Robin Orr (1909-2006): Italian Overture (1952)

Strangely, Robin Orr does not elaborate on his brilliant and imaginative Italian Overture in his autobiography, Musical Chairs (Thames Publishing 1998). It is simply cited in the works list as being composed in 1952, but no further details are given. 

At the time of composition, Brechin-born Robin Orr was a lecturer at Cambridge University, as well as a professor at the Royal College of Music. Four years later, he would move back north of the Border to take up an appointment as the Gardiner Professor of Music at Glasgow University.  The present Italian Overture was the only work to be completed in 1952. The previous year saw the Serenade for horn and piano, Three Pastorals for soprano, flute/recorder, viola and piano. Also completed was the incidental music for Synge’s play Deidre of Sorrows. It would be another 11 years before Orr produced his first major work, the Symphony in One Movement (1963).

I enjoyed the vibrant work. The formal construct is the only reference to Italy in this piece. It is written in three-part “Italian Overture” rather than the usual sonata form. The Overture is scored for wind, strings, and concertante harpsichord. The keyboard is used in the outer movements, with strings only in the slow middle section. This “lyrical centrepiece” is the heart of this work with the music coming to a near halt. The action kicks off again with a fugue introduced by a solo bassoon. The general sound of the music is freely tonal, with gentle, rather than biting, dissonances. If there is no Italian feel to this music, there is nothing here that is remotely English (or Scottish) either. Igor Stravinsky is a possible contender for influence as is Paul Hindemith. Yet, this piece is no example of the Gebrauchsmusik music. It is complex, well thought out and demanding the highest standards of performance.

I was unable to locate the exact date of the premiere performance of the Italian Overture. It was heard at Barber Institute, University of Birmingham sometime during June 1952. The London Harpsichord Ensemble was conducted by the composer. In a reference in the Musical Times (December 1953, p.582), it is noted that the concert also included Bach’s Art of the Fugue.

The Overture was first broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 24 March 1953. It was the opening work in a “Concert of Contemporary Music” arranged in co-operation with the London Contemporary Music Centre. Other works heard at this concert included Elizabeth Maconchy’s Concertino for bassoon and strings with the final work being Alan Rawsthorne’s A Canticle of Man: a chamber cantata for baritone, chorus, flute and strings.  The Goldsbrough Orchestra was conducted by Edric Cundell and Mátyás Seiber (Rawsthorne) and the bassoon soloist was Gwydion Brooke. Both the Rawsthorne and the Orr have appeared on CD. The Maconchy awaits a premiere recording. 

Donald Mitchell, writing for The Musical Times (January 1954, p.31) reporting on a concert given by Leppard Chamber Orchestra conducted by Raymond Leppard at the Wigmore Hall on 9 November. He considered that the Italian Overture “was tenuous in musical substance, brittle in its instrumentation, faithful…in its allegiance to the small talk of Stravinsky, one might say of Dr. Orr's Overture that it is a representative example of our time's academicism.”

Robin Orr’s Italian Overture was released on CD in 2001, by Guild (GMCD 7196). The Northern Sinfonia was conducted by Howard Griffiths. Other works on this album included the composer’s From the Book of Philip Sparrow for mezzo-soprano and strings, the Rhapsody for string orchestra, and Journeys and Places for mezzo-soprano and string orchestra. The singer is Pamela Helen Stephen.

Reviewing the CD for The Gramophone (January 2001, p.87), Peter Dickinson was impressed by the entire disc. He begins by noting that Robin Orr “has been sadly neglected by the CD catalogue…” A situation that still pertains 20 years later. He reminds the reader that Orr is of the same generation as Lennox Berkeley: both were pupils of Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Turning to the “concise” Italian Overture, Dickinson remarks that the piece makes “imaginative use of the harpsichord and explores arresting Stravinskian rhythms.”

Paul Conway (MusicWeb International, 1 January 2001) considers that the opening section “is reminiscent of 1920s Stravinsky. The harpsichord spices the textures and acts as a concertante instrument rather than a soloist. It lends the piece a distinctive, gritty neo-classical timbre and makes a palette-cleansing start to the CD.”