Gerald Finzi (1901-56) Prelude, op.25 for string orchestra (late 1920s.)

The Prelude, op. 25 for string orchestra was originally the first movement of a projected chamber symphony with the rustic title of The Bud, The Blossom and the Berry. This was to have been, in effect, Finzi’s Seasons. These movements were written after the composer had moved to London and had come under the aegis of Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The work was never completed, although the composer did revisit the score in later years.

The piece was recovered from Finzi’s sketches after his death. The other surviving movement from this abandoned project is The Fall of the Leaf.  

The Prelude begins quietly, followed by a solo violin adding its thoughts, before the music builds up to a restrained climax, where, for a short while the predominant sadness suddenly reflects the warmth of spring. However, even this short-lived rapture is tinged with melancholy.  The harmonic structure of the work is largely straightforward, but here and there some mild dissonances add to the music’s introspection.

Finzi scholar Diana McVeagh has remarked that the temper of the Prelude is ‘gloomy’ and hardly presents the mood of ‘spring’, which was its original intention. Listeners must recall that much of Finzi’s music meditates on the transience of life. This melancholy temperament may have been encouraged by the profound impact of his father’s death in 1909: nine years later, Finzi’s music teacher Ernest Farrar was killed at Cambrai in the last months of the Great War.

Gerald Finzi’s Prelude was given its premiere posthumously at St John’s Church, Stockcross, Berkshire on 27 April 1957. The Newbury String Players, which Finzi founded in 1940 and had a long and deep association, were conducted by the composer’s son, Christopher. The work was published by Boosey & Hawkes the following year.

With thanks to the English Music Festival where this programme note was first published. 

Ravel 150: The Complete Songs on Signum

Listeners of a certain vintage will have been introduced to the songs of Maurice Ravel by way of Gérard Souzay and Janet Baker. To be sure, neither of them issued a ‘complete’ edition, however, it allowed interested listeners to gain a great introduction to this varied repertoire. Until this new release from Signum, my go-to version was issued by EMI in 1984 (EMI Classics – 5 69299 2). This featured a star-studded cast including Felicity Lott, Teresa Berganza, and Jessie Norman. The piano was played on this album by Dalton Baldwin.

Many years ago, I discovered a good hermeneutic for appreciating Ravel’s vocal music in a remarkable study of the composer by Norman Demuth. He suggested that they can be divided into three “distinct” categories. The first are the Chansons or Mélodies – or art songs, with piano accompaniment. Secondly, settings of found tunes where Ravel provided the piano accompaniment and thirdly, there are a few “elaborate” pieces that are devised for voices and a selection of instruments.

Signum have featured a largely chronological order over two discs, which makes for an interesting exploration of this repertoire. I consider here what for me are the highlights, with a couple of thoughts about one or two numbers that do not work, at least for me.

Ravel’s best known song cycle is Shéhérazade (1903) which takes its inspiration from the Tales of the Arabian Nights. The cycle presents three numbers that conjure up the exotic, mysterious, and sensual qualities of the stories. Ravel has infused them with impressionistic harmonies and a flexible vocal line that points up the evocative lyrics devised by Tristan Klingsor. The first, Asie, looks at the wonders of the orient, the second, La flûte enchantée majors on a woman listening to her lover playing the flute, whilst in the last, L’indifferent, the female singer attempts to gain the interest of a young stranger only to discover that he is gay. The performance here is pure magic. Every nuance of the imaginative and highly charged texts is captured by Paula Murrihy and Malcolm Martineau but not forgetting the evocative flute playing of Lisa Friend.

The Histoires naturelles (1906) caused a considerable scandal at the first performance. It is just not what the audience were expecting. The setting of animal poems by Jules Renard, are complimented by Ravel’s “biting humour and sarcasm.” Flora and fauna explored include The Peacock, The Cricket, The Swan, The Kingfisher, and The Guinea-hen. The vocal technique is typically declamation or conversational speech rather than a conventional singing style. The piano part is demanding with various onomatopoeic figurations such as the chirruping of the cricket and hints of Olivier Messiaen evoking the kingfisher. Baritone Simon Keenlyside gives a stunning performance of this most important offering from Maurice Ravel.

Turning to the folksong settings. The 5 Mélodies populaires grecques (1904-06) were based on anonymous texts translated from the Greek into French by Michel Dimitri Calvocoressi. Here Ravel combines simplicity with elegance, preserving the folk character through modal melodies and creating redolent textures. Also included on this album is the posthumously discovered 6^th Greek folksong, Tripatos (three steps).

The Chants populaires date from 1909-10. Here he set several texts: Spanish, French, Italian, Hebraic, Scottish. Being a Scot, my favourite is Rabbie Burns’s Ye Banks and Braes! Magically, Ravel has caught the traditions and regional characteristics of these songs, applying his own distinctive modernist touch.

The first of the 2 Mélodies hébraïques (1914) seems to be like a liturgical chant rather than a song. The second, although enjoying a rhythmic ostinato in the piano, is spoilt by a vocal line with too many “Tra la las.”

Finally, the Chansons madécasses (1925-26) was a commission from the American philanthropist and patron of the arts, Elizabeth Spraque Coolidge. They include flute, cello, and piano accompaniments as this is what was stipulated. The texts were translations of original Madagascan verse. These tropical songs evoke tender love music, an aggressive war chant which caused a near riot at its premiere, and a sultry vesperal. Ravel’s outstanding lyrical imagination is reflected in Julie Boulianne’s performance.

Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898) was a French Symbolist poet whose works profoundly influenced modern literature and art. Known for his intricate, evocative language, Mallarmé explored themes of beauty, mystery, and the abstract. His innovative poem L'Après-midi d'un faune, inspired Claude Debussy’s early masterpiece. Ravel composed his 3 Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé in 1913, and dedicated them to Igor Stravinsky, Florent Schmitt and Erik Satie, respectively. These poems are hardly straightforward in French or English translation. The liner notes explain that Soupir is a “melancholy poem about autumn,” Placet futile “portrays a lovelorn abbot, who regrets that he will never appear naked on a Sevre teacup and will never become the princess’s lapdog, let alone her lover” and finally, Surgi de la croupe et du bond, a strange meditation on an empty vase that will never contain flowers.  Enigmatic these songs may be, but what is not in doubt is the sheer beauty of Ravel’s setting. Mallarme’s elusive imagery is matched with innovative harmonies and flowing vocal lines. An ethereal, other worldly atmosphere is created by Julie Boulianne and the chamber musicians.

The last three songs on this album were also Ravel’s final major composition. Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932-33) was originally slated to have been included in a commission for a score for a film exploring the life of the eponymous hero. They were to have been sung by the legendary bass Chaliapin. Sadly, Ravel did not submit them in time and was denied payment. The film company used the services of Jacques Ibert.

Ravel’s songs present a different facet of Cervantes’s knight’s character. Off beat rhythms and a guitar like accompaniment infuse the Chanson Romanesque. The following Chanson épique” with its austere nods to modal melodies and organ like harmonies, may reflect Don Quixote’s chivalric commitment. Finally, the more down to earth Chanson à boire displays strong cross-rhythms and hints at the jota, a Spanish courtship dance revealing the mortal desires of drink and sex. The entire cycle makes a fitting close to Ravel’s career.

Other mélodies that caught my ear include the early Sainte (1896) with its extensive use of seventh and ninth chords, the rhythmically diverse Epigrammes de Clément Marot (1896-99) and the late and valedictory Rêves (1927). Finally, there is an excellent account of Vocalise-étude en forme de habanera (1907), full of Spanish (by way of Cuba) sunshine and anguish.

Interestingly, the new recording does not include the once popular Fascination written for Paulette Darty. There has been debate as to whether Ravel or Fermo Dante Marchetti penned this number. But it would have been fun to have included it here.

The liner notes devised by Richard Stokes, provides the listener with sufficient detail to appreciate these varied songs. The texts are given alongside a parallel English translation. Resumes of the singers and pianist are included. The cover for this 150th anniversary release is boring.

It would be invidious to pick out the “best” performance from this “bumper roster” of artists. The palm must, however, go to the pianist Malcolm Martineau who is busy for most of this album. It was a brilliant idea to have used such a wide range of talent, rather than just rely on one or two singers. Each bring their considerable talents to this repertoire, which is characterised by, as David Cox once wrote, “clarity, fastidiousness, wit, harmonic richness, and melodic subtlety.”

Track Listing:
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
CD1
Ballade de la reine morte d'aimer (c.1894)
Un grand sommeil noir (1895)
Sainte (1896)
Epigrammes de Clément Marot (1896-99)
Chanson du rouet (1898)
Si morne! (1898)
Manteau de fleurs (1903)
Shéhérazade (1903)
5 Mélodies populaires grecques (1904-6)
Noël des jouets (1905)
Histoires naturelles (1906)
CD2
Vocalise-étude en forme de habanera (1907)
Les grands vents venus d'outre-mer (1906)
Sur l'herbe (1907)
Tripatos (1909)
Chants populaires (1909-10)
3 Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé (1913)
2 Mélodies hébraïques (1914)
Trois chansons (1914-15)
Ronsard à son âme (1924)
Chansons madécasses (1925-26)
Rêves (1927)
Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932-33)
Lorna Anderson (soprano), Julie Boulianne (mezzo-soprano), John Chest (baritone), Sarah Dufresne (soprano), Dafydd Jones (tenor), Simon Keenlyside (baritone), Paula Murrihy (soprano); Nicky Spence (tenor), William Thomas (bass), Anna Stokes (flute), Julian Bliss (clarinet), Matt Glendening (clarinet), Cara Berridge (cello), Sacconi Quartet, Malcolm Martineau (piano)
rec. 2018-2024 Various Locations 

Signum Classics SIGCD870

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published. 

Gordon Jacob: Festival Overture (1965)

Gordon Jacob (1895–1984) was an English composer and teacher known for his prolific output and expertise in orchestration. Born in London, he studied at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford and Ralph Vaughan Williams. His early life was marked by service during Queen’s Royal Regiment during the First World War, where he was taken prisoner in 1917. After the war, he pursued music, eventually becoming a professor at the Royal College of Music, where he taught from 1924 to 1966.

Jacob composed over seven hundred works, spanning orchestral, ballet, chamber, and wind band music. His orchestral works include two symphonies, concertos for various instruments, and numerous arrangements of works by other composers.

Beyond composition, Jacob was a respected author, authoring books on orchestration and musical technique, including Orchestral Technique (1931) and The Elements of Orchestration (1962).

Eric Wetherell, in his biography of Gordon Jacob (1895-1984) has reminded readers that 1965 was the year of composer’s 70th birthday. He outlines the various celebrations. The Royal College of Music had an afternoon concert on 7 July including student performances of Jacob’s chamber works. The same evening saw a concert of music presented by former pupils of the composer, including the first performance of his Six Miniatures for flute, oboe, harpsichord, and harp. Other commemorative events included a review of Jacob’s life on the Third Programme ‘Music Magazine’ programme presented by the pianist Jean Mackie. The BBC gave performances of his Overture for Brass and the Suite in B flat played by the Fairey Brass Band under their director Harry Mortimer. The BBC Home Service included his Elegy for cello and piano as well as his Piano Trio. Ruth Gipps and her Chanticleer Orchestra performed the Oboe and the Flute Concertos at the Wigmore Hall on 8 July. There was a concert of chamber music at Jacob’s hometown of Saffron Walden on 10 July.

The only orchestral piece that seems to have been performed during the anniversary year was the Festival Overture at a Promenade Concert on 21 August 1965. It opened the evening programme which included Cesar Franck’s Symphonic Variations, Mendelssohn’s ‘Italian’ Symphony, and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite. Except for the Overture, the BBC Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Malcom Sargent. 

The Festival Overture was originally composed for the Essex Youth Orchestra in 1963 and was first performed by them on 23 October 1964 under the composer’s baton at a Festival of Music and the Arts held in Saffron Walden. It was played on their Continental tour, conducted by their regular, Raymond Leppard.

The overture is scored for a large orchestra, consisting of triple woodwind, full brass with three trumpets, harp, and strings. There is a large array of percussion instruments. The composer provided the programme note for the Promenade Concert: -

“As befits the title, the music is animated throughout except for one quieter section near the middle. It is built out of three main themes, of which the first, heard at the outset, is characterised by strongly marked, often syncopated rhythms. The opening phrase plays its part in the development of the work. The second-subject material comprises two themes, one a tune over an ostinato-like bass in quavers, the other consisting of contrasting remarks from strings and brass. After this material has been enlarged upon and a big climax built up, the quieter section makes its appearance. Here the oboe is prominent until the strings take over.

The recapitulation differs from the exposition in detail, though all the themes are heard again in it, including a very fully scored version of the first of the second subject themes during which three trumpets in unison provide a kind of fairground effect. A short coda brings the overture to a resounding finish.” G.J.

Eric Wetherell has added that there are “no concessions” to the “relative inexperience” of the young players in the Essex Youth Orchestra. The players are presented with material that is “wholly practical” but still “pushing the instrumentalists to their limits.”

In his review this work for MusicWeb International Rob Barnett has written that “A Festival Overture is another cracking British concert overture which would be happy in any anthology. In fact, a dedicated record company could easily assemble a whole CD of Jacob overtures of this type… Someone has claimed that the overture sounds like Malcolm Arnold. I don’t see it. There is certainly a touch or two of E J Moeran and perhaps Reizenstein in this, but Arnold would have been even more over the top and raucous.”

Gordon Jacob’s Festival Overture (1963) was released on the Classico record label (CLASSCD204) coupled with the same composer’s Symphony No.2 in C major and ‘A Little Symphony.’ This performance has been posted on YouTube, here.

Cyril Scott Moods & Impressions

Thirty-two years late, I have had an opportunity to review this excellent disc of music by Cyril Scott. It can still be purchased from Tremula Records. Since 1993, there have been major developments in this composer’s solo piano discography. Most important of all is Leslie De’ath’s five-volume survey of a huge portion of Scott’s piano music on the Dutton Epoch label. Other artists have contributed to this revival. There is the two-CD edition of the Complete Sonatas and other works for piano played by Michael Schäfer (Genuin GEN 85049) from 2005, and Nino Gvetadze’s imaginative selection on the Challenge Classics label, issued in 2019 (CC72819).

Prior to Christopher Howell’s offering, Dennis Hennig released an attractive recital on the Etcetera Records label (KTC 1132) in 1992. This was to have been the first volume of a “complete” edition. Sadly, Hennig died shortly afterwards. The same year Marthanne Verbit included the Sonata No.1, the Danse Negre and Lotus land on her Past Futurists album (Albany Records Troy 070). Fifty-one years ago, she had released these three works on vinyl, coupled with the 5 Poems. (Genesis GS 1049). There have been others.

Howell’s recital opens with Six Pieces published in 1903, but probably dating from Scott’s time in Frankfurt as a student. This is pleasant “salon” music, exploring a variety of moods. There is no logical connection between these charming pieces. I especially warmed to the Folksong and the bubbly Scherzino.

The Two Pierrott Pieces (1904) have often been recorded. They were written when Scott was living in Liverpool. The first, Pierrott triste, is based on a tonal structure, but overlaid with complex chromaticism. The second, Pierrot gai with its harmonic waywardness, added note chords and a diatonic main theme provides a good contrast.

It is interesting to recall that Scott played them to Gabriel Fauré, who was quite complimentary. They were never to meet again. Howell brings all the emotion required to these lovely numbers: sadness, introspection in the former and coquetry and vivacity in the latter.

Sea-Marge was composed in 1914 and dedicated to the American-born British financier and philanthropist Sir Edgar and his wife Lady Spayer. Cyril Scott has developed impressionist harmonies, extended tonality and even nods towards minimalism in this evocative sea-piece. The title implies “at the edge of the sea or river, where the waves break in the shore. ‘Marge’ is an archaic word for ‘margin.’ During World War I, Sir Edgar faced anti-German sentiment and resigned from his positions, though he was cleared of accusations of trading with the enemy.

Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book is usually associated with Disney’s delightfully animated film or its more recent remake. Though Kipling’s text sparks debate today, it remains rewarding to read and was highly regarded in Scott’s time. In 1912, he wrote Impressions from the Jungle Book, a five-movement piano suite inspired by the text. These are sometimes seen as naïve, but often include striking imagery, like the Stravinsky-ian Dance of the Elephants and the sinuous Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and the Snake. Morning Song of the Jungle, however, is not programmatic. It is a serene character piece, evoking tranquil sunrises - whether in India’s jungles or by the misty Mersey at New Brighton.

Cyril Scott’s two pot-boilers are Lotus Land and Rainbow Trout. Both could be defined as being impressionistic. Christopher Howell has wisely chosen to omit the former, as there are dozens of recordings of this piece. The latter was written in 1916. It magically captures the vigorous, erratic movements of this delicious fish, complete with sparkling arpeggios and gentle melodies that paints a vivid picture of a glistening stream and the trout’s progress.

The Little Russian Suite was intended as “teaching music.” That said, a look at the score suggests that it is no cinch. There is little that is ‘Russian’ here save in the opening Air, where Scott quotes a tune from the finale of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C for strings (cited De’ath, line notes CDLX 7183). The Siberian Waltz seems to me a “souped up” salon piece with the final Dance being more like a passacaglia than a turn around the ballroom.

There are nods towards the Billy Mayerl style of piano playing in the First Bagatelle (1919) with its subtle swing and metric irregularities. Yet, Mayerl did not really get into his stride until the 1920s.

The first of Moods, Sadness, is introverted and seems to come to a halt every so often. Conversely, there are delightful spread chords to add to the interest. Lassitude is equally reserved. The last, Energy, is powerful and vigorous. Moods needs to be played as a set.

In 1915 the Butterfly Waltz was published by Schott. Leslie De’ath has suggested that this is a parody of then-fashionable salon and ballroom music. Equally tongue in cheek is the Inclination à la Danse (1922) which would appear to nod to Carl Maria von Weber. The final track on this disc is the delightfully romantic Valse Sentimentale (1929) with its cocktail piano atmosphere.

Christopher Howell is well known for his explorations of British piano music. These include complete editions of Charles Villiers Stanford and Alexander Mackenzie, as well as the ongoing survey of Charles Hubert Hastings Parry. He does not ignore continental composers. There are albums of Debussy’s Preludes and Haydn Sonatas.

The performance is splendid, and the recording is good. The liner notes are adequate but could have given more detailed information/analysis of each piece.

This is an essential disc for all Cyril Scott enthusiasts. It predates the massive cycle by Leslie De’ath by some ten years. However, as an enjoyable selection of the composer’s music, it has not been superseded.

Track Listing:
Cyril Scott (1879-1970)
Six Pieces, op.4 (1903)
Two Pierrot Pieces, op 35 (1904)
Sea-Marge: Meditation (1914)
Impressions from the Jungle Book (1912)
Rainbow Trout (1916)
Butterfly Waltz (1915)
A Little Russian Suite (1916)
First Bagatelle (1919)
Moods (1922)
Inclination à la Danse (1922)
Valse Sentimentale (1929)
Christopher Howell (piano)
rec. 15-16 July 1993, Regson Studios, Milan
Tremula TREM 104-2
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.

Introducing Constant Lambert Part II

Aside from being an important composer and conductor, Constant Lambert was also a perceptive critic. His major literary achievement was Music Ho! A Study of Music in Decline (1934). Despite being slightly eccentric, this volume presents his “very independent opinions” of the music of his generation. Ninety years on, it still makes for remarkably refreshing reading.

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.

Introducing Constant Lambert Part I

On the evening of Monday 27 February 1928, the audience of the BBC wireless service heard the premiere performance of Constant Lambert’s The Rio Grande. The composer conducted the Wireless Chorus and Orchestra with the piano obligato played by Angus Morrison. This was part of ‘A Light Orchestral Concert’ which included works by Ambroise Thomas, Giuseppe Verdi and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

The contemporary Radio Times explained to the readers that this new work is “a setting of a poem by Edith (sic) Sitwell, beginning – ‘On the Rio Grande/They don’t dance no Sarabande.’ What they dance instead is suggested in the music which, we are told, brings in fox-trot and Charleston rhythms.” Apart from a misquote of the poem and naming the wrong poet, it was in fact Sacheverell Sitwell, this is a succinct precis of this remarkable piece.

What was extraordinary about The Rio Grande was that Lambert had managed to synthesise several stylistic parameters: “African American music, including ragtime and blues, Latin American music, and exoticism.”  Biographer Richard Shead notes the “obvious” influences such as “jazz, Spanish military marches and tangos, Stravinsky in the rhythms and Delius in the harmonies.” It is not surprising that a link is made to George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. This had been first heard in Great Britain on 15 June 1925, in a live BBC broadcast from the Savoy Hotel with Gershwin as soloist and accompanied by the Savoy Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band. It is not known if Constant Lambert heard this transmission, however two years later, he was to take the American’s “attempts to amalgamate elements of jazz and symphonic music” and create a new-minted British work.

Hubert Foss, in the programme note for the London public concert premiere of Rio Grande wrote: “The words are used as a background of atmosphere. They are something for the chorus to sing in the musical part it plays in the work. They are even subjected occasionally to word painting. Their picture is the picture the music gives: that is their whole connection, a very close one, with the music." Elsewhere Foss stated that in The Rio Grande there is “something more than English in this music, a feeling of the South and its blazing sun. He has his feet on English soil, but his mind escapes.”

Constant Lambert, with his The Rio Grande, had written one of two game changing British works of the 1930s. The other was William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast (1930-31).

Brief Biography of Constant Lambert:

• [Leonard] Constant Lambert was born at the St Clement's Nursing Home, Fulham, London, on 23 August 1905.
• Educated at Christ’s Hospital, Horsham, Sussex, between 1915 and 1922.
• Won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, attending between 1922-25. His teachers were Herbert Fryer, piano, Ralph Vaughan Williams and R.O. Morris, composition, and Malcolm Sargent, conducting.
• Wrote his first major ballet score, Romeo and Juliet for Diaghilev. It was premiered in Monte Carlo on 4 May 1926.
• Best-known work, The Rio Grande for chorus, piano and orchestra was premiered on 27 February 1928.
• Appointed conductor of the Camargo Society in 1930. This lasted until June 1933 when the society was disbanded.
• Married Florence (Flo) Chuter on 5 August 1931. The only child, Christopher (Kit), was born on 11 May 1935.
• His idiosyncratic but lively and provocative study of the then-contemporary scene, Music Ho! A Study of Music in Decline was published during 1934.
• Lambert conducted the Vic-Wells (later the Sadler's Wells) from 1935 to 1947.
• His choral magnum opus, Summer’s Last Will and Testament was premiered on 29 January 1936, at the Queen’s Hall, London.
• Began an affair with the ballet dancer Margot Fonteyn in 1937. It lasted until 1947.
• The ballet Horoscope was premiered on 27 January 1938, at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre.
• Escaped capture in the Netherlands whilst on tour with the Sadler’s Wells ballet in 1940.
• Was associated with E.N.S.A. (Entertainments National Service Association) during the Second World War. In 1942, he was on the C.E.M.A. (Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, predecessor of the Arts Council of Great Britain) music panel.
• Married his second wife, Isabel Agnes Delmer, née Nicholas, on 7 October 1947.
• Last major composition, the ballet Tiresias, first performed on 9 July 1951.
• Constant Lambert died at the London Clinic, 20 Devonshire Place, London on 21 August 1951. Cause of death was “broncho-pneumonia and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus,” complicated by acute alcoholism.

Constant Lambert was a complex character, who excelled in numerous different fields: composition, art appreciation, literature, and practical musicianship. In all he exhibited exceptional talent. Sadly, his composing was interrupted by his extensive conducting duties and the writing of a considerable amount of journalism.

Lambert’s tastes ranged widely and embraced Liszt, Meyerbeer, Purcell, Sousa, and jazz. As a conductor he interpreted a wide range of scores, in the ballet theatre as well as the concert hall. He was especially fond of encouraging less well-known composers.

His personal life gave him many problems, especially ill health, overindulgence in alcohol and difficulties with personal relationships. Yet, despite this, his legacy is secure as a major-minor composer. Furthermore, Lambert’s impact on English ballet was immense and ought not to be ignored by historians.

Exploring Constant Lambert’s Music

Constant Lambert’s catalogue is quite limited in extent, with around only twenty works published. He destroyed many of his student efforts. His earliest surviving piece is the Two Songs on poems by Sacheverell Sitwell, written in 1923. They remain in manuscript.

Lambert’s first ballet score, Prize Fight: Realistic Ballet in one act is less ‘realistic,’ but nods to the music hall or the “aesthetics” of Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau. Despite being completed, it was never presented as a ballet. Its first performance had to wait until 1969, when it was heard during that year’s Bromsgrove Festival.

Subsequent ballet scores followed. The great impresario Sergei Diaghilev commissioned the 20-year-old Lambert to compose a major score for the Ballets Russes. Romeo and Juliet was penned between 1924-25 and was premiered on 4 May 1926, by the Diaghilev Ballet company at Monte Carlo. There were disagreements between Lambert and Diaghilev over a change of scenario, the sets, and the costumes. He tried to withdraw his score; it had to be placed under police guard until after the premiere.

There was less controversy over Pomona: a ballet in one act (1926) which was first heard as a Divertimento at the Chelsea Music Club on 16 November 1926. The premiere of the ballet was given in Buenos Aires, Argentine on 9 September 1927. The book was based on the classical Ovidian story of Pomona and Vertumnus. Ten years later, Lambert finished his ballet, Horoscope (1937) (see below). His final original ballet score was Tiresias (1950-51), commissioned for the Festival of Britain. This was an exploration of various classical themes of sexual ambiguity, shape shifting and an argument about which of the sexes enjoys the “physical act” the more. It is scored for an orchestra without strings, which enhances its acerbic sound. It was premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 9 July 1951 by the Sadler’s Wells Ballet.

Other contributions to the ballet repertoire were arrangements of many other composers’ music. These include Harlequin in the Street (Couperin), Apparitions (Liszt), Les Patineurs (Meyerbeer) and Ballabile (Chabrier).

Lambert wrote little for the piano. Best known is the jazz infused, lugubrious, Elegiac Blues (1927) dedicated to the American cabaret singer Florence Mills. Jazz does pervade the Piano Sonata (1928-29) but reflects the “outbursts of violence” and the “melancholy” side of that genre. It is powerful and displays considerable invention and formal subtlety.

In 1924, Lambert was busy on his Concerto for piano, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. It remained incomplete at the time of his death. The sketches were edited by Giles Easterbrook, and Edward Shipley. It was premiered at St John’s Smith Square, London on 2 March 1988. Ian Lace (MusicWeb International) discerned the influence of Prokofiev, Ravel, Poulenc, Stravinsky, and Delius. This is a remarkable effort for a nineteen-year-old “college boy.”  It is a vibrant work that deserves its place in the repertoire. Seven years later, Lambert would finish his Concerto for piano and nine instruments (1931). This was a tribute to Peter Warlock who had died the previous year. Listeners looking for a reprise of his more popular jazzier inspirations may be disappointed. To be sure, the Manchester Guardian reported that it “[comes] recognisably from the pen that wrote The Rio Grande, but with added maturity and astringency which will probably prevent it from becoming popular.”  The Concerto, which is in three movements, is unusual in that the finale is, in fact, the slow movement. The overall sweep of the work is from high spirits to gloom.

Summer’s Last Will and Testament: A Masque for orchestra, chorus, and baritone solo (1932-35), is one of Lambert’s most important works. It sets texts by the Elizabethan author Thomas Nashe. Richard Shead has explained that Nashe’s text is “ostensibly concerned with the seasons, but their underlying theme is the precariousness of life in Elizabethan London and the ever-present danger of the Plague.”  Historically, Summer’s Last Will got off to a bad start. It was premiered on 29 January 1936, only nine days after the death of King George V. The public and the critics were in no mood for what appeared a long morbid take on “mortality.” It has languished ever since: it was given its one and only recording in 1991.

Other important orchestral pieces were a Aubade Héroïque for orchestra (1942) which was inspired by Lambert’s experience of waiting to be evacuated from Holland in 1940. Its mood owes much to Ralph Vaughan Williams. Richard Shead explains that the Music for Orchestra (1927) is one of the few examples of Lambert’s genuinely abstract works. Despite its dull title, this two-movement symphonic study is full of romance, imaginative scoring, and supressed intensity.

Towards the end of his life, Lambert composed music for the film industry: the documentary Merchant Seamen (1940) and the feature Anna Karenina (1947).

To be continued…

With thanks to the English Music Festival’s journal, Spirited, where this essay was first published.

Thomas Pitfield Piano Music

Thomas Pitfield was a self-taught composer from Bolton, Lancashire, who studied piano, cello, and harmony at the Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM). Known for his playful, folk-inspired style, he wrote concertos, chamber music, cantatas, and opera. He later taught at the RMCM and then the Royal Northern College of Music, mentoring figures like John Ogdon, Ronald Stevenson, and John McCabe. Beyond music, he created many poems, much artwork, and authored four autobiographies. Pitfield remained creative into his nineties.

I am beholden to the liner notes for information about this repertoire. The recital gets off to a great start with the “bravura” Toccata written in 1953 and dedicated to the pianist and teacher, Lucy Pierce. The “rhythmic insistence” is tempered by a surprisingly lyrical interlude. It would make an ideal encore.

This is followed by the quieter Solemn Pavan (1940), which is sustained and hymn-like in its peaceful exposition. Dance forms inspire The Circle Suite (1938), devised for a group of musicians in Bolton. The notes suggest that each piece reflects the character of the dedicatee. There is a lively Bourree, a tender highly pitched Minuet, a thoughtful Pavan and a slightly introverted Jig.

The Capriccio may have been a movement from an unfinished Piano Sonata and was published early in Pitfield’s career, in 1932. It contrasts lively figurations with brittle chordal interruptions.

The present soloist considers that Diversions on a Russian Air (1959) is one of Pitfield’s finest compositions. It was dedicated to the legendary pianist John Ogden. This is a short set of variations on the tune The Blacksmith. With their scalar runs, unsuspected modulations, and occasional dissonances, it is certainly ‘diverting.’

The Novelette in F (No.1) (1953) is calm by comparison, although there are a few spicy twists and turns as the exposition continues. It was dedicated to the pianist Stephen Wearing, who had premiered Pitfield’s Piano Concerto No.1 at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on 12 November 1949.

The Three Bagatelles (1950s) are not really a set as they were written at various times. They are more than “short pieces of no deep content.” Especially so with the Bagatelle No.2 which nods to Francis Poulenc in its mood and vitality. The third is fascinating in its initially graceful progress and the eccentric 7/16-time signature of the middle section.

“Infectious swagger” and “refined lightness of touch” characterise the Impromptu on a Tyrolean Tune (1957). This would make another splendid encore.

Two Russian Tunes (1948) feature the animated Nursery Song (The Billy Goat) and the calm and “bewitching” Cossack Cradle Song.

Thomas Pitfield produced three sonatina’s for piano. The first, in A minor was completed in 1942. The second, was “easy” teaching material. The third (although No.2 on the cover) was finished late in life. Like many Sonatina’s it is not really for the tyro. A vibrant Allegro poco serioso is followed by a pessimistic, but quite lovely Threnody. Some attractive harmonic sideslips are featured here. Folk song underscores the “rollocking” finale with cross rhythms and surprisingly big, heavy chords in the coda.

The Five Short Pieces (1932) were probably “educational” material, but none the worse for that. Typically, each number lasts under a minute, except the more involved Crooning. They would be a joy to play for the moderately accomplished learner. The other movements are a Prelude, Dance-Miniature, Bagatelle and Merry-Go-Round.

The “best-known” piano work by Thomas Pitfield is the Prelude, Minuet and Reel dating from 1932. It is one of the precious few to have been given a recording. In this case, firstly by John McCabe on Contemporary British Piano Music Vol.2 (ACS CD CD3), released in 1998. There appears to have been an earlier version by McCabe that was released on RNCM RNCMTP3 in 1994 and subsequently reissued by Heritage Records, HTGCD 210 in 2015. Duncan Honeybourne has previously recorded it in 2013 on EM Records (EMR CD012-013).

John Turner has stated that the Prelude, Minuet and Reel “put Pitfield’s music on the map” after being “taken up” by the Australian pianist, Beatrice Tange. It opens with a vigorous toccata-like movement. This is followed by a pensive Minuet that has been likened in style to Maurice Ravel. And finally, there is the barnstorming Reel, that sounds like nothing ever danced to. It ends with a “veritable barrage of common chords” which are “hammered.”  A notable work that deserves to be widely performed.

After this rumbustious music, the Little Nocturne is a perfect contrast. No date is given, but it would appear to be from late in the composer’s life. There is a magic here that defies analysis. This is followed by a “chattering” Humoresque dating from 1957. Written with the rare time signature of 12/8, it is entertaining, with the serious “middle eight” bringing some seriousness.

If you did not know that Homage to Percy Grainger (1978) was by Pitfield, you may imagine that it was penned by the legendary man himself. Dedicated to fellow North Countryman Ronald Stevenson, a fellow enthusiast, it reflects Grainger’s typically wayward harmonies and clattering figurations. It is based on the Irish folk melody So Far from my Country.

The liner notes explain that Pitfield heard the first section of the Cameo and Variant in a dream. This was on 22 June 1993. He jotted it down on getting out of bed. It is a charming, gentle way to end this fascinating recital.

Duncan Honeybourne needs no introduction to British music enthusiasts. He is a highly regarded English pianist, educator, and author, specialising in the performance of 20th and 21st-century British piano music. He has premiered many piano works, toured internationally, and recorded extensively. Honeybourne teaches at the Royal Academy of Music Junior Academy the University of Southampton and gives masterclasses and lecture recitals.

The exceptional liner notes are authored jointly by John Turner and Duncan Honeybourne. They provide an ideal introduction to Thomas Pitfield, and commentary on the music. Each number is introduced by Turner and then reflected on by Honeybourne. It is a helpful format, especially for the reviewer! I would have liked dates on the track listing; however, they are included in the text. The cover picture is a reproduction of a sketch, “Knutsford” by the composer.

Pitfield’s music has echoes of several composers Ralph Vaughan Williams, Percy Grainger, and Frederick Delius. Occasionally, the neo-classicism of Poulenc and other members of Les Six appear. His music is often light-hearted, lyrical, rhythmically adventurous and nodding to folk song. There is nothing challenging in this recital. Yet, every piece is of interest. This exploration of largely unknown repertoire is a brilliantly executed treat for all lovers of English piano music.

Track Listing:
Thomas Pitfield (1903-99)
Toccata (1953)
Solemn Pavan (1940)
The Circle Suite (1938)
Capriccio (1932)
Diversions on a Russian Air (1959)
Novelette in F major (No.1) (1953)
Three Bagatelles (1950s)
Impromptu on a Tyrolean Tune (1957)
Two Russian Tunes (1948)
Sonatina No.2 (n.d.)
Five Short Pieces (1932)
Prelude, Minuet and Reel (1932)
Little Nocturne (n.d.)
Humoresque (1957)
Homage to Percy Grainger (1978)
Cameo and Variant (1993)
Duncan Honeybourne (piano)
rec. 7-8 September 2024, Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth
Heritage Records HTGCD 132

William McKie: “We wait for they loving kindness.” (1947)

Australian born William McKie (1901-84) had a long association with Westminster Abbey. He was appointed Organist there in 1941 and retained the post until 1963. During this period, he officiated at three important Royal occasions: the Wedding of HRH The Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten in 1947, the Coronation in 1953 and the marriage of Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong Jones in 1960.

The beautiful anthem We wait for they loving kindness was commissioned for the Royal Wedding in 1947. It is one of McKie’s few published compositions.

The text set is taken from Psalm 48 vv. 8-9 and 118, v.25 which focuses on the confirmation of God's promise regarding Jerusalem's protection and the people's contemplation of God's love and mercy within His temple:

We wait for Thy loving kindness, O God: in the midst of Thy temple. Alleluia.

O God, according to Thy name, so is Thy praise unto the world’s end.

Thy right hand is full of righteousness. Alleluia.

We wait for Thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple.

O Lord, send us now prosperity. Amen.

The anthem is solidly in the Anglican tradition of Edward Bairstow and William H. Harris. It is characterised by a subtle combination of romanticism, more than a hint of Gregorian chant and a touching simplicity.

Other music heard at the 1947 Royal Wedding included a fanfare specially composed by Sir Arnold Bax and the couple processed out to Felix Mendelssohn’s Wedding March from the incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

For his service to the Crown at this time, William McKie was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order. In 1953 he was knighted in the Coronation Honours list.  

William McKie’s We wait for they loving kindness has been uploaded to YouTube. The Cambridge Singers are conducted by John Rutter.

 

It's not British, but...Maurice Ravel's Piano Music on Danacord Vol.3

This is the final instalment of Oleg Marshev’s authoritative three disc account of the complete solo piano music of Maurice Ravel. I include it  here as part of the Ravel 150 celebrations. 

The title Valses nobles et sentimentales alludes to Franz Schubert’s two sets of dances from the 1820s, Valses nobles D969 and Valse sentimentales D799. As Ravel said, that signalled “clearly enough my intention to write a chain of valses in the style of Schubert”. The score was prefaced by a quotation from the French symbolist poet, Henri de Regnier: “…le plaisir délicieux et toujours nouveau d’une occupation inutile” (…the delectable and always novel delight of a useless pursuit).

In contrast with the high virtuosity of the 1908 Gaspard de la nuit, the cleaner style of the Valses emphasised harmonies and brought them into focus. That does not make these eight waltzes easy. The liner notes say that Ravel may also have been inspired by the “discovery of Liszt’s Valse caprice after Schubert and his Soirées de Vienne”’, and there are echoes of Johann Strauss II in the fourth and seventh number. This is simply a series of seven sparkling waltzes with an epilogue which seductively reprises previously heard tunes.

Le Tombeau de Couperin (The Tomb of Couperin) was a wartime work completed by 1917, after Ravel had been demobilised. He described it as “a tribute not so much to Couperin himself as to Eighteenth Century French music in general”. The movement titles are like those Couperin and his contemporaries used.

Despite its milieu, this collection is neither sad nor elegiac. The fast-flowing Prelude has relentless semiquaver triplets and interpolated mordents. In the Fugue, less inspiring, the voices unfold gently. It has been described as static but Oleg Marshev makes it as magical as possible. The appealing but over-long Forlane in 6/8 time has dotted rhythms, innovative ornamentation and reflective harmonies. A bright and breezy Rigaudon balances a chromatic middle section with more diatonic opening and closing paragraphs. Minuet, according to the liner notes, is “a piece of fairy-princess, Mother Goose escapism” offset by a primitive “musette” which hints at the Dies irae from the Requiem Mass. The Toccata looks back to the opening Prelude with its virtuosic figurations. Each movement was dedicated to the memory a friend killed in the fighting.

À la manière de Chabrier and À la manière de Borodine commemorate two composers whom Ravel had always admired. The Chabrier is a paraphrase of the Flower Song from Gounod’s Faust. It has been described as “astonishingly faithful” and as a “mimicry”. The Borodin presents a waltz “loosely based on themes from the Russian’s Petite Suite and the scherzo from his String Quartet No.3. It is a little more serious in temper with “flowing, colourful harmonies.”

Not all commentators have been enthusiastic. Norman Demuth wondered “why [Ravel] parodied Chabrier by means of a paraphrase of a song from Gounod’s Faust” and that in sum, both pieces are “utterly useless”. They are played here without condescension.

The short Prélude was a sight-reading exercise for a competition at the Paris Conservatoire. It was dedicated to the winner, Jeanne Leleu. For such a tiny number, it has a great depth of sadness, and there are a few technical snags to overcome.

I have always felt uneasy listening to La Valse – be it the orchestral or the piano version. The heading of the score reads: “Through the swirling clouds waltzing couples may be seen. One by one the clouds vanish; a huge ballroom filled by a circling mass is revealed […]”. Even so, I find it menacing. This “symphonic waltz” has many of the stylistic feature of its model, the Viennese waltz. The one thing that it lacks is the gaiety. Is this a celebration or is it a parody? Does Ravel intend to deconstruct the form and suggest the downbeat mood of post-war Vienna? The fierce climax of La Valse is a million miles away from the vivacity of a ballroom in the Second Empire. The whirling motions of the dancers leads to death and annihilation. There is much in these pages that is beguiling and even beautiful, but it seems to me that Ravel has destroyed the Viennese waltz for ever. The piano solo version, extremely successful, demands a virtuoso technique. It gets a stunning rendition here.

There is nothing wrong with the Fugue in B flat major. (It was Ravel’s entry in the 1902 Prix de Rome, unpublished until 2009, when it appeared as an appendix in Stephen Zank’s Irony and Sound: The Music of Maurice Ravel.) Such academic exercises demands an airing from time to time. I just would not have make it the last track on the last disc in this cycle. Perhaps the wonderful Le Tombeau de Couperin should have brought the proceedings to a conclusion.

The recording is at times a little bright and hard-edged. Peter Quantrill’s liner notes (from which I have quoted, with thanks) give helpful information about all the pieces except the Fugue. There is a recap of Oleg Marshev’s career; more details can be found here.

Once again, I must comment on the less-than-flattering cover photograph. It feels sinister and does nothing to compliment this fine recital and the highly imaginative repertoire. I have not included it in this post.

The excellent performance captures all the nuances of Ravel’s pianism which encompasses impressionism, romanticism and the work of the French clavecinists. Marshev consistently uncovers the excitement, the beauty and the formal structures of this music.

Track Listing:
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Valses nobles et sentimentales (1911)
Le Tombeau de Couperin (1914-1917)
À la manière de Chabrier (1912-1913)
À la manière de Borodine (1912-1193)
La Valse (1920)
Prélude (1913)
Fugue in B flat major (1902)
Oleg Marshev (piano)
rec. 2023, Cultural Institute, Milan, Italy
Danacord DACOCD905

 

 

Rebecca Clarke: Two Movements for string quartet (1924? -26)

Nearly a century ago, Rebecca Clarke completed two remarkable short pieces for string quartet. They largely disappeared from view until the 1990s when they were “re-discovered,” with the Comodo e amabile being performed at the behest of the Music Library Association, Berkeley, CA, and the Adagio (Poem) receiving its premiere on 25 September 1999 by the Lydian String Quartet at the Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts.

Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979) was a British composer and violist, who is still honoured for her contributions to chamber music. After time at the Royal Academy of Music, she became a pupil of Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music between 1907-10.

She was among the first female professional orchestral players in London and gained considerable recognition for her Viola Sonata (1919) and Piano Trio (1921). She spent time in the United States both during the First World War and just before the start of the Second. There she met and married a fellow student of the RCM, James Friskin.

Clarke's compositions, though not vast in number, are appreciated for their emotional depth and technical brilliance. Traces of Bloch, Ravel, and Debussy are evident in her work, alongside elements of English modal tonality and folksong. Her compositions exhibit a sharp focus and a brooding character. Notably, her viola sonata is often described as both passionate and impulsive. Interest in her music was revitalized by the establishment of the Rebecca Clarke Society in 2000, dedicated to celebrating and promoting her achievement. There are now numerous recordings available in CD catalogues.

The Two Movements for string quartet were not part of a single work but seem to have been intended for two separate string quartets. These never materialised.

The Comodo e amabile (c.1924) nods to Claude Debussy, but at times seems to echo developments in Ralph Vaughan Williams musical language. Written in sonata form, the movement is characterised by a sense of intimacy and warmth. This is predicated on subtle contrapuntal activity between the instruments and the use of modal harmonies.

The Adagio, which in some manuscript parts is referred to as Poem was written in 1925. The material is based on “an important motif” from Clarke’s Trio (1921), which in turn was derived from Ernst Bloch’s Schelomo. This composer was a source of inspiration at this period of her life. Presenting a theme of emotional intensity, which reflected Bloch, the piece starts with a “simple” theme but develops by way of “chromaticism and subtle dissonances” into a surprisingly intense movement. Clarke herself wrote that this Adagio should be “short and simple:” whether ‘simplicity’ is a characteristic is up to the listener to decide.

Listen to the Two Movements for string quartet, on YouTube, here, (Comodo e amabile) and here (Adagio). They have been uploaded from Centaur CRC2847, and feature Julstrom String Quartet. Other recordings include Dutton Epoch CDLX 7105 with the Flesch Quartet, and on Skarbo DSK4182, played by the Quatuor Sine Qua Non.