Celebrating Geoffrey Bush’s 100th Anniversary

Geoffrey Bush (1920-98) is largely the preserve of enthusiasts of 20^th century British music. He is never heard on Classic FM and rarely features on Radio 3. Despite composing many outstanding orchestral works, he has only had three ‘done’ at the Proms, the most recent being 1958.  Occasionally, his music is heard at concert and recital performances.

Geoffrey Bush’s catalogue is extensive and includes two excellent symphonies, several operas, incidental music for stage, a large amount of chamber music, and many choral and vocal works. As a composer, Bush was most comfortable writing songs and opera. His interest in English Literature is obvious in the wide-ranging selection of texts chosen for his many settings. Yet, he was often discouraged by the lack of interest in these songs: singers had not heard of most of them, never mind committed to giving performances. He is now (possibly) best recalled for his Overture: Yorick and his Christmas Cantata.

Stylistically, Bush writes in a conservative and straightforward style. He sometimes looks back to earlier composers with such pieces as the archaic Consort Music and the Matthew Locke (1621-77) Suite for piano and orchestra. Another side of Bush’s achievement was his skill as a musical editor. There are definitive editions of songs by Hubert Parry, Charles Villiers Stanford, and John Ireland to his credit.

Brief Biography of Geoffrey Bush:

• Born at 84 Strode Road, Kilburn, London on 23 March 1920.
• He was a chorister at Salisbury Cathedral for several years.
• Bush entered Lancing College in 1933.
• Received the Nettleship Scholarship in 1938 to ‘go up’ to Baliol College, Oxford where he completed his B. Mus in 1940.
• During the Second World War Bush he was a committed pacifist.
• Employed as a warden at a hostel in Monmouth for ‘difficult’ evacuees in lieu of military service.
• Studied with John Ireland after the end of the war.
• Composed his best-known work Overture: Yorick (1949).
• Married Julie Kathleen McKenna on 15 April 1950.
• Premiere of the Symphony No.1 at the 1954 Cheltenham Festival.
• Employed as Staff Tutor in music at London University for 35 years between 1952 and 1987.
• Later appointments included Chairman of the Composers Guild of Great Britain and service on the Arts Council, and the Performing Right Society.
• Wrote Symphony No.2 ‘Guildford’ in 1957
• Completed the score for his opera Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime in 1972.
• Edited music of several other composers including the Songs of Stanford (1986) and Parry (1982)
• Wrote many articles and broadcast talks on musical subjects.
• Geoffrey Bush died on 24 February 1998 at his home, 43 Corringham Road, Golders Green, London.

Six Key Works

I have selected six contrasting works that can be heard on CD or download. It seems a bad idea to recommend pieces that cannot be heard.  It is unlikely that the listener will be in the right place at the appropriate time to hear a live performance of Geoffrey Bush’s Music.

There are several other works that demand interest and possible professional recording. I note these as at the end of this list. 

• Christmas Cantata for solo voices, choir, oboe, and orchestra (1947) (Saydisc CDSDL352)
• Overture: Yorick (1949) (Lyrita 252)
• Symphony No. 1 (1954) (Lyrita 252)
• Concerto for Light Orchestra (1958) (Lyrita SRCD 341)
• Concerto for trumpet, piano & strings (1962) (Lyrita REAM1131)
• Consort music for string orchestra (1989) (Naxos 8.555068)

Geoffrey Bush has had a fair selection of his music recorded. But like most composers, there are still large gaps in the catalogue. It must be hoped that some of these are ‘plugged’ in the coming years. My personal ‘wish list’ would include Rhapsody for clarinet and strings (1940), Music for orchestra (1987) and a new edition of the Concerto for oboe and strings (1948). This latter work was recorded by John Barbirolli and Evelyn Rothwell in 1956 and has been released on CD (SJB104546).

Bibliography

There is no formal biography of Geoffrey Bush. However, the composer’s two semi-autobiographical volumes, Left, Right and Centre: Reflections on Composers and Composing (London, 1983) and An Unsentimental Education and Other Musical Recollections (London, 1990), were both published by Thames. Apart from that, the interested listener must rely on the usual encyclopaedia and dictionary entries as well as CD liner notes, obituaries, and record reviews, several of which are available online. There is an entry in the National Biography prepared by John Warrack.

If you can only listen to two CDs featuring Geoffrey Bush’s music:

The two following CDs present a large proportion of Geoffrey Bush’s orchestral works and form a splendid introduction to his music:

Bush, Geoffrey, Yorick Overture (1949), Music for Orchestra (1967), Symphony No.1 (1954), Symphony No.2 (1957).  New Philharmonia Orchestra/Vernon Handley (Yorick); London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vernon Handley (Music for Orchestra); London Symphony Orchestra/Nicholas Braithwaite (1st Symphony); Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Barry Wordsworth. (2nd Symphony). Lyrita SRCD 252, (1995).

Bush, Geoffrey, Small Pieces for Orchestra: Concerto for Light Orchestra (1958), Natus est Immanuel - A Christmas Piece for String Orchestra (1939), Matthew Locke Suite 'Psyche' - in collaboration with Francis Harvey (c.1958), Sinfonietta Concertante for Cello and Small Orchestra (1943), Two Miniatures for String Orchestra (1948), Finale for a Concert (1964) + Ireland, John, The Holy Boy (1915) arr. cello and strings by Christopher Palmer. Raphael Wallfisch (cello) (Ireland), Northern Chamber Orchestra/Nicholas Ward Lyrita SRCD 341, (2014).

And finally, if you have only time to hear one work:

This is a difficult question. On the one hand, I would recommend the Yorick Overture composed in 1949. This is a delightful piece of ‘light’ music written for the National Association of Boy’s Clubs to commemorate the death of their patron, the radio and stage star Tommy Handley. Yorick is ‘a deft and ingenious little piece which young people of all ages could enjoy without any kind of effort…’

On the other hand, a deeper response to Geoffrey Bush’s muse would be the Symphony No.1 completed in 1954 and first heard at that year’s Cheltenham Festival. It certainly inhabits a different sound world to Yorick, yet as The Times (9 July 1954) reviewer noted, ‘[It is] a sane work that refrained from making heavy weather with modern anxieties.’ From the dark hued opening movement, to the ‘poco lento e con malinconia’ taking its point of departure from Constant Lambert’s Elegiac Blues for piano, to the concluding ‘Commedia de’ll Arte’ mood of the finale, this work never fails to impress. Geoffrey Bush’s First Symphony may not be a major twentieth century masterpiece, but it is a great work that does not deserve the neglect it has had over the past sixty-five years or so. It is a hugely positive example of the unfairly derided ‘Cheltenham Symphony.’

To answer the question, it depends on the listener’s mood. But I guess I would eventually plump for the sheer vibrancy of the Yorick Overture if I could only hear a single piece by Geoffrey Bush. Despite its general mood of gaiety, there is enough reflection in the middle section ‘funeral march’ for ‘That Man Again’ to gain an impression of the composer’s more serious side.

Both works can be heard on the above mentioned Lyrita SRCD 252 issued in 1995.  They have been uploaded to YouTube (Yorick) and (Symphony No.1)

Geoffrey Bush: Symphony No.1 (1954)

I listened to this fine symphony the other day. I had not heard it since I reviewer the Lyrita CD back in September 2006 for MusicWeb International. My opinion of the work has not changed since that time, so I present that part of my original review with only a few revisions.

1954 was a great year at the Cheltenham Festival. Concert-goers had a chance to hear several fine works – although I guess most are now forgotten. This blogpost is not a history of the Festival – but a ‘little list’ will not go amiss. Works heard included Alan Rawsthorne's String Quartet No.2, Peter Racine Fricker's Rapsodia Concertante, Alun Hoddinott’s Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra and Graham Whettam’s Concerto for Viola and Orchestra. There were also two symphonies of considerable note. One of them is Geoffrey Bush’s First but the other is also sadly neglected today – Stanley Bate’s Symphony No.3.

The review of this latter work in the Yorkshire Post was typical – ‘the most striking modern orchestral work we have heard this week.’ This work was released on Dutton Epoch CDLX 7239 in 2010.

But ‘Back to Bush...’

His Symphony No. 1 took over two years to compose. Bush writes that it was ‘a slow and laborious process.’ Much time was spent writing and rewriting the music before he felt it was complete.

The First Symphony resides in a totally different sound-world to that of the earlier Yorick Overture. Yet as a contemporary reviewer remarked, ‘[It is] a sane work that refrained from making heavy weather with modern anxieties.’ (The Times 9 July 1954)

The Symphony opens darkly and ominously but it is this initial theme that provides most of the material for the remainder of the movement. The scoring is less ‘stark’ than other reviewers have suggested, but the fact remains that this is no ‘pastoral’ or ‘post romantic’ exercise. Yet, there are plenty of lovely tunes and phrases tossed around the orchestra. In many ways, the first movement is a ‘discourse on a lively theme.’

The slow movement is the heart of the work. Written as a memorial to Constant Lambert, Bush calls it an ‘elegiac blues’ - obviously after the eponymous piano piece by the older composer. After a well-balanced first section and an impressive build-up we hear a quotation from Lambert’s great choral work Rio Grande. This movement is a lovely, moving tribute to a man who was a great pioneer amongst 20th century composers in exploring the possibilities of jazz and ‘modern’ dance music.

The last movement has all the hallmarks of an Italian Comedy – or at least so the composer tells us. There are definite references back to the opening bars of the symphony – but I do not think that Bush means the work to be cyclic. The beauty of this movement is the way the composer utilises the traditional symphonic exposition of two contrasting subjects, however at the point when we expect the development to begin the composer surprises us with a third theme. Soon the work is rushing to its conclusion and the work ends in ‘a blaze of D major.’ There is no doubt that rhythmic exhilaration is the key to this last movement.

Contemporary reviewers were impressed by this work. But perhaps the greatest compliment was that it is ‘a true and honest representation of its composer without any self-conscious striving for the grandiose or for novelty for its own sake.’ There can be nothing better said about any composition – especially a symphony. Furthermore, I was struck by the sheer craftsmanship of this work – the orchestration and the balance and the unity of this piece give it an extremely satisfying air. This First Symphony is not a major twentieth century masterpiece, but it is a great work that does not deserve the neglect it has had over the past fifty years or so.

Geoffrey Bush’s Symphony No. 1 can be heard on Lyrita SRCD 252. It is coupled with the Overture: Yorick (1949), the Music for Orchestra (1967) and the Symphony No.2 The Guildford (1957). It has been uploaded to YouTube (accessed 5 December 2018)

Geoffrey Bush: Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime (1972) and Concerto for trumpet, piano and strings (1962)

I often tell people that I do not like opera: and then spend the next fifteen minutes listing the exceptions. From Gilbert & Sullivan’s Yeoman of the Guard to Iain Hamilton’s The Constantine Conspiracy and from Mozart’s Magic Flute to Harrison Birtwistle’s Punch and Judy, I have been enchanted by a combination of music, acting, scenery and effects for nearly 50 years of listening to classical music. I guess what I mean when I say I do not like opera is a) I would rather hear a symphony, sonata, or concerto and b) I have not spent much time studying and thinking about the genre.  

Geoffrey Bush is a case in point. Although there are not too many of his works recorded, I have long rated his Symphonies No.1 and No.2 ‘The Guildford’ as well as the Overture: Yorick and the splendid Music for Orchestra.  All these works have been issued and re-issued by Lyrita over the years. Another facet of Bush’s achievement are the songs and chamber works. These have been explored by the Chandos and Lyrita labels.

Although I have read Geoffrey Bush’s two volumes of autobiography, Left, Right and Centre, (1983) and An Unsentimental Education (1990) I never really ‘clocked’ that he had composed six operas and stage pieces plus incidental music for The Merchant of Venice. At least the information never sunk in.

The present opera, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime by Geoffrey Bush has impressed me. I would love to see a full performance. The libretto, the music and the performance line up to present a hugely satisfactory and ultimately entertaining stage work.

Christopher Palmer (Bush, 1990) has evaluated Geoffrey Bush’s operatic achievement: the operas are ‘good, short, comic operas, with witty librettos and sparkling spontaneous sounding music which have always been in short supply.’ Add to this the fact that most of Bush’s operas are easy to stage – limited scenery changes and props, no chorus and small orchestra - it is not hard to see the potential for them being economical productions (at least as far as any opera can be deemed economical!)

Whilst at Lancing College, Bush had played the part of Gwendolen Fairfax in The Importance of Being Earnest. This led to his admiration for Oscar Wilde, and ultimately to the present production.

Geoffrey Bush’s opera Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime is based on the eponymous short story published by Oscar Wilde in The Court and Society Review, in 1887. Four years later, it appeared in the collection Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories. This volume included ‘The Canterville Ghost’, ‘The Sphinx without a Secret’’ and ‘The Model Millionaire.’   

I do not want to ‘plot spoil’ as I guess that there are people who have forgotten ‘my lord’s’ story. I will say that it is tale about a member of the nobility who is told by a palmist that he will commit murder. He resolves to get the deed out of the way before he marries his beloved, Miss Sibyl Merton…

The opera is presented in one act with three scenes. Bush has removed some of the action from the story and has simply referred to it in passing. This conveniently brings the work down to under the hour. The first scene is set in Lady Windermere’s house where the guests are enjoying a party. Scene two plays out in the shop of an anarchist in Soho. The third is set on the banks of the Thames, near Blackfriars Bridge, EC4. In his book Left Right and Centre, (1983) Bush points out that this is a happy coincidence: it was the address of the Guildhall School, who had commissioned the opera. It was premiered there on 5 December 1972.

The size of the band was limited by the dimensions of the Guildhall School’s orchestra pit. Bush wrote for only 30 players, omitted a section of violins and included a piano. There is no chorus: where it required in the libretto during the opening party scene it falls to an ensemble of soloists.

The progress of the opera is quite conventional with ‘set numbers’ interspersed with recitatives, often unaccompanied and occasionally spoken parts. The orchestral part is clever. Often pared down to the minimum, it complements the singing perfectly. Bush has quoted a few bars of music by Mendelssohn and Wagner.

Look out for Sibyl’s ‘Victorian Ballad’ in Scene 1. This is a setting of words by Dollie Radford who was a contemporary of Oscar Wilde.  Palmer (Bush, 1990) has noted that this song reflects the composer’s interest in Victorian music (Bush edited music by Parry, Stanford and Sterndale Bennett for the Musica Britannica series). This ballad is not pastiche, but per Palmer, ‘a Victorian ballad seen from a contemporary composer’s point of view – [through] the Stravinskian distorting mirror.’  

Musically, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime is immediately approachable. Bearing in mind that this was a comic opera set in the days of Queen Victoria, the composer felt that the use of ‘jazz’ was inappropriate; neither were the paradigms of expressionism such as ‘total chromaticism, dissonances, angular vocal and dislocated rhythmic structures…’ (Bush, Musical Times December 1972) suitable either. Furthermore, Bush has avoided the use of a simplistic musical language that may have been acceptable in some ‘comic operettas’ of the past. I think that he has created a perfect fusion of his own style that ‘compliments the great subtlety of elegant wit and irony of the libretto.’

The other work on this CD is the Concerto for Trumpet, Piano and String Orchestra, dating from 1962. The liner notes explain that it is an orchestrated and heavily revised version of Bush’s Sonata for trumpet and piano written in 1945.  The present incarnation was first performed at the Royal Festival Hall on 16 December 1963, with David Mason, trumpet and Ian Lake, piano.  The Concerto is in three movements: an opening toccata, a dreamy nocturne and a finale.

The heart of this work is the moody and lugubrious Nocturne that oozes ‘smoochiness’ and evokes smoke-filled jazz clubs of a past generation.

I guess that I feel this work is a little imbalanced. The opening toccata and the finale are totally different in mood, perhaps neo-classical, but certainly not overtly jazzy.

The middle movement holds its own against cross-genre masterpieces such as Richard Rodney Bennett’s Jazz Calendar, Mátyás Seiber’s Improvisations for Jazz Band and Symphony Orchestra and Leonard Salzedo’s Rendezvous for a similar combination. By the way, if you do not know these three works, and like jazz-infused classical music, try to hear them.

The CD booklet provides the ‘complete’ libretto which is helpful: dialogue is omitted. It could have been keyed into the tracks. On the other hand, all soloists sing their parts with such clarity of diction that the libretto is hardly necessary except for study purposes. The briefest of glances at the list of performers require no recommendation from me.

There is a generous essay on Geoffrey Bush as well as a good introduction to the opera and concerto. 

The sound quality is perfect, bearing in mind the that these works have been quarried from Richard Itter’s archive of ‘off-air’ recordings. These are proving to be a major treasure trove of British music.

Geoffrey Bush Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime is yet another superb release from Lyrita that explores one more facet of one Britain’s much undervalued composers.

Track Listing:

Geoffrey BUSH (1920-98) Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime an Opera in One Act (1972)

Concerto for trumpet, piano and strings (1962) David Johnson (tenor), Lynne Dawson (soprano), Alan Watt (baritone), Donald Maxwell (baritone), Anne Pashley (soprano), Eirian James (mezzo soprano), Anne Collins (contralto), John Winfield (tenor), Philp Riley (baritone), Geoffrey Moses (bass-baritone), Musicians of London/Simon Joly. Patrick Addinall (trumpet) Hamish Milne (piano) BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/Bryden Thomson

Rec. BBC Studio Recording 27 July 1986 (Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime), BBC Broadcast 8 May 1986 (Trumpet Concerto)

LYRITA REAM.1131

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

Geoffrey Bush: Songs on Lyrita

I do not have a full list of Geoffrey Bush’s music so I cannot be sure what proportion of his songs have been recorded on this superb new CD from Lyrita. However, a glance at Grove and the list printed in the composer’s autobiography (An Unsentimental Education, Thames Publishing, 1990) suggest that this represents a considerable portion of the extant works for voice and piano.  The present programme ranges from the early Five Spring Songs composed in 1944 to the Chaucer setting from 1987.

Geoffrey Bush was born in London in 1920. After singing in Salisbury Cathedral as a boy-chorister he entered Lancing College in Sussex. He received the Nettleship Scholarship to Balliol College where he gained his doctorate. A pacifist during the Second World War, he was employed as a warden at a hostel in Monmouth for ‘difficult’ evacuees. After the war, Bush studied with John Ireland in London. Later appointments included Chairman of the Composers Guild of Great Britain, and for 35 years he was Staff Tutor in music at London University. Beside composition, he was a prolific writer on musical topics and was a contributor to the BBC’s Third Programme/Radio 3. He edited the music of other composers including the songs of Stanford and Parry.  Geoffrey Bush’s catalogue of compositions is extensive and included two symphonies, a number of operas, incidental music for stage, a large amount of chamber music, choral and vocal works. He is best recalled for his Overture: Yorick and his Christmas Cantata.

Record companies have not been over generous to him. Lyrita has issued the symphonies and ‘Music for Orchestra’; Chandos released an album of Bush’s chamber music and another of songs with Ian Partridge with the composer playing piano. There are a few other pieces scattered here and there in the catalogues.

The liner notes outline Bush’s approach to song-writing presented in a lecture to an adult day-learning class. He would begin by selecting the text from a number of possibilities and then immerse himself in the words by constant rereading. This enabled him to ‘…absorb every nuance of the poetry from the surface meaning to all the subtle ways the poet had clothed the content by the use of verse-structure, verbal inflection, pace and colour.’ And finally his stated aim was not to just ‘set’ the text, but to find ‘a way that enriched the original poem through music.’ It is clear from the works presented on this CD that he practised what he preached.

I do not intend to comment on each individual song or song cycle: the excellent liner notes give a detailed analysis of this music. I want to make three general comments. Firstly, I was impressed with the broad range of poetical material that Bush has explored to make his settings. The present disc has writers as diverse as Robert Herrick, Geoffrey Chaucer and Stevie Smith: his range of interest embraces the Greek poet Meleager, the English Renaissance poet Ben Jonson and medieval lyrics by John Skelton and Charles of Orleans.

Secondly, the listener will be conscious of two fundamentally different stylistic features in these songs. There is music that is clearly influenced by Parry, Stanford, Ireland and other composers of the English musical revival. Beside this, there is a strong element of Bush’s work that is more ‘modernist’ sounding with nods to Prokofiev and possibly even Stravinsky. For example, in the Kathleen Raine settings, The End of Love he responded to the text with music that was ‘infused with a new archness, even sardonic bitterness.’ Some of this music borders on the brutal: it is certainly shrouded in dark shadows. In the Seven Greek Songs there is an operatic feel to the progress of each text. The Ben Johnson songs are typical of the general run of twentieth century English song, but are not without individuality. Interestingly, he has not fallen under the spell of Benjamin Britten.

And finally, Bush’s entire vocal output is characterized by an economy of material. There is wit and humour in much of this music that reflects his interest in French music. However, I believe that melody is primary in virtually every one of these songs. This is accompanied by a colourful, but typically economical piano part.

As with all CDs of songs and song cycles, I suggest that the listener explore slowly. I worked through chronologically. The liner notes by Roderick Swanston are helpful and informative. After a brief biographical sketch of the composer he gives a detailed study of each work. Unfortunately, Lyrita have chosen not to give the texts of these songs. I concede that some of them will still be bound by copyright such as Stevie Smith and Kathleen Raine. Clearly, Ben Jonson, Thomas Dekker and Robert Herrick are not.

I was impressed by the clear, confident singing of Simon Wallfisch. Every word is defined; every nuance of the melody is presented with confidence and understanding. He has mastered the sentiment and literary detail and adapts perfectly his vocal style to the various moods of each song. His voice is controlled and never strained. Wallfisch makes an ideal artist for English song recitals.  Edward Rushton provides a consistently sympathetic accompaniment to all these songs.

The ambience of the recording is faultless and reflects the quality of the singing and playing. It is what one expects from Lyrita.

This is an excellent exploration of Geoffrey Bush’s songs. It probably needs to have a ‘Volume 2’ to catch those other fascinating settings such as the remaining three of the Four Chaucer Songs, and ‘Farewell Earth’s Bliss’. And then there are the songs composed for ‘high’ voice…

Geoffrey Bush is a composer who demands reassessment. The compositions that I have heard suggest that there is much of value in his catalogue. The present CD is a hugely worthy contribution to this reappraisal and deserves every success.

Track Listing:

Geoffrey BUSH (1920-1998)

Four Songs from Herrick’s ‘Hesperides’ (1949)

Seven Greek Love Songs (Meleager trans. Dudley Fitts) (1964)

Five Spring Songs (1944)

Stevie Smith Songs (1981)

Three Songs of Ben Johnson (1952)

The End of Love (Kathleen Raine) (1954)

Merciless Beauty (1987)

Five Medieval Lyrics (1970)

O, the Month of May (1950)

Simon Wallfisch (baritone) Edward Rushton (piano)

LYRITA SRCD.343 [70:00]

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

Geoffrey Bush: Overture - Yorick

‘Can I do you now, Sir?’ This expression has gone into many books of modern quotations? And alongside it will be 'After you, Claude - no, After you Cecil'’ and ‘Going down now, Sir.’

Tommy Handley last presented ITMA (It’s That Man Again) on 6 January 1949; three days later he was dead. The radio show had survived the war years with its fast, zany and extremely funny sense of humour that had appealed to everyone but particularly to servicemen and women. I can remember my father, a former Sapper, eulogising about it. In fact, I lent him a BBC cassette tape of four episodes - and it disappeared from sight until I sorted out his effects shortly after his death.

But what has all this got to do with Geoffrey Bush? Well it has all to do with that other sometime comedian, actor and scriptwriter Bill Shakespeare. Remember the words from Hamlet, ‘Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.’ Yorick, whose skull Hamlet is holding, was his father's jester.

Bush had been commissioned to write a piece for the National Association of Boys Clubs in memory of their late patron who happened to be Tommy Handley. And he was struggling to make a connection when he thought of these words. The parallel of Tommy Handley and the dead jester was apposite, especially when Hamlet’s thoughts about Yorick’s ‘flashes of merriment that was wont to set the table on a roar.’

The Overture, Yorick is a well-balanced and nuanced piece. It is roughly divided into three parts, the outer sections ‘with the customary statement, development and recapitulation of two themes’ paints a portrait of the hilarious side of Tommy Handley’s nature. However, the lovely wistful middle section is a funeral elegy for the departed comic. Bush nods to Prokofiev in this work – including an allusion to Peter and the Wolf.

The first performance was at the Albert Hall where it should have been a huge success. But the ‘student orchestra’, the ‘New Philharmonic’, was hardly up to scratch. A contemporary reviewer noted that ‘…the players were insufficiently sure of themselves to give Geoffrey Bush’s … overture the sparkle it needed.’ However he recognised the potential of this work and concluded that Yorick is ‘a deft and ingenious little piece which young people of all ages could enjoy without any kind of effort.’ TTFN!

Geoffrey Bush’s Overture: Yorick is available on Lyrita SRCD.252.  It can also be heard on YouTube. The New Philharmonia Orchestra is conducted by Vernon Handley. 

Geoffrey Bush: Symphony No.2 – The Guildford – a late anniversary!

I did not have my ‘blog’ at the end of 2007- however if I had I would have ‘noticed’ the half-century of one of the forgotten symphonies in the English music repertoire. Fortunately Lyrita have issued this work along with the Overture Yorick, the Music for Orchestra and the First Symphony on SRCD.252. So it is available for all to hear and to enjoy!

So approaching the 51st anniversary of its first performance…please read on!

The Second Symphony – The Guildford was commissioned as a part of the 700th anniversary of the granting of a Royal Charter to the city of Guildford. It was first performed in November 1957 by the Guildford Municipal Orchestra with the composer on the rostrum. I was unable to find any contemporary reviews of this work so I am not sure what the audience and the pundits made of it. However it did not regularly appear at symphonic concerts over the years and was not broadcast until the late nineteen-eighties.

The work is ‘officially’ in one continuous movement yet there are clearly four defined sections. The construction of the piece is more complex than that of the First Symphony although it does not really stress our musical appreciation. Bush has stated that this is really a ‘festive’ work – which should be listened to in that spirit. He is concerned that perhaps too much effort will be put into analysing the structure and the genesis of this piece rather than just simply enjoying it. He suggests that the listener gets ‘caught up in the prevailing atmosphere of jubilation.’

The work does not really require analysis – but a few words about each section will not be amiss. The Symphony opens with a kind of chorale theme for the various department of the orchestra. However it soon turns into a fanfare suggesting the Grand Old Duke of York or some other important person is about to arrive- although it may be a bit jazzy for some VIP’s taste. Soon the music evolves into an exciting allegro that contrasts two excellent tunes or perhaps allows them to enter into a dialogue with each other.

The ‘slow movement’ is quite definitely the heart of the work. Now I am not suggesting that there is an incipient ‘pastoralism’ in this work, but I do feel that this music evokes something of the countryside around Guildford- having spent a little time exploring the glorious Surrey Hills. But even this reflective music is interrupted by dramatic outbursts. So perhaps there is a little problem of balance in this movement? However, there are some lovely moments in this music

I am not quite sure what to make of the ‘scherzo.’ It is quite obviously a cheerful and exuberant movement with lots of ‘fun’ instrumentation, especially for woodwind. Yet somehow I am not convinced by it. Perhaps it just a little too light hearted, without pretending to be ‘light music?’

The composer describes the last movement as being a recapitulation of material from the first. Yet it seems to me that there is more energy and perhaps even more consistency of purpose in these last pages than in the rest of the Symphony. This is great stuff.

So in balance it is is an enjoyable essay but one that leads me to worry a little about the stylistic balance – yet as Geoffrey Bush insists, and I paraphrase, we need to sit back and enjoy.

With thanks to MusicWeb International

Geoffrey Bush: Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano

Sadly and certainly unfairly the composer Geoffrey Bush is not well represented in the CD catalogues: at present he has only some seven or eight works on disc. Of course his two symphonies are recorded on Lyrita and these are certainly impressive major works and deserve to be in the libraries of all English Music enthusiasts. Bush Symphonies

Bush’s reputation is generally (alas) confined to his vocal music- both choral works and solo songs- so any opportunity to hear a chamber or orchestral work is to be welcomed.

The Trio was written in 1953 when the composer was in his early thirties. The work opens with a declamatory flourish and soon gets into an impressive ‘adagio maestoso.’ This is powerful music. However after a short pause, the mood changes to one of a quicksilver scherzo-like ‘vivace.’ Here we find the typical Bush fingerprints of wit, precision, shifting tonalities and syncopated rhythms. Then follows a gorgeous tune. Jeremy Polmear of Oboe Classics, suggests that it nods to Walton and this is appropriate. It is first heard on the oboe before being repeated on the bassoon and developed contrapuntally. But soon the ‘scherzo’ music returns and this leads into ‘big music’ before the movement comes to a mercurial end.

The second movement is noted as ‘poco lento-tempo di vivace.’ This is deep music compared to that which has gone before. Actually I feel it is full of sadness. I was reminded or Finzi in the way that the melody unfolds with an almost Bachian poise and balance. Yet this mood cannot last for ever. Soon the music becomes much more exploratory before repeating the Finzian tune, albeit in a more Spartan guise. A reprise of ‘quicksilver’ music brings the work towards its conclusion. The work ends with a clever little figure from both oboe and bassoon.

Geoffrey Bush’s Trio is available on Oboe Classics ‘Melodic Lines’