The earliest music on this CD are
the Three Impromptus for piano, written in 1959 and dedicated to John Ogdon. They
are brief pieces that do not resemble the longer, more developed examples by
Schubert, Chopin and Fauré. An Impromptu is usually defined as an extended song
form, giving the impression of an improvisation. McCabe’s examples are
certainly not ‘extended’: the first lasts a mere 46 seconds. What he has done,
is to take one pianistic figuration or idea and given it a brief exposition
before closing it down, suddenly. Tamami Honma (ed. Odam, George, Landscapes of the Mind: The Music of John
McCabe, London 2009) has suggested they are more akin to Chopin’s shorter
Preludes than anything else. The first
is a vibrant little toccata in triplets, which suggests hunting and halloo, the
second is a melancholy ‘Sicilienne’ and the final impromptu is a ‘dramatic
fragment’, a ‘Vision Fugitive.’ I understand that there are two further
Impromptus in this set, which remain in manuscript. I wonder if Jane Page will
record these too?
The Five Bagatelles for piano’s sound
world is derived from a series or a tone-row. They were written in 1964 at the
request of publisher Robert Elkin, who needed material to help students engage
with serial music. Frank Dawes wrote (Musical
Times, June 1965) that they might well have been called ‘Serialism without
Tears.’ The titles are, Capriccio, Aria, Elegia, Toccata and Notturno. I have
not seen the sheet music for this work, but I understand that they use the
compositional process at an elementary level. McCabe, apparently, provided
helpful notes in the score. I have written before that they are well-imagined
and completely satisfying miniatures. McCabe may have utilised serial methods
in this work, but he has not allowed ‘the constructional process…to…interfere
with their magical quality and sheer beauty.’
I first came across John McCabe’s
Afternoons and Afterwards for piano
when it was published around 1982. It was a collection of seven short,
well-crafted, pieces designed to ‘fill the gap between starting to learn the
piano and playing ‘real’ music.’ In other words, they are around Grades 5 and 6
of the Associated Board Examinations. Now, I am not happy with the use of the
word ‘real’ music. I have played many pieces of piano music in the lower Grades
(1-5) which include Bach, Haydn and Beethoven. Whilst many of these ‘grade
pieces’ are at a lower technical level, they are still little masterpieces:
they are most definitely ‘real’ music.
Each of the seven pieces in Afternoons and Afterwards has an
imaginative title, but somehow the liner notes and the CD cover do not list them:
perhaps they assume everyone knows them! First up, is the ruminative ‘Swans at
Stratford’, with its drifting, dreamy, slightly dissonant chords. This is
followed by the languorous meditation ‘On the Beach’. I have never really associated John McCabe
with ‘Champagne and Waltzes’, (he did enjoy malt whisky) but the third piece is
just that: a ‘Champagne Waltz.’ This is a sad little dance, with not much
sparkle and cork-popping, but it is quite delicious. Maybe the lover has gone
away and the other partner is left sipping the ‘giggle water’? The fourth piece is ‘Sports Car’. This was
inspired by a friend who owned just such a vehicle: lots of fast movement,
pressing forward, with a little hold up towards the end. I have never heard of
a ‘Game of Darts’ being represented musically before, but McCabe achieves this
feat in the fifth piece. One can almost sense the pulling back of the hand and
the slight thrust forward with the dart hitting the wire. ‘Forlane’ is on more
traditional lines. This is a lovely piece which is taken a little slower than I
would have imagined. Famous examples include the fourth of Gerald Finzi’s Five
Bagatelles for clarinet and piano, and the fourth movement of J.S. Bach’s
Orchestral Suite in C major. The last number in Afternoons and Afterwards is ‘The Artful Dodger’. Everyone knows
Jack Dawkins, the wonderful character from Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist. The music portrays his
skill and cunning in petty theft and is very much an exercise in ‘Jack the Lad’.
On the other hand, John McCabe may have had the East End (of London) pub of the
same name in mind. All these ‘grade’
pieces are played with enthusiasm and a complete lack of condescension by Jane
Ford.
The ‘Lamentation Rag’ (1982) was
commissioned by the BBC to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Haydn. John
McCabe was one of six composers who were invited to write a combined ‘Homage to
Haydn.' The other five (not mentioned in the liner notes) were Lennox Berkeley,
George Benjamin, Richard Rodney Bennett, Robert Sherlaw Johnson and Edmund
Rubbra. The composer provided a note in the manuscript (the work has never been
published) that states: ‘The melodic line of this short piece is entirely
derived from the musical transliteration of the name FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN.’
Apparently, the title was chosen for two reasons: ‘it seems to suit the nature
of the piece’ and it refers to one of the composer’s favourite early Haydn
Symphony. (No.26 in D minor). It is a lugubrious piece that is softly ragtime,
but never really becomes pastiche.
One of the most remarkable series
of piano works produced by any 20th British composer is John
McCabe’s series of thirteen Studies. The first, a ‘Capriccio’, was composed in
1969 and the last, the ‘Berceuse’ in 2011.
The composer himself recorded
nos. 3, 4 and 6 on an old British Music Society disc, BMS424CD which was subsequently reissued on
Naxos 8.571367.
As the present CD is Volume 1 of a projected ‘complete works’ cycle, I assume
that Jane Ford will record all these pieces.
The earliest Study presented on
this disc is the Paraphrase on ‘Mary, Queen of Scots’ (Study No.5). McCabe has
balanced two distinct musical traditions here. Firstly, he has writtten a
Prelude and a Fugue and secondly, by means of this ‘academic’ form he has devised
a ‘traditional’ operatic paraphrase in the style of Liszt or Thalberg. Almost a
contradiction in terms: but it is a huge success.
The themes are derived from
McCabe’s ballet Mary, Queen of Scots,
which was written in 1975 for the Scottish Ballet. The Prelude portrays the
personal side of the Queen: it is quiet and introverted and quite beautiful, if
occasionally a wee bit disturbing. The Fugue is about her public face: the
themes represent the ‘political battle of wills and clash of personalities’
between Mary and Queen Elizabeth I. It
was commissioned by the Kelso Music Society in 1979 and was first performed by
the composer at a society meeting in Kelso on 11 January 1980.
Snowfall in Winter (Hommage à
Debussy) (Study No.9) was composed after a visit to Lithuania. Tamami Honma
(op.cit.) explains that the inspiration for the music came from a local version
of baked Alaska presented to a group of musicians and the Japanese attaché at a
Russian restaurant in Vilnius. The pudding was called ‘Snowfall in Winter.’ The
‘hommage’ comes to the fore in its allusion to Debussy’s magical ‘Des pas sur
la niege’ (Footsteps in the Snow) from Book 1 of the Préludes. McCabe’s brittle
and icy score certainly takes its cue from the Frenchman, but he moulds the
material in his own imaginative manner.
I used to think that Tunstall
Chimes (Hommage à Ravel) (Study No.10), referred to Christ Church in the
Potteries town of Tunstall. This is probably because of a family connection
with that part of the world: I was wrong. The piece was inspired by the bells
of Tunstall Church, near Sittingbourne in Kent, close to where the composer
lived in his latter years. There is a connection to the Ravel work, with a
quotation of some chords at the beginning of the first ‘fast’ section. The
composer describes his music as a ‘toccata’ although there are slow sections in
the middle of the work. It certainly achieves its aim: if you heard some of
this work ‘blind’ one may start to wonder if it was a lost, late work by Ravel.
This Study was commissioned by
the British Music Society as a test piece for its Piano Awards Competition.
This was held at Trinity College of Music, London on 31st October 2004 where
the winner was Dominic John.
In 2006 McCabe wrote his Epithalamium
(Homage to Mussorgsky) (Study No.11). The score of this work is inscribed:
‘Commissioned by John Sell: Dedicated to his wife Jane Wade and to Malcolm
Binns.’ The work is a juxtaposition of the intimate songs sung before the
bridal chamber by Greek lads and lassies, and the crashing chords found at the
at the start of the ‘Coronation Scene’ in Modest Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov. The connecting theme is
the bell-like music that permeates the study: wedding bells and coronation
bells. The formal construction is that of a set of variations. There is feeling
of impressionism about this music, that makes its piano figurations seem almost
timeless (at least, over the past 125 years). It is an engaging piece that is
characterised by great beauty and striking pianism.
The final piece on this CD is
also the last of John McCabe’s Studies. Berceuse (Study No.13) was commissioned
by the Birmingham Chamber Music Society for their Diamond Jubilee Season
2011/12. It was premiered in the Adrian Boult Hall, at the Birmingham
Conservatoire on 18 February by the composer.
McCabe has written that two
concepts are combined in this work. Firstly, the romantic idea of a Berceuse as
a kind of lullaby, although he assures us that this work is not designed to
rock the cradle. Secondly, McCabe has created two themes of almost equal
temperament (deliberately lacking contrast) and has alternated them, before
uniting them in the final bars. The tune is often played by the left hand with
a right-hand accompaniment. The sound world is haunting and remains with the
listener long after the last notes have died away. The work was dedicated to
John and Mary Joubert.
The liner notes for this CD are a
bit unusual. There is no acknowledgement of who wrote/assembled them. They include
cuttings from the composer’s own programme notes (e.g. use of the first-person
singular) and extracts from the above-mentioned essay by Tamami Honma in Landscapes of the Mind: The Music of John
McCabe. Honma is only cited as the source for an adaptation of a programme
note for the Three Impromptus. Clearly,
there is little written about John McCabe’s piano music: I had to rely heavily
on Honma’s essay, reviews in the musical press, the liner notes and McCabe’s
website for preparing my review. There is also a brief note on the composer,
and a memoir of McCabe by the composer Giles Easterbrook.
N.B. I have cited the exact titles as published on John McCabe’s website not as written in
the sleeve notes.
Finally, I understand that many
of the works on this CD are receiving there premiere recording: this fact
should have been mentioned.
I enjoyed this CD, which will hopefully
be followed up (soon) by subsequent volumes to complete the ‘complete’ works.
The playing by Jane Ford is imaginative, inspiring and sympathetic: she is a
perfect advocate for John McCabe ‘kaleidoscopic’ music.
Track Listing:
John MCCABE (1939-2015)
Three Impromptus for piano (1959)
Five Bagatelles for piano (1964)
Paraphrase on ‘Mary, Queen of Scots’ (Study No.5) (1979)
Afternoons and
Afterwards (1981)
Lamentation Rag (1982)
Snowfall in Winter (Hommage à Debussy) (Study No.9) (2003)
Tunstall Chimes (Hommage à Ravel’) (Study No.10) (2004)
Epithalamium (Homage to Mussorgsky) (Study No.11) (2006)
Berceuse (Study No.13) (2011)
Jane Ford (piano)
PRIMA FACIE PFCD054
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.
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