The first major biographical study was Richard Shead’s highly readable, Constant Lambert (Simon Publications, London, 1973, reissued by Thames Publishing in 1986). This book was originally authored just over 20 years after Lambert’s death. Unfortunately, Shead was hampered by the non-cooperation of some individuals, who could have made the story more accurate, especially concerning his personal relationships. That said, it remains an essential introduction to the man and his achievement.
The former poet laureate, Andrew
Motion authored The Lamberts: George, Constant and Kit which is an
important study of three members of the Lambert family. It was published in
1986 by Chatto and Windus. This tells of the “remarkable family…in which
accomplishment and promise are cut short, again and again, by bohemian life at
its most extravagant and self-destructive.” Motion examines the life and times
of Constant, preceded by an analysis of his father, George, an artist and
followed by Kit, his son, best recalled as the manager of the rock band The
Who.
In 2014, The Boydell Press published Stephen Lloyd’s scholarly biography: Constant Lambert – Beyond the Rio Grande. In this volume “every example of the career and life of this extraordinary, multi-talented man is examined.” Important discussions explore his enthusiasm for jazz as well as his “long standing affair” with Margot Fonteyn. This definitive study presents the reader with numerous musical examples, extensive appendices (containing a catalogue of Lambert’s compositions, his journalism, broadcasts, as well as the Sadler’s Wells London Repertoire).
Constant Lambert on Record
It is fair to say that most of Constant Lambert’s published music has been recorded at least once. Although many of these have been deleted from the catalogues, numerous are available second hand, on YouTube and streaming.
An early highlight was a long-playing album featuring the Horoscope ballet, coupled with the suite from Brian Easdale’s Red Shoes. This was released in 1949 and featured The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Lambert and Muir Mathieson (Easdale). It has been remastered in recent years on CD (ACMEM64CD).
In 1979 the Lyrita Record company issued the ballets Pomona and Romeo and Juliet. (SRCS.110/SRCD.215). The English Chamber Orchestra was conducted by Norman Del Mar. A major Lambert-only CD was released in 1992 on the Hyperion label, which included Summer’s Last Will and Testament, the Aubade Héroique and The Rio Grande. David Lloyd Jones conducted the English Northern Sinfonia with the Leeds Festival Chorus and the Chorus of Opera North (CDA66565). Two years later, the same company issued an important retrospective of Lambert’s less well-known music. This comprised the Concerto for piano and nine players, the remarkable Eight Poems of Li-Po sung by Philip Langridge, the Sonata for piano and the folk-tale Mr Bear Squash-You-All-Flat narrated by Nigel Hawthorne. The piano soloist was Ian Brown, accompanied by the Nash Ensemble (CDA66574).
The year 1999 was good for
Lambert enthusiasts. Hyperion (CDA67049) delivered the ballet scores of Pomona
and Tiresias performed by the English Northern Philharmonia under the
baton of David Lloyd-Jones. The same year saw ASV (CD WHL 2122) release a concert
of Lambert’s music, including the Merchant Seaman Suite, the Piano
Concerto (1924) as well as Pomona and the early ballet, the Prize
Fight. The soloist was David Owen Norris, and the BBC Concert Orchestra was
conducted by Barry Wordsworth. In 2006, Mark Bebbington recorded the piano
repertoire on the Somm Label. (SOMMCD 062)
Over the years, several
recordings have been published with Constant Lambert conducting concert and
ballet music by a variety of composers such as Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Walton, and
Waldteufel. Quite a few of Lambert’s ballet arrangements have appear on CD: Meyerbeer’s
Les Patineurs, Liszt’s Dante Sonata and William Boyce’s The
Prospect Before Us.
If you can only listen to one record…
One CD emerges as presenting a superb
overview of Lambert’s achievement. In 1992, a selection of three important
pieces was issued on the Argo label (436 118-2) – The Rio Grande, the
Concerto for piano and nine players and the ballet suite from Horoscope.
Barry Wordsworth conducted the BBC Singers and the BBC Concert Orchestra, with
soloists Kathryn Stott, piano, and Della Jones, mezzo-soprano. This CD was
subsequently reissued on Decca’s British Music Collection (473 424-2) in 2002.
The Gramophone magazine (October 1992) considered that this album
presented “essential works for anyone who wishes to gain a comprehensive
prospect of Lambert.”
Finally, if you can only hear one work…
This must be Horoscope
(1937). Here, Lambert explored “zodiacal theories” to create the book for this
ballet score. It tells the story of a man born with the sun in Leo, and the
moon in Gemini, and a woman, born with the moon in Gemini, but the sun in
Virgo. The progress reflects Leo and Virgo trying to keep the lovers apart, but
the Moon and Gemini finally bring them together.
The ballet has not been performed
since the wartime tour of Holland when the orchestral parts and the scenery
were lost. Luckily, a copy of the full score was retained in London. It is
normally heard as an orchestral suite using only five or six of the nine
surviving sections. Nevertheless, in 2004, Barry Wordsworth and the BBC Concert
Orchestra made a fine recording of the complete ballet (ASV CD DCA 1168). It is
coupled with William Walton’s Bach transcriptions, The Wise Virgins
(1940).
Contemporary assessment suggests
that Horoscope was a success because it is a perfect fusion of Constant
Lambert’s music, Frederick Ashton’s choreography and Sophie Fedorovitch’s stage
design. The score did not eschew melody and was richly orchestrated. One
reviewer, Arnold Haskell, considered that “with Horoscope, ballet, now
truly indigenous in England, reaches a splendid maturity.”
Concluded
With thanks to the English Music Festival’s journal, Spirited, where this essay was first published.
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