First up, is Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin (The Tomb of Couperin) (1914-17), which was originally a piano suite. The composer insisted that it was “a tribute not so much to Couperin himself as to Eighteenth Century French music in general.” Certainly, each movement’s title nods to the 17th/18th century clavecinists but uses “modern French harmonies.”
Despite being written during the
First World War, this is not a depressing or even elegiac piece. That said,
each movement was dedicated to one of the composer’s friends who had been
killed in the fighting.
Ravel orchestrated Le Tombeau
in 1919, omitting the last two movements, the Fugue, and the Toccata.
The orchestral suite was first performed under Rhené-Baton, conducting the
Pasdeloup Orchestra on 28 February 1920. The neglected movements were
orchestrated by Kenneth Hesketh in 2013, using the same orchestral forces as
Ravel.
The Sinfonia of London give a wonderful performance here, with especial magic created by the woodwind department.
Lennox Berkeley’s Divertimento
for orchestra in B Flat Major, op.18 (1943), was commissioned by the BBC and is
dedicated to his teacher, the redoubtable Nadia Boulanger. The piece is in four
movements: Prelude, Nocturne, Scherzo and Rondo. It
was premiered at the Bedford Corn Exchange on 1 October 1943 by the BBC Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Clarence Raybould. The Divertimento has been well
summed up by the critic Alan Frank, (cited by Peter Dickinson, sleeve notes,
SRCD.226) who considers that Berkeley found “a light way of expressing serious
thought…illuminated by a Latin clarity.” Alec Robertson (The Year’s Work in
Music, 1948-49) states that the “Divertimento…is, at least in the
outer two movements, an excellent answer to the objection that the contemporary
composer leaves out so many things that people enjoy and includes so many that
they do not.”
There is always going to be a discussion as to whether this work is to be regarded as “light music” or something a little more serious. Certainly, the melancholy slow movement, and the astringent scherzo, go beyond what would have been standard on Friday Night is Music Night. It is given a powerful performance by the Sinfonia of London.
Between 1946 and 1968 Lennox
Berkeley was Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music. Adam Pounds
had sent some early scores to him, including his prize-winning Oboe Quartet by
way of “self-introduction.” Although retired from teaching, the elder man was
prepared to offer Pounds “a little general advice” beginning in 1976. This
arrangement lasted for three years. The booklet explains that “Berkeley
constantly impressed…the importance of always composing with the needs of
performers in mind, and above all with clarity and economy: ‘write only the
notes you need!’ was his defining mantra.”
I am beholden to Mervyn Cooke’s liner notes for background details to Adam Pounds’ Symphony No.3. This grew out of his reaction to the succession of national lockdowns engendered by the Covid19 pandemic beginning early 2020. Actual composition was between February and May 2021, during the second major lockdown. Pounds has stated that he has captured the “sadness, humour, determination and defiance” which was the emotional response by the public at large.
The Symphony is conceived in four contrasting movements, reflecting
the above-mentioned sentiments. The orchestra is small and devoid “of vast
ranks of percussion, or multiple brass instruments.” Stylistically, the work is
tonal, with little in the way of harsh dissonances and few modernistic melodic
or rhythmic devices.
The opening movement presents three ideas that are occasionally Ravelian in mood and at times echoing the redoubtable “Cheltenham Symphony” – and none the worse for that. It creates a sense of “the dawning of a new, uneasy day.” There are “two interruptions by fast, powerfully dynamic music suggestive of what Pounds has termed ‘a driving force of determination.’” The second movement is a “waltz.” Cooke states that it is in the “well-established tradition of unsettling danses macabres to which composers as diverse as Saint-Saëns, Britten and Shostakovich memorably contributed.” I am not sure just how ghoulish I found it. It is certainly a tour de force of orchestral writing, which, dare I say, could easily become excerpted on Classic fM. The heart of the Symphony is the slow Elegy which is dedicated to all those who lost their lives during the pandemic. I am not a fan of Anton Bruckner, but I get Pounds’ point that it has the “strong influence” of that composer. It is quite beautiful and deeply moving. The finale, which projects “defiance,” opens with a march that nods to Shostakovich. Echoes of earlier movements emerge, bringing the symphony to a fulfilling and bold conclusion. Whatever the impact of Covid19 on this work, it is filled with optimism and never gives in to hopelessness. It is a splendid addition to the British symphonic repertoire.The performances are both authoritative and satisfying, complimented by an outstanding sound recording. Mervyn Cooke’s programme notes are helpful at all times. They are printed in German and French as well as English. Resumes of the Sinfonia of London and John Wilson are included.
This
remarkable new CD explores three fulfilling works by three composer that are
interconnected by pedagogical history.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Le Tombeau de Couperin (1914-17, 1919)
Lennox Berkeley (1903-89)
Divertimento in B flat major, op.18 (1943)
Adam Pounds (b.1954)
Symphony No.3 (2021)
Sinfonia of London/John Wilson
rec. 22-24 November 2022, Church of St Augustine, Kilburn, London.
Chandos CHSA 5324 SACD
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