Out Deliused…by C.W. Orr’s A Cotswold Hill Tune (1937) Part II

A Programme Note: A Cotswold Hill Tune is written for string orchestra, with each section ‘divisi’ for most of its duration. This gives the composition a rich and heartfelt texture. It opens quietly, evoking a misty landscape. After a short pause, the ‘tune’ emerges. This is not based on a folksong but is a deliberate parody of Delius. The atmosphere is of quiet reflection and resignation. Yet there is a building intensity here – after the harmonic shifts that characterise the style of the models, the music sinks into a misty reflection. After another short pause the atmosphere lightens and it becomes a little less intense, perhaps wistful. Ass the conclusion approaches, there is a gradual lifting of the mist to reveal a sunlit landscape over the Severn Plain. It ends with a loud sforzando pizzicato chord. The aesthetic of this work is quite ‘reactionary’ in its musical language compared to the developing modernism in British music at that time.

This composition has as its exemplars in the Serenade for the Birthday of Frederick Delius (1923) by Peter Warlock, and maybe ‘Summer Valley’ (1925) for piano, by Ernest John Moeran. Both these works were dedicated to Delius.

A Cotswold Hill Tune was published in 1939 by J & W Chester.

Early Performance: Despite considerable investigation, I was unable to find a date and venue for the premiere of C.W. Orr’s A Cotswold Hill Tune. The earliest reference that I located was in the Radio Times (30 June 1939, p.23). It featured in the final programme exploring ‘Works by Midland composers.’ The concert was heard on Sunday, 2 July at 9.05 pm. Other music included ‘Slow Movement for strings’, and a ‘Prelude to an Arthurian Drama’ by A Hawthorne-Baker, a Fantasy: The Fox and the Crow by Frederick Bye, Elegy: In memoriam Dick Sheppard by G. Radford Williams. Interestingly, Orr is the only composer here that retains, albeit tentatively, his position in the concert hall and recital room to this day. The others are only subjects of passing references in library catalogues and forgotten reviews.

Recording: There is only a single commercial recording of Orr’s A Cotswold Hill Tune in the record catalogues. In 2000, Naxos Records released the first of six volumes of English String Miniatures. These CDs presented music by a wide range of composers crossing the divide between ‘light’ and so-called ‘serious music.’ Also included on this disc were works by John Rutter, George Melachrino, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs and Philip Lane.

Ivan March (The Gramophone, June 2000, p.77) was impressed by this disc, and observes that ‘the performances…are first rate, as is the Naxos recording.’ He thinks that the CD is ‘Winningly entertaining and marvellous value for money’. March says little about Orr’s music, save misjudging it as ‘folksy’, like the John Rutter ‘Suite’ which features delightful arrangements of such numbers as ‘O Waly, Waly’ and ‘Dashing away with the smoothing iron.’  Paul A. Snook (Fanfare September 2000, p.359) notes that ‘Orr's [work] prolongs the aura of mellow, gregarious good feeling…’ of this CD.’  

It is strange that an iconic impression of the English landscape such as C.W. Orr’s A Cotswold Hill Tune has not gained the popularity due to it. Admittedly, it is a short piece, and, as such may find some difficulty in securing a performance at an orchestral concert. On the other hand, its timing of just over five minutes, makes it an ideal choice for Classic FM.

Bibliography:
Hold, Trevor, Parry to Finzi: Twenty English Song Composers, (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 2002)
Lane, Philip CD Liner Notes NAXOS 8.554186 2000
Palmer, Christopher, "C. W. Orr: An 80th Birthday Tribute," The Musical Times, July 1973, pp. 690-692.
Rawlins, Joseph Thomas, The Songs of Charles Wilfred Orr with Special Emphasis on his Housman Settings, The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, D.M.A., 1972
Wilson, Jane, C.W. Orr: The Unknown Song-Composer, (Thames Publishing, London, 1989)

Discography:
C.W. Orr, A Cotswold Hill Tune with music by John Rutter, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, George Melachrino, Peter Dodd, Frank Cordell, David Lyon, Roy Douglas and Philip Lane Royal Ballet Sinfonia/ David Lloyd-Jones NAXOS 8.554186 (2000)

With thanks to the Delius Society Journal, Spring 2021, where this essay was first published.

Concluded.