Bruce Montgomery: Scottish Lullaby (1954)

One of the most delightful miniatures to come from the pen of English composer Bruce Montgomery (1921-78) is the Scottish Lullaby. The work was completed on 16 July 1954. David Whittle, in his study of the composer (2007, p.148) writes that the work’s antecedents was the score for the 1954 film, The Kidnappers. This sentimental fable was set in Nova Scotia at the turn of the 20th century. The plot concerns “small orphan brothers who come to live with their tyrannical Scots grandfather and, while mixed up in the disappearance of a baby, soften the old man's stony heart, prompt him to end a bitter feud and win for themselves a coveted pet.”

The film starred the Scottish actor and comedian (in a vital role, here) Duncan Macrae as well as child actors Jon Whitely and Vincent Winter.

The extracted Scottish Lullaby is “almost entirely” based on the old Gaelic melody O Can Ye Sew Cushions? which was used in the film. The piece is scored for chamber ensemble. Philip Lane, in the liner notes for the works only recording (CD WHL 2145) suggests that it is “what Percy Grainger would have called a ‘ramble’ on the folksong. Removed from its film setting, this is gently evocative of the Scottish Highlands, as perhaps as stranger would see them.

Paul Snook, reviewing the above CD for Fanfare, (January 2004) wrote that the Scottish Lullaby along with its companion piece Scottish Aubade are “two lovely pieces [that] are exceptional examples of how to blend folkloristic sources with symphonic procedures without compromising either element.”

Whittle (2007, p.290) notes that the work was premiered during April 1955 at Baron’s Hall, Arundel Castle, Sussex by the Southern String Orchestra. The Worthing Gazette (20 April 1955, p.5) notes that “The guest artist was the well-known soprano Isobel Baillie. The programme, which included works by Gluck. Haydn and Mozart, was heard by a near capacity audience.” No mention is made of Mongomery’s Scottish Lullaby.

Most significantly it was given the first broadcast performance by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on 18 October 1956.

Bruce Montgomery’s Scottish Lullaby can be heard on YouTube, here. It is the second part of this upload beginning at the 7.25 section. This track is taken from the 2003 CD British Films Composer (CD WHL 2145). Other composers on this disc include Clifton Parker, Leighton Lucas, Anthony Collins, and Eric Rogers. The Royal Ballet Sinfonia is conduced by Gavin Sutherland.

Bibliography:
Whittle, David, Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2007)

Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books by David Whittle

This book review was originally published on MusicWeb International during June 2007. Despite David Whittle’s volume being an excellent study of Bruce Montgomery, there seems to have been little revival in the performance of his music. On the other hand, virtually all his detective novels and short stories are available in print or Kindle. I have made several corrections to the review.

It was on the former P&O liner Oriana that I discovered Bruce Montgomery. In fact, it was quite a coincidence, with three strands coming together at once. Let me explain. The cruise's first ‘leg’ was the long but relaxing journey from Southampton to Barcelona. I spent most of the time eating, reading, swimming in the Riviera pool, and listening to a carefully chosen play list on my iPod. An annoying habit I developed was whistling the ‘hornpipe’ as I walked round the promenade deck. But not just any ‘hornpipe’ – it was the catchy version used in that comedy classic - at least I think so - Carry on Cruising. I could talk for hours about this film. There are so many ‘classic’ lines – "I’ve been up to the sharp end; I’ve been to the blunt end…" "Italy has nothing to offer me I cannot get here (the bar!) – break out the Chianti …" etc. etc.

Recently, I had been reading an article about detective novels in general and so-called ‘locked room’ mysteries. One of the texts mentioned was a book called The Moving Toyshop by an author called Edmund Crispin. This was part of my holiday reading. And last, but not least, I listened to a certain Concertino for String Orchestra. It was not part of my plan to make connections – but I did. I soon realised that all three of the above indulgences were written or composed by a remarkable, if melancholic man called Bruce Montgomery. So, the opportunity to review this masterly book by David Whittle was a most welcome, educational, and thoroughly enjoyable opportunity.

I imagine that few folks will have heard of Bruce Montgomery, yet there will be hardly a person in the United Kingdom who is not acquainted with at least half a dozen of his film scores. I have already alluded to Carry on Cruising – add to this Constable, Nurse, Regardless, Sergeant and Teacher. I can only presume that most people (of a certain age) must respond to at least one of these classic excursions into camp British comedy. But it was not just music for the Carry On films: he provided scores for the equally enjoyable Doctor movies starring the redoubtable Dirk Bogarde, Leslie Phillips, and James Robertson Justice. How often do we look for the composer’s name in the credits of a film? I guess rarely.

Bruce Montgomery was born in Chesham Bois in 1921. He had a good education both locally and at St John’s College, Oxford. He studied modern languages and subsequently filled the vacant post of organ scholar there – the incumbent had gone off to fight Hitler. Montgomery was inspired to write his first detective novel after reading a book by one of the mid-century doyens of that genre, John Dickson Carr. He finished The Case of the Gilded Fly in an unbelievably brief time, and it was equally speedily published by Victor Gollancz in 1944. It was the first foray of the detective/don Gervase Fen into the criminal complexities of Oxford. Fen, a professor of English Language, was to feature in most of Montgomery’s subsequent crime writings. The detective novels were all authored using the pseudonym of Edmund Crispin.

It is surprising that nowhere in this book does Whittle suggest that Gervase Fen may have had a profound influence on Colin Dexter and his ‘scholarly policeman’ Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse.

Concurrently with his authoring, Montgomery was keen to follow a musical career. His early works were small scale piano pieces and anthems. His magnum opus is An Oxford Requiem which was commissioned by the Oxford Bach Choir to celebrate the Festival of Britain in 1951. Whittle quotes The Times critic as thinking that this is “Montgomery’s most considerable achievement to date; it confirms the suspicion that he is a composer with something of real significance to say." According to Whittle’s evidence and the contemporary assessments, a recording is long overdue.

It is clear from reading the musical analyses in this book that Bruce Montgomery was not a major ‘concert hall’ composer. He had twenty-four pieces published – most of which was choral or vocal music. However, two key works stand out for me – the above-mentioned Concertino (an overly modest title) and the Overture to a Fairy Tale. In addition, there are the attractive Scottish Aubade and the Scottish Lullaby – both adaptations of film scores. These would be a feather in the cap of anyone. They are interesting, well-wrought and full of character. In fact, apart from the film scores, they represent everything that is recorded and easily available on CD.

When Bruce Montgomery turned his hand to the lucrative business of film music, his career really took off. In total, he provided the scores for some forty odd films of greater or lesser importance. His biggest achievement was in producing both the score and the screenplay for Raising the Wind – a humorous story about music students. Whittle tells the tale that Kenneth Williams and Leslie Phillips were coached by him on how to conduct Rossini’s William Tell Overture. Montgomery himself had a cameo role in this film.

Alas, Montgomery had a propensity to fail to meet the strict deadlines that the film producers imposed. This came to a head when the score for Carry on Cruising had to be completed by Eric Rogers. The years after Carry On Cruising marked a decline in his fortunes. Poor health and alcoholism led to long stays in clinics, minimal work, and financial insecurity. He spent the last fifteen years of his life contributing reviews to The Times, editing collections of Science Fiction stories and finishing his ninth and last novel, The Glimpses of the Moon. Bruce Montgomery died on 15 September 1978.

The story presented in these pages is not really one of poor to rich or vice versa. It is a survey of a man who struggled with several problems – some of his own making and others that were just part of his lot. Montgomery had his moments of fame in the first four decades of his life. The last sixteen or so years seemed to many of his friends to be a let-down, yet Whittle rightly insists that it must "not be allowed to obscure the achievements of his earlier years."

I read the analysis of the novel, The Moving Toyshop. There is much useful and helpful information here that increased my understanding of the book. Yet I wonder if there are ‘plot spoilers’ lurking around here if I had not already read the novel. I avoided perusing the detailed studies of the other books and short stories: I do want to read these stories and I do not want to have the plot revealed or even hinted at. I recall an edition of Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles where the culprit was named and shamed in the introduction!

The study of the musical compositions is impressive. The important pieces are all treated to two or three or more pages of close written text. For example, the fine Concertino for Strings has five pages of detailed discussion and nine helpful musical examples. It is really a model for discussing an unknown work and raising the awareness of the listener.

The author discovers significance in examining Montgomery’s relationship with ‘famous men.’ I did not know for example that he was close friends with Philip Larkin and Kingsley Amis. These two men encouraged Montgomery when he was sliding into the unproductive phase of his career.

The present volume feels good, although I guess a ‘glossy’ cover may just have improved the first impression. There are photographs and dozens of musical examples. Whittle has quoted extensively from the letters of Larkin, Amis, and other key players in the Montgomery story. Separate appendices provide considerable essays on Detective Fiction and Film Music. There is a list of works – both literary and musical and a brief (necessarily so) discography. A short bibliography concludes the documentation.

David Whittle has been involved with music from an early age. He was Head Chorister at Peterborough Cathedral and studied music at Nottingham University. At present, (2007) he is Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School. Whittle regularly gives organ recitals and is also interested in performing ‘big band’ music. Yet another facet of his musical interest is the harp: he plays with an Irish folk music group in the school. The author enjoys British Music of the 20th century and has an interest in an earlier age in the 16th century which goes with the territory of spending much time in the organ loft. He is interested in detection fiction – he has contributed to the Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing. The author told me that he is minded to pen a detective story of his own.

Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books is a fine volume. It is extensively researched and is written in an approachable style. However, it is a scholarly book and will have a limited market. Notwithstanding, this market will reach out in quite a few directions – including students of film and classical music, detective fiction, Philip Larkin, and Kingsley Amis.

Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books: David Whittle
Ashgate 2007 £60 314pp
ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-3443-0
ISBN-10: 0-7546-3443-4

Bruce Montgomery: Concertino for string orchestra, op.10

Composer and detective story author Bruce Montgomery completed his engaging Concertino for string orchestra on 3 March 1948. Philip Lane, in the liner notes for the work’s only recording, explains that “the [it]…is typical of [Montgomery’s] musical language at this time; there are echoes of the English tradition of the previous fifty years, but it is tinged with post-war realism and a new modernism that breaks away from the language of a previous generation of composers.” The Concertino is in three movements and lasts for just over 15 minutes.

The Concertino was premiered at the Wigmore Hall, London on 10 December 1948. Other works heard that evening included Montgomery’s Christ’s Birthday for mixed chorus and string orchestra with piano obligato, and two pieces by Geoffrey Bush – A Christmas Cantata and his Concerto for oboe and strings. The New Music Group and the Riddick String Orchestra were conducted by Trevor Harvey.

The Musical Times (January 1949, p.28) reported on the concert: “Mr. Montgomery's Concertino for strings left an impression of excellent writing coupled with an invention that had not quite hit upon the right ideas…”

David Whittle (2007, p.96) quotes C.G.R.’s review of the concert published in the February 1949 edition of Musical Opinion: “Both the Concertino of Montgomery and the Concerto of Bush are based, consciously or not, on well-known models, but are none the worse for that; both show an intimate knowledge of the medium, the writing is invariably effective, the harmonic scheme is perfectly suited to the fund of genial melodic invention, and if neither work says anything very profound and frankly aims at pleasing the ear and soothing the mind, then so much the better. Not every composer is intended by nature to become a great master, and unpretentious works of this order have a far higher expectation of life than the pseudo-profundities and pathological phenomena with which we have been surfeited for the last several decades...”

The score of the Concertino was published on 1 August 1950 by Novello and Co. It was appraised by I.K. in Music & Letters (July 1951, p.292). He wrote: “Bruce Montgomery's Concertino is an unpretentious and well-scored composition of but moderate difficulty. Its distinction rests on its coloured harmony than on melodic invention, and occasionally there seems to be a too easy acceptance of sequences. Nor are all joins made with that elegance of carpentry of which the composer is capable.”

David Whittle (2007, p.95f) quotes the Musical Opinion (May 1951) which considered that “There is an engaging simplicity of design and economy of material in each of the movements of this work, which makes for a ready understanding and appreciation, despite the composer’s free use of dissonance. If the music rarely gets off the ground, it is always craftsman-like, and its technical competence holds the interest. [The] three movements, a Moderato quasi allegro, which is mainly fiercely energetic, with some good contrasting sections; a flowing Lento espressivo, and a Vivace ed energico, which again has two main contrasting ideas, one explosively rhythmical and the other a cantabile melody finely developed.”

Bruce Montgomery’s Concertino for string orchestra was recorded by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under the baton of David Lloyd-Jones. It was released on English String Miniatures, Volume 3 in 2001 (Naxos 8.555069). The CD included music by Holst, Finzi, Hurd, Martelli and Haydn Wood. All three movements of the Concertino has been uploaded to YouTube, here, here and here. (Accessed 19/12/2023)

Bibliography:
Whittle, David, Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2007)

Bruce Montgomery: Overture to a Fairy Tale.

As children we have fairy tales read to us (at least we used to do). Get a bit older, and we may start to read them for ourselves. My copies of the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and Andrew Lang were never far from me as youngster. Then we put them aside as ‘childish things’. If we are blessed, a day comes, sooner or later, when we pick these books up again, and approach them as an adult. If we are exceptionally lucky we can still capture the wonder and the magic that first revealed itself so many years ago. 

Musically, we need only think of Tchaikovsky’ Nutcracker ballet, Prokofiev’ Cinderella, Ravel’s Ma Mere L'Oye (Mother Goose Suite), Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Nielsen’s Aladdin to realise that this magic moves on into adulthood. In England, Elgar was enthralled the magic of the nursery stories, with his captivating Wand of Youth Suites and the aptly named Nursery Suite dedicated to the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.

Turning now to Bruce Montgomery’s Overture to a Fairy Tale. David Whittle (2007) notes that the ‘circumstances of its composition are unclear’ but he feels that it was unlikely to have been a commission, due to the work having been completed some two years before its premiere.

Whittle further suggests that the Overture is an important work, as it is one of only three completed scores for full orchestra, that were not ‘linked to his film work.’ The others were the Scottish Aubade and the Scottish Lullaby.

The orchestral score of Bruce Montgomery’s Overture to a Fairy Tale was completed on 23 February 1946, although the piano ‘reduction’ had been written a year or so earlier. Currently, the composer was living in the nearby fishing village of Brixham.  Although Whittle’s book states that the score was published by Oxford University Press in 1944 (?) I was unable to find any reference to it in the catalogues at the British Library, COPAC or WorldCat.

I do not know if there is any particular ‘fairy’ story underlying Bruce Montgomery’s Overture to a Fairy Tale.  I doubt that there is. In fact, I think it is a little bit like creating a set of variations without a theme. Here we find a succession of magical melodies, delightful instrumentation and a typically imaginative overall structure. Whatever the story, we are invited to dream and recapture our youth.

The listener will be impressed by the tone of this score. It has been criticised as owing much to Elgar (Wand of Youth?), especially in the opening bars. Yet the profusion of tunes - there are four major themes in the eight-minute duration - does seem to owe much to the idiom of light music in vogue in the immediate post war years. It is not quite the soundscape of Montgomery’s scores for the Carry On or the Doctor films, but the idiom is beginning to emerge.

The premiere of the Overture was given on 28 February 1948 at the Torquay Pavilion by the Torquay Municipal Orchestra, conducted by Ernest Goss. The Torbay Express and South Devon Echo (1 March 1948) reported that Kyla Greenbaum, ‘one of the younger generation of distinguished pianists, delighted the audience…yesterday afternoon, when she was the guest celebrity at the fortnightly celebrity concert.’ She chose to play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor. The critic thought that this ‘was a happy [choice] and her perfect technique, coupled with a fine reading by the Torquay Municipal Orchestra, left little to be desired.’ Greenbaum also played some solos including Chopin’s Ballade in F minor, and the Schubert-Liszt arrangement of Soiree de Vienne no.6 in A, which was a ‘notable contrast to the preceding work.’

There were several orchestral works featured, including the now largely forgotten arrangement by Reginald Jacques of Handel’s Gavotte from the opera Amadigi di Gaula and the Minuet from Berenice. A relatively rare Russian work was the Sinfonietta on Russian Themes, op.31 by Rimsky-Korsakov.  Alas, the critic said little about Montgomery’s Overture which opened the afternoon’s concert, save that the composer was ‘receiving increasing recognition.’

The Western Times (5 March 1948) was slightly more fulsome in its praise: it suggested that Overture to a Fairy Tale was ‘a well-constructed work in the style of Elgar…’

In 2003 ASV Record Company issued a performance of Montgomery’s Overture on the third volume of a series of British Light Overtures (CD WHL 2140). This disc also included music by Matthew Curtis, Carey Blyton, Montague Phillips, John Fox, Adam Saunders, Roger Quilter, Philip Lane, James Langley and Matthew Taylor.   It is available on Amazon as a ‘second hand’ CD. There is currently no YouTube file for the Overture to a Fairy Tale.

Bibliography:

Whittle, David, Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books (Ashgate 2007)

Some thoughts about Bruce Montgomery: Composer and Detective Novelist

It was on the P&O liner Oriana that I discovered Bruce Montgomery. In fact, it was quite a coincidence, with three strands coming together at once. Let me explain. The cruise's first ‘leg’ was the long but relaxing journey from Southampton to Barcelona. I spent most of the time eating, reading, swimming in the Riviera pool and listening to a carefully chosen play list of ‘classical’ music on my iPod. An apparently annoying habit I developed was whistling the ‘hornpipe’ as I walked round the promenade deck. But not just any ‘hornpipe’ – it was the catchy version used in that great comedy classic (at least I think so) Carry on Cruising. I could talk for hours about this film. There are so many ‘classic’ lines – 'I’ve been up to the sharp end, I‘ve been to the blunt end…'  'Italy has nothing to offer me I cannot get here (the bar!) – break out the Chianti…' etc. etc.

I had been reading an article about detective novels in general and so-called ‘locked room’ mysteries in particular. One of the texts mentioned was a book called The Moving Toyshop by a writer called Edmund Crispin. This was part of my holiday reading. And last, but not least, I included several classical music CDs in my listening plan – including a certain Concertino for String Orchestra.  It was not part of my plan to make connections – but I did. I soon realised that all three of the above indulgences were written or composed by a remarkable, if somewhat melancholic, man called Bruce Montgomery.

I imagine that relatively few folk will have heard of Bruce Montgomery, yet there will be hardly a person in the United Kingdom who is not acquainted with at least half a dozen of his film scores. I have already alluded to Carry on Cruising – add to this Constable, Nurse, Regardless, Sergeant and Teacher. I can only presume that everybody must respond to a least one of these classic excursions into British comedy. But Montgomery did not just compose music for the Carry On films: he provided scores for the equally enjoyable Doctor movies starring the redoubtable Dirk Bogarde, Leslie Phillips and James Robertson Justice.  How often do we look for the composer’s name in the credits of a film? I guess rarely.

Bruce Montgomery was born in Chesham Bois in 1921.  He had a good education both locally and at St John’s College, Oxford.  He studied modern languages and subsequently filled the vacant post of organ scholar there – the incumbent had gone off to fight Hitler.

Montgomery was inspired to write his first detective novel after reading a book by one of the mid-century doyens of that genre, John Dickson Carr.  He was motivated to write The Case of the Gilded Fly in an unbelievably short time, and it was equally speedily published by Victor Gollanz in 1944. It was the first foray of the detective/don Gervase Fen into the criminal complexities of Oxford. Fen, a professor of English Language, was to feature in most of Montgomery’s subsequent crime writings. The detective novels were all written using the pseudonym of Edmund Crispin. 

Clearly, Gervase Fen may have had a profound influence on Colin Dexter and his ‘scholarly policeman’ Inspector Endeavour Morse.

Concurrently with his writing, Montgomery was keen to follow a musical career.  His early works were small scale piano pieces or anthems.  His masterpiece, apparently, is An Oxford Requiem which was commissioned by the Oxford Bach Choir to celebrate the Festival of Britain in 1951.  I have not heard this work. The Times reviewer believed that this ‘is Montgomery’s most considerable achievement to date; it confirms the suspicion that he is a composer with something of real significance to say.’ According to contemporary reviews, a recording of this work may well be long overdue.

Bruce Montgomery was not a major ‘concert hall’ composer. He had only some twenty-four works published – most of which was choral or vocal music.  However, two key works stand out for me – the above-mentioned Concertino (a modest title) and the Overture to a Fairy Tale. In addition, there are the attractive Scottish Aubade and the Scottish Lullaby – both re-workings of film scores. But the critical thing is, that these four works would be a feather in the cap of any composer – both great and small.  They are interesting, well-wrought and full of character.

When Bruce Montgomery turned his hand to the lucrative business of film music, his compositional career really took off. In total, he provided the score for some forty odd films of greater or lesser importance. Perhaps his greatest achievement was in producing both the music and the screenplay for Raising the Wind – a comical story about music students. David Whittle in his study of the composer, tells the tale that Kenneth Williams and Leslie Phillips were coached on how to conduct Rossini’s William Tell Overture.  Furthermore, Montgomery himself had a cameo role in this film on the podium.

Alas, Montgomery had a propensity to fail to meet the strict deadlines that the film producers imposed. This came to a head when the music for Carry on Cruising had to be completed by Eric Rogers.

The years after ‘Carry on Cruising’ marked a decline in Montgomery’s health and fortunes. Poor health and alcoholism led to long stays in clinics, little work and financial insecurity. He spent the last fifteen years of his life contributing reviews to the Times, editing collections of Science Fiction stories and writing his ninth and last novel, The Glimpses of the Moon. Bruce Montgomery died on 15 September 1978.

Bibliography:
Whittle, David, Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books (Ashgate 2007)

Bruce Montgomery: Scottish Aubade

A number of years ago I bought a DVD of three British Transport Films showcasing the Scottish Highlands (Yesterday’s Britain, Delta 82963). The earliest film was The Heart is Highland (1951) which featured a tour of communities between Inverness and Kinloch Rannoch. The film introduces the viewer to a local gamekeeper, the district nurse and a newspaper editor. Visits are made to a clan gathering, a ski resort and some Highland castles. The music to this film was provided by the Scottish composer Cedric Thorpe Davie (1913-1983).

The second film on the DVD, Wild Highlands (1959) explored the beautiful Ardnamurchan peninsula on the Argyll coast. This concentrated on the wildlife of the area and included the feral cat, the red fox, soaring eagles and young ospreys. The score was by Edward Williams (1921-2013).

The final film was Highland Journey which follows a coach tour from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye, and features a journey on a steam train between Fort William and Mallaig.  The bus tour enters the Highlands at the small town of Killin and then crosses Rannoch Moor, passes through Glencoe, noting the Massacre there in 1692. Bonnie Prince Charlie is called to mind at Glen Shiel under the shadow of the magnificent Glenfinnan Viaduct: fishing boats are shown sailing through the Caledonian Canal. Sections of the film show mountaineers in Glencoe, the Cuillins in the Island of Skye and the lesser islands of Eigg, Canna and Muck. 

The film was originally released as Scottish Highlands but was revised and renamed Highland Journey in 1957. I have not seen the original film, however I understand that the screenplay is virtually the same.

In 1952 Bruce Montgomery (1921-78) composed the score for Scottish Highlands.  It was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra under Muir Mathieson on 8 October of that year. The film is just over 23 minutes long, and there is music for most of the action. Montgomery has the opportunity of ‘react[ing] to different scenes, from the grandeur of Ben Nevis to the locomotive speed of the West Highland line.’ (Whittle, p.147).

Two years later, whilst the composer was staying in Brixham, Devon he reworked the film score into a short tone poem, Scottish Aubade. It was dedicated to Muir Mathieson.  The first performance was given on 12 August 1954 on a BBC Overseas Service broadcast by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Mathieson. It was also played by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Charles Groves. The Scottish Aubade was never published.

I differ from David Whittle in his analysis of the mood of Montgomery’s score for Highland Journey/Scottish Aubade.  He suggests (Whittle, p.148) that the composer ‘infused’ the work with ‘Scottish folk idioms.’ I feel that much of this music has steered away from any form of blatant ‘tartanry’. The composer has created a largely impressionistic mood ideally suited to misty glens and sparkling sea-lochs. I accept that Montgomery has made use of a Scottish idiom in parts of the score for the film and in the derivative Aubade: I would classify it as ‘deconstructed Scottish melodies.’ It never becomes a parody or pastiche, and as far as I can tell it never accurately quotes any particular traditional melody.

The Aubade opens quietly with a violin melody followed by oboe then flute. The string harmonies shift in a manner akin to Delius. There is a crescendo before the flute introduces a ‘pastoral’ mood reminiscent of George Butterworth. This section does make use of a ‘Scottish inspired’ tune which is presented a number of times on the woodwind and then strings. At this point Montgomery creates a romantic sounding theme, much more universal in its effect. The middle section of the Aubade is impressionistic including its use of a flute melody supported by shimmering strings. Delius again is the model. An oboe tune is followed by a lugubrious horn phrase before the music heads toward the concluding climax. This is more ‘Hollywood’ than ‘Holyrood’ in its effect, complete with side-slipping harmonies and a big splashy tune. A fanfare leads to the final statement of the main theme before the work concludes on a positive note.

Bruce Montgomery’s Scottish Aubade was released on the British Film Composers in Concert CD in 2003. Also included was Montgomery’ Scottish Lullaby created from his score to the Nova Scotia-based drama The Kidnappers. Gavin Sutherland conducted the Royal Ballet Sinfonia and included works by Clifton Parker, Anthony Collins, Leighton Lucas and Eric Rogers. It is the only recording of this piece.

The CD was reviewed in The Gramophone (December 2003) by Adrian Edwards who noted that Montgomery found inspiration on a ‘…modest level in the Scottish Highlands’. Ian Lace for MusicWeb International (June 2003) considers that the ‘Aubade is nicely evocative and lyrical with material of shimmering beauty and suggestive of dramatic vistas’. Roger Hecht writing in the American Record Guide (November 2003) suggests that ‘the dramatic and tuneful Scotch [q.v.] Aubade is less impressionist and more nostalgic than the typical "English pastoralist" work, but it's as good as many of them.’ Referring to both the Aubade and the companion piece on the CD Scottish Lullaby, Paul A. Snook writes that these ‘two lovely pieces are exceptional examples of how to blend folkloristic sources with symphonic procedures without compromising either element.’(Fanfare January 2004). It is this final comment that sums up Bruce Montgomery’s achievement in this hugely attractive and satisfying evocation of the Scottish Highland landscape.

Bibliography

Whittle, David, Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books (Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2007

Discography

Montgomery, Bruce, Scottish Aubade, British Film Composers in Concert with works by Clifton Parker, Leighton Lucas, Anthony Collins and Eric Rogers Royal Ballet Sinfonia/ Gavin Sutherland WHITE LINE CD WHL2145 (2003)