orchestral work Solent Forts.

It is closer to the late composer’s Pennine home that this essay proposes to consider. Throughout Butterworth’s composing career he wrote works that evoked the ‘Northern’ landscape. Many of these pieces have unambiguous titles: some of them are a little more oblique. By ‘Northern’, I imply the North Country of the United Kingdom (including Scotland) and not the further-flung reaches of Scandinavia.

Two major factors led to this particular interest. Firstly, Arthur Butterworth was born in Manchester and spent much of his time in and around Lancashire and Yorkshire. Inspiration for his music often came to him whilst exploring the vast tracts of moorland lying between these two great Pennine counties.

Secondly, it is no secret that Butterworth was a great admirer of the music of Sibelius. The composer’s house at Embsay in the Yorkshire Dales was called ‘Pohjola’ after the ‘Northland’ in the Finnish national epic, Kalevala. Butterworth has been described as the ‘English Sibelius’. This is a conceit and does not take into consideration the wide variety of musical influences on his art including Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arnold Bax, Hubert Parry and Edward Elgar. Yet the sound world of Sibelius does find considerable echo in Butterworth’s music. 

One of the problems of addressing the works of Arthur Butterworth is the lack of recordings of his music. Over recent years the Dutton Epoch and Classico CD labels have begun to remedy this deficiency; nevertheless only a small fraction of his catalogue is currently represented on disc. A number of works which were recorded from live performances or radio broadcasts circulate amongst enthusiasts of his music.  

In this essay I want to briefly consider five works that claim the listener’s attention as being particularly evocative of the composer’s beloved North Country landscape:-

1. The Path across the Moors, orchestra/brass band, op.17 (c.1959)
2. Three Nocturnes: Northern Summer Nights, op.18 (1959)
3. The Quiet Tarn (Malham) for orchestra, op.21 (1961)
4. The Moors – Suite for large orchestra and organ, op.26 (1962)
5. Coruscations for orchestra, op.127 (2007)

With the exception of The Moors, these works have all received professional recordings in recent years.

Other North Country inspired music would include:-

1. Lakeland Summer Nights for piano, op.10 (1949)
2. The Dales Suite, op.24 which was issued in two versions: brass band (1965) and orchestra (1981)
3. ‘Moorland’ Symphony for bass solo chorus and orchestra, op.32 (1967)
4. The Mancunian Way for large wind band, op.66 (1985)
5. The Kendal Clock for carillon, op.84 (1989)
6. Northern Light, op.88 (1991)
7. Mancunians for large orchestra and brass band (Hallé commission), op.96 (1995)
8. ‘Haworth Moor’: three songs for chorus and piano op.110 (2000)
9. Mill Town for large orchestra, op.116 (2003)
10. Grey Moorland: concert march for orchestra, op.134 (?)

Arthur Butterworth explained the genesis of The Path across the Moors, op.17. He told me that it was conceived when he was living in Manchester in 1958. It was on an early spring day – late February - whilst sitting at his piano, just ‘strumming.’ His late wife, Diana, suggested that she liked the tune, and asked what it was. Butterworth recalled to her that it was ‘something I remember from years ago – when, with two other boys from school, we used to go walking over the Pennine moors between Oldham and Huddersfield.’ Butterworth describes this landscape as:- ‘…wild, exhilarating moorland terrain, deep in heather, grouse and remote paths. On a rather windy day, with damp clouds and drifts of rain it is marvellous walking country. In the pre-war days …it was not bisected by the M62 but the old main road, the A62, could be seen like a thin ribbon, with motor lorries, like toys, far below us, piled high with cotton bales between the mills of Lancashire and the far off West Riding.’

Butterworth recalled that one day he and his friends came across ‘some rusty, derelict farm machinery and one of us took a photograph of it’. The main theme of The Path was inspired by mature reflection on these boyhood adventures.

The Path across the Moors is presented in an arch form but unusually there is no defined climax as such. Most of the work’s progress is relatively restrained, rarely rising above ‘forte.’ The music opens with some dark, almost eccentric, woodwind phrases that quickly establish the ‘legendary’ nature of this music. The strings do take over the action, but this is accompanied by an ominous sounding beat on the timpani.  Repeated trumpet notes followed by a gloomy chord announce something a little more ‘impressionistic’ in mood yet the menace in this music is never totally denied. The chords are insistent and create an edginess that becomes almost sinister. The moors between Manchester and Huddersfield can be scary places with little light emerging from the gloom. The millstone grit does not often allow for mental relaxation: it can impress dark thoughts on the mind. 

Dissonant brass chords suddenly dissolve into a more relaxed temper, before a reappearance of the prevailing woodwind melody. There is an anguished moment after which the music dies down to a reprise of the opening melody. A flute tune reminiscent of Debussy’s Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, brings the music to a quiet close. The orchestration is dominated by effective woodwind writing which seems to emphasise the piece’s haunted nature.

The composer told me that The Path was first performed in February 1958 by the BBC Northern Orchestra (now the BBC Philharmonic) under the baton of George Hurst. Butterworth indicated to me that the work received many radio broadcasts during the ‘sixties and early 1970s.

To be continued…

 

With thanks to the British Music Society where this essay was published in The Journal of the British Music Society 2015 Volume 38: 70-78

Also, thanks to MusicWeb International where elements of this essay were featured.