A year or so ago, I wrote a post
about Charles O’Brien’s (1882-1968) Scottish
Scenes, op.17 and concluded this was a work that was wholly Scottish but
devoid of the clichés of rampant tartanry. The second set of Scottish Scenes,
op.21 date from the same year, 1917: they are equally effective and musically
satisfying. At this stage, I am not sure what works constituted the intervening
opus numbers.
Like its companion set, the Scottish Scenes, op.21 consists of three
movements. The opening ‘Tor and Tarn’ is powerful and dramatic. I did wonder if the word ‘Tor’ was
particularly Scottish: I rather imagined it was more Peak District or West
Country, implying a high rock or top. However, the Oxford English Dictionary assures me that the word is used in
Scotland, albeit in a slightly different sense. It would appear to apply to
artificial burial mounds. One example given is the village of Torrance in the
shadow of the Campsie Fells, to the North of Glasgow. The same could be said
for the ‘Tarn’ which seems to be devoid of Scottish usage. This is often associated
with the North of England and the Lake District. Word derivations aside,
O’Brien has created a work that balances several musical Scotticisms, most
importantly the Scotch Snap and its ‘long-short mirror image.’ This is music
that is filled with a surprising mix of gloom and grandeur, perhaps appropriate
to thoughts of death and still waters. The melodies tend toward ‘pentatonic’
(black notes on the piano), however O’Brien brings several technical devices to
this music, including ‘pianistic flourishes’ and subtle chromatic alterations
to his tunes. The formal progress of ‘Tor
and Tarn’ never seems to be in the same key for very long. The movement closes
with a powerful coda.
I love the gentle ‘Mid the
Bracken.’ For me this is a love lilt. The composer has created an attractive
melody that sounds Scottish, without quoting any tune. The middle section of
this ternary piece is quite beautiful, albeit too short. Philip R Buttall in
his review
of this work for MusicWeb International,
has noted that ‘…the opening few bars sound uncannily like the ‘Young Prince
and the Young Princess’ theme from Scheherazade,
with a few melodic embellishments.’ Look out also for the subtle use of the
whole-tone scale which may be the composer’s homage to Claude Debussy.
Scottish Scenes, op.21 closes with a romping evocation of ‘Heather
Braes.’ John Purser (CD liner notes) explains that this movement is ‘to be
played with martial decisiveness.’ I am not sure that this is about military
manoeuvres in the Western Highlands. There are a few moments of repose, which
provides the walker or tourist with a moment for reflection, however the main
drive of the piece is quite simply a paean of praise to the Scottish scenery. The
massive coda is both exciting and dramatic. Purser wisely concludes that the
‘heather is undoubtedly in full bloom.’
Paul Mann, commenting in the
liner notes for Volume 1 of the Orchestral works, summed up the composer’s
achievement: ‘O’Brien’s image of Scotland didn’t come from the top of a
shortbread tin. His is a country of ruggedly beautiful, sometimes inhospitable
landscapes…’ This holds good for the
present Suite for piano.
Scottish Scenes, op.21 can be heard on Charles O’Brien: Complete
Piano Music Volume 1 Toccata
Classics TOCC0256 [65:25] with Warren Mailley-Smith, pianist. Other works
on this disc include Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 14 (1910), Deux Valses, Op.
25 (1928) and the Scottish Scenes, Op. 17 (1915)
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