New Year's Greetings

 A Happy and Prosperous New Year

To All Readers of

The Land of Lost Content

 Some Significant (and less so) Composer Anniversaries for 2024: 

Bi-Centenaries:

Edward F Fitzwilliam

Emma Macfarren

150 Years:

John Ansell

Ernest Austin

Edward Bairstow

Ethel Barns

Nicolas C Gatty

Fritz Hart

Gustav Holst

Hugh S Roberton

H Waldo Warner

Centenaries:

Christopher Bunting

Trevor Duncan

David Gow

Ernest Tomlinson

American and Continental Composers Anniversaries

Anton Bruckner (200)

Bedřich Smetana (200)

Franz Schmidt (150)

Arnold Schoenberg (150)

Charles Ives (150)

Josef Suk (150)

Luigi Nono (100)

I would imagine that there will be many concerts and recitals arranged to commemorate the birth of Gustav Holst on 21 September 1874, not least from the English Music Festival.  Despite many recordings of Holst’s work, there are still many undiscovered or forgotten corners of his catalogue.

It would be encouraging to see some new record releases of pieces by Trevor Duncan and Ernest Tomlinson, two of the most outstanding British light music composers. The few pieces by John Ansell that I have heard deserve to be recalled at this time: the Windjammer Overture, Plymouth Hoe (a nautical overture), and the Overture to an Irish Comedy. Any of these pieces would make a splendid opening number in any orchestral concert.

And let Ernest Austin not be forgotten. Now recalled (if at all) for his remarkable Piano Trio No.4, op.26, there are plenty of opportunities for further exploration. He wrote a once popular organ piece, Pilgrim’s Progress, a symphony, Variations on The Vicar of Bray for strings, and his Stella-Mary Dances for orchestra, heard at the Proms during 1918. There is an intriguing Piano Sonata dating from 1907 that may deserve revival.

This year is also the centenary of the death of Charles Villiers Stanford one of the great forerunners of the British musical renaissance. He remains one of my personal favourite composers. Other significant centennial deaths commemorated in 2023 include Ferruccio Busoni, Giacomo Puccini and Gabriel Fauré.

Edward Bairstow and Charles Villiers Stanford will continue to be heard, particularly in “choirs and places where they sing.” That said, it would be good if one of Stanford’s Symphonies or concertos were to be given a concert performance.

As ever, it will be interesting to see how all these composers are represented in 2024 Proms season and other concert venues. I imagine that most of the British contingent will be largely ignored (except Holst). The Continental and American composers are big names that are permanently in the public eye, in the concert hall, the recital room, and the recording studio.  However, I do wonder how big the celebrations for Schoenberg and Nono will be in the UK.