I first came to the music of William
Alwyn by way of the Symphonic Prelude:
The Magic Island and the great Third Symphony. I can still remember hearing
this ‘new’ Lyrita record (SRCS 63, 1972) being reviewed on Radio 3’s Record Review programme. I was living in
Glasgow at the time, and it was with great hope and excitement that I went into
‘town’ that morning to secure a copy at Cuthbertson’s Music Shop in Cambridge
Street. I was successful, and was
suitably impressed by this new (for me) discovery. However, it left me wanting more of Alywn’s
music. Lyrita did continue to release a
number of works by the composer, including all the Symphonies. In the early
1990s Chandos began to publish what was effectively a retrospective of Alwyn’s
music including a number of ‘first recordings.’ In the new millennium the
mantle was taken up by Naxos who issued a wide variety of music including many
scores that were thought to have been lost.
Genesis
& Background
William Alwyn composed three examples of Concerti
Grossi- the first in B flat in 1943, the second in G in 1948 and the present
example in 1964. Glancing at the
composer’s catalogue for that year reveals a fairly sparse workload with only a
Fanfare of Welcome and the present
work listed. The previous year or so had seen the Clarinet Sonata and Twelve Diversions for piano as well as
the score for the film The Running Man,
which was his last contribution to the big screen. His previous major orchestral score had been
the Piano Concerto No. 2 in 1960.
William Alwyn’s Concerto Grosso No.3 was
completed at the composer’s Blythburgh residence in May 1964. The work had been commissioned by the BBC to commemorate
the 20th anniversary of the death of Sir Henry Wood (1869-1944). Alwyn
has written that ‘throughout
the years between the wars Sir Henry Wood was the focus of my musical world. I
played in his orchestras and he performed my music – the first at a ‘Prom’ in
1927.’ The last ‘novelty’ to be rehearsed at the Queen’s Hall before the
disastrous air-raid destroyed so much musical history was Alywn’s Overture for a Masque. So this Concerto
Grosso is a genuine tribute from the composer to the conductor.
Charles Searson writing on MusicWeb International has given an interesting
anecdote: ideas for this work were ‘immediately sketched by Alwyn on the back
of the envelope which carried the commissioning letter from the BBC.’ The completed work was dedicated ‘To the
ever-living memory of Sir Henry Wood.’
Analysis
The genre of Concerto Grosso was an important
Baroque form. It was devised by Alessandro Stradella. The actual name was first
used in a series of ten works (1698) by Giovanni
Lorenzo Gregori followed by examples from the Italian composer Arcangelo
Corelli. The form is characterised by the use of a small
group of solo instruments called the ‘concertino’ or ‘principale’ against the
full orchestra, which was defined as the ‘concerto’, ‘tutti’ or ‘ripieni’. In
the Baroque era the ‘concertino’ often consisted of two violins, a violoncello
(thorough-bass) and a harpsichord – the same forces as constituted the Trio
Sonata. The ‘ripieni’ was typically a
string orchestra, although later examples of the form may have included
trumpets, oboes, flutes and horns. Early exponents of the Concerto Grosso
included Giuseppe Torelli and Pietro Locatelli. The developing form had a considerable
influence on George Frederic Handel, Antonio Vivaldi and on the Brandenburg
Concertos of J.S. Bach.
In the 20th century the Concerto Grosso was
‘rediscovered’ by a number of composers keen to move away from the romantic
violin concertos of the romantic age. These included Ernest Bloch, Ralph
Vaughan Williams, Heitor Villa Lobos and more recently Philip Glass and
Krzysztof Penderecki.
William Alywn has shied away from the traditional
concept of the Concerto Grosso: he makes no use of the group of soloists. What
he has done is to use sections of the orchestra as a ‘de-facto’ concertino. In
the first movement the brass dominates, in the second it is the turn of the
woodwind, whilst the final ‘elegy’ is led by the strings.
The Concerto Grosso No.3 is in three
movements: - Maestoso - moderato e ritmico (rhythmic), Andante con moto-vivace
and Andante con moto. The scoring is for
large orchestra (3 flutes (+ piccolo), 3 oboes, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 4 horns,
3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, strings and harp.
The work opens with six commanding chords
(motto theme) before progressing into an ‘energetic’ tune given by the full
orchestra. The second subject or ‘idea’ is derived from the opening theme, but
is presented by quiet unison strings and is answered by the woodwind. The brass comes to the fore in this movement
with the horns playing a louder version of this second theme, immediately
followed by the trumpets and trombones. There is a slightly more relaxed string
passage followed by a short ‘development’ before a fanfare-like climax leads to
a reprise of the opening theme. The movement ends quietly except for the final
‘fortissimo’ chords.
The second movement is effectively a
scherzo, however the ‘gigue-like’ exuberance is preceded by an ‘andante’ based
on the opening theme of the first movement. The lower strings are not used in
the latter ‘vivace’ section of the scherzo.
The finale is effectively the slow
movement of the Concerto Grosso. According to the composer’s programme notes,
the theme continues from where the ‘andante’ of the scherzo left off. There is
an ‘extended’ tune for cellos that is reminiscent of the main theme from
Elgar’s First symphony. This theme is heard again on ‘full strings’. The
movement and the work concludes with a ‘final threnody’ which brings together
woodwind, brass and strings.
The composer wrote that although the work is a
tribute to Henry Wood, it is not ‘a morbid ‘in memoriam’, but is composed on
broad, vigorous lines’. Alwyn believed that Sir Henry would not have wanted
anything too solemn.
Performance
and Reception
The premiere of William Alwyn’s Concerto Grosso
No.3 was given at Prom 22: Twentieth Anniversary of the Death of Henry Wood on
Wednesday August 19 1964 at the Royal Albert Hall. The composer conducted the
BBC Symphony Orchestra. Other works,
which were all conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent, included J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D
minor in Wood’s own orchestral arrangement, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, and Jean Sibelius’s
great Symphony No. 5 in E flat major. The concert concluded with a performance
of William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast.
Mary Alwyn wrote that after the first performance,
the composer received a letter from Sir Henry Wood’s widow: ‘Well do I know how
pleased Henry would be. Please know how deeply I feel your homage to your old
friend.’
The Times reviewer (August 20 1964) considered
that the Concerto Grosso was ‘a concise, deftly scored piece in three movements
saving up its main emotional weight for the final threnody.’ He felt that it
was in this last movement that Alwyn ‘truly mourns the loss of a friend.’ The two
preceding movements are ‘extrovert’ and the composer ‘deliberately turns his
back on grief in order to pay tribute to the robuster virtues of the musician
he so greatly admired.’ Clive Barnes
writing in the Daily Express (August 20
1964) was a little less enthusiastic: ‘Unhappily the work missed just that
musical character, vigorous and resilient, which Wood himself possessed in
abundance.’
The Daily
Mail (August 20 1964) reviewer noted that the work suffered by being
programmed just before Walton’s Belshazzar’s
Feast. He felt that the ‘comparison was too telling.’ Alwyn [makes] no
great demands on the listener, employed such a disjointed manner of writing
that I could derive no satisfaction from his first and second movements, and
the threnody in the last lacked sufficient eloquence.’ (August 20 1964, Michael
Reynolds).
Ronald Crichton (Financial Times August 21 1964)
stated that the work was written ‘in an English neo-classical style with
strongly Waltonian terms of phrase until, at the beginning of the final slow
movement, cellos muse nostalgically and seem to be on the point of quoting the
motto theme from Elgar’s First Symphony.’ Crichton concludes by suggesting that
this passage ‘strikes a genuinely elegiac note in a piece which otherwise makes
a decent if unadventurous impression.’ This ambiguous view was echoed by Arthur
Jacobs in the Sunday Times (August 23
1964) who felt that the work was ‘conscientious’ but written in ‘a
between-the-wars idiom which seems [stale]’.
Christopher Grier in The Observer (August 23 1964) submits that the Concerto Grosso was
‘easy of access, robust and effectively laid out.’ Once again the final
movement is recognised as being ‘elegiac’ and the emphasis on string writing
‘made the deepest impression.’
In William Alwyn’s autobiographical writing Winged Chariot (Southwell Press, 1983) he
recalls that the Concerto Grosso No. 3 was included in the last radio concert
of music that he conducted. The 75th Birthday Concert recorded by
the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow during October 1980 also
included the Overture: Derby Day, the Concerto for oboe, harp and strings and
the Symphony No.2. It was broadcast on
Radio 3 on November 7 1980.
In 1992 Chandos issued a recording of all three
Concerti Grossi coupled with the Concerto for oboe, harp and strings. Ivan
March reviewing this CD in The Gramophone
(September 1992) noted how much the Sinfonia of London under
Richard Hickox enjoyed playing these ‘inventive… [and] robust’ works. Considering
the Concerto Grosso No.3 he identifies the ‘full-blooded’ opening movement signifying
‘strength of character above all else.’ After the ‘swirling scherzo’ the final
movement appears as a ‘beautiful soliloquy that is almost, but not quite, a
funeral march, with a powerful brass-laden climax which flares up again before
the end, leaving a passionate sense of loss.’
Nearly a decade later Naxos issued the Concerto Grosso No.3 with David
Lloyd-Jones conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Jeremy
Dibble (Gramophone Awards 2011)
regards this as a ‘colourful’ work which is more like a ‘sinfonietta’ in its
fuller orchestration.’
Looking back on the
Concerto Grosso No.3 which was first performed 50 years ago, it is easier to
place it in the context of its time. I agree that the sound world of this work
does owe more to the ‘inter-war’ years. When one looks at other works being
produced at this time which includes music by Peter Maxwell Davies, Bo Nilsson,
Karlheinz Stockhausen and Hans Werner Henze, the work may well seem ‘dated’ or
at least a little old-fashioned’. Yet, other composers in 1964, such as Kenneth
Leighton, Alun Hoddinott and Malcolm Williamson were all writing music that
could also have been condemned as ‘lacking modernity.’ William Alwyn never experimented with the avant-garde
although he made limited use of a personalised serial technique and a constructive
use of dissonance in much of his music. Many of his works have been accused
(for better or worse) of being ‘filmic’ and it is true that this media in which
he excelled did cross over into his ‘art’ music. However, Alwyn produced a
considerable body of works which balance approachability and challenge. There
is little in his music to repel the listener. As a final thought, the nature of
the commission of this Concerto Grosso No.3 was a commemoration of Henry Wood
whose great achievement was made in the pre-Second World War years. It is
hardly surprising that William Alywn used a musical vernacular that would have
appealed to the elder statesman of music, rather than bemused him. From a personal point of view, I feel that the
Concerto Grosso No.3 is one of Alwyn’s minor masterpieces: it is certainly an
accomplished work that has stood the test of half-a-century.
Select
Bibliography
Alwyn, William, Programme Notes for First
Performance. (1964)
Sleeve Notes to Chandos and Naxos Recordings (see
below for details)
Dressler, John C. William Alwyn: A Research and Information Guide (Routledge Press,
2011)
Ed. Palmer, Andrew, Composing in Words: William Alwyn on his Art (Toccata Press, 2009)
Craggs, Stewart and Poulton, Alan, William Alwyn: A Catalogue of his Music
(Bravura Publications, 1985)
Wright, Adrian, The
Innumerable Dance: The Life and Work of William Alwyn (The Boydell Press,
2008)
Discography
Concerto Grosso No. 3 for
Woodwind, Brass and Strings + Concerto for oboe, strings and harp and Concerti Grossi
Nos. 1 and 2. Richard Hickox/Sinfonia of London. 1992. CD CHANDOS
CHAN 8866
Concerto Grosso No. 3 for
Woodwind, Brass and Strings + Concerto
Grosso No. 2, Seven Irish Tunes, Dramatic Overture: The Moor of Venice and
Serenade. David Lloyd-Jones/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra. 2011. CD NAXOS 8.570145
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