Cheltenham Symphonies

[John H White]

If John Gardner's music is as good as the picture on the front of the CD cover, I think I might invest in a copy of that CD myself.
By the way, I wonder how much influence the design of the CD cover has on the music chosen by a casual CD buyer in a record shop.

[albion]

Here is a list of symphonic and concertante works first performed in public at the Cheltenham Festivals from 1945-1964:

1946   Benjamin Britten – Piano Concerto (revised)                  
1946   Edmund Rubbra – Symphony No.2 (revised)                  
1947   Alan Rawsthorne – Oboe Concerto                     
1947   Ian Whyte – Symphony No.1                        
1948   Arthur Benjamin – Symphony No.1                     
1948   Alan Rawsthorne – Violin Concerto                  
1949   Richard Arnell – Symphony No.4, Op.52                  
1949   Gordon Jacob – Symphonic Suite                     
1950   Francis Baines – Concerto for Trumpet and Strings               
1950   Arnold Bax – Concertante for Piano (left hand)               
1950   Anthony Collins – Symphony No.2 for Strings               
1950   Peter Racine Fricker – Symphony, Op.9                  
1950   William Alwyn – Symphony No.1 in D                  
1951   Arnold Van Wyk – Symphony No.1 in A minor               
1951   Maurice Jacobson – Symphonic Suite for Strings               
1951   John Gardner – Symphony in D minor                  
1951   Malcolm Arnold – Symphony No.1                     
1952   Arthur Benjamin – Piano Concerto (Quasi una Fantasia)            
1952   John Veale – Symphony                        
1952   William Wordsworth – Sinfonia in A minor for Strings            
1953   Richard Arnell – Symphony No.3, Op.40                  
1953   Iain Hamilton – Symphony No.2, Op.10                  
1953   William Wordsworth – Symphony No.3 in C, Op.48               
1954   Geoffrey Bush – Symphony No.1                     
1954   Stanley Bate – Symphony No.3                     
1954   Peter Racine Fricker – Violin Concerto No.2, Op.21               
1954   Alun Hoddinott – Clarinet Concerto                     
1954   Graham Whettam – Viola Concerto                     
1955   Gerald Finzi – Cello Concerto                     
1955   Humphrey Searle – Piano Concerto No.2                  
1955   Brian Easdale – Concerto Lirico for Piano and Orchestra            
1956   Iain Hamilton – Symphonic Variations, Op.19               
1956   Daniel Jones – Symphony No.3                     
1956   Kenneth Leighton – Cello Concerto   
1957   Robert Simpson – Symphony No.2                     
1957   Arthur Butterworth – Symphony No.1                  
1957   Arnold Cooke – Clarinet Concerto                     
1957   Malcolm Arnold – Horn Concerto No.2, Op.58               
1957   John Gardner – Piano Concerto No.1, Op.34               
1958   Malcolm Williamson – Piano Concerto                  
1958   Alun Hoddinott – Harp Concerto, Op.11                  
1958   Ian Parrott – Cor Anglais Concerto                     
1959   Arnold Cooke – Violin Concerto                     
1959   John Addison – Concertante for Oboe, Clarinet and Horn            
1959   Malcolm Lipkin – Piano Concerto                     
1959   Iain Hamilton – Violin Concerto, Op.15                  
1960   R. W. Wood – Piano Concerto                     
1961   Malcolm Arnold – Symphony No.5                     
1961   Rawsthorne - Concerto for Ten Instruments
1962   Alun Hoddinott – Symphony No.2, Op.29                  
1962   Benjamin Frankel – Symphony No.2, Op.38                  
1962   Alexander Goehr – Violin Concerto                     
1963   Thea Musgrave – Sinfonia                        
1964   Alan Rawsthorne – Symphony No.3                     
1964   William Schuman – Violin Concerto   

[eschiss1]

Frankel's op.33 was, as noted above, actually given its UK premiere at the Cheltenham Festival- it was given its world premiere in Germany. (source: this article. I also have a brochure about the composer's music from the Frankel Society, I believe, that I can check on the point - I am not a member but Mr. Kennaway was good enough to give me a copy. Quite a lot of good information.)

...
now where have I seen "Hubert Reichert" before, anyway...

[albion]

Thanks for this correction - the inclusion of Frankel in the list does indeed appear to be erroneous and has been removed: I was transcribing from Frank Howes' 1965 history of the Cheltenham Festival in which he cites the 1960 performance as the first in public! 

[eschiss1]

Frankel's clarinet quintet, though not a symphonic or concertante work, does I gather belong in the work and was commissioned, and as you say the 2nd symphony was premiered there, so not far off - and I am surprised at his connection with the Festival in light of its (apparently undeserved) reputation. (Especially given the character of that 2nd symphony, in my opinion a most emotional and I think rather draining work! but no cause for actual surprise...)

[giles.enders]

It is a great pity that Herbert Howells was never asked to compose a symphony or a concerto for Cheltenham. 

[albion]

It is indeed a pity - a Howells symphony would be an intriguing prospect! During the first twenty years, in terms of performances the most favoured composers were:

Rawsthorne - Oboe Concerto (1947), Violin Concerto (1948), Piano Concerto No.2 (1951), String Quartet No.2 (1954), Violin Sonata (1960), Concerto for Ten Instruments (1961) and Symphony No.3 (1964)

Wordsworth - String Quartet No.3 (1948), Oboe Quartet (1950), Sinfonia for String Orchestra (1952), Symphony No.3 (1953), String Quartet No.5 (1957), Piano Quintet (1959) and Sonatina for Viola and Piano (1964)

Fricker - Symphony No.1 (1950), String Quartet No.2 (1953), Rapsodia Concertante for Violin and Orchestra (1954), Litany for Double String Orchestra (1956) and Studies for Piano (1961)

Hoddinott - Clarinet Concerto (1954), Harp Concerto (1958), Piano Sonata (1959), Symphony No.2 (1962) and Harp Sonata (1964)

[jimmattt]

Dear God, the names here, the names! The music listed her, the glorious music!!! Whoever started this silly "derision", anyway? The hell with "them". May I have to chance to hear it all, Ian Whyte included!

[albion]

Other interesting Cheltenham works not listed above include -

1949   Philip Sainton - Nadir, Symphonic Poem
1949   George Dyson - Concerto da Camera for String Orchestra
1951   Brian Easdale - The Sleeping Children, Opera
1952   Anthony Collins - Hogarth Suite for Oboe and String Orchestra
1952   Geoffrey Bush - The Spanish Rivals, Overture
1953   John Joubert - Overture, Op.3
1953   Geoffrey Bush - The Rhearsal, Overture
1955   Robin Milford - Overture for a Celebration
1955   Lennox Berkeley - Suite from Nelson
1956   Antony Hopkins - Ten O'Clock Call, Opera
1956   Geoffrey Bush - If the Cap Fits, Opera
1959   Anthony Milner - Variations for Orchestra, Op.14
1959   Anthony Hopkins - Hands Across the Sky, Opera
1960   Richard Rodney Bennett - Five Pieces for Orchestra
1960   Francis Burt - Espressione Orchestrale, Op.10
1960   Reginald Smith Brindle - Cosmos, four movements for Orchestra
1961   John Wilks - Six Pieces for Orchestra
1961   William Bardwell - The Tragic Mask
1961   Richard Rodney Bennett - Journal for Orchestra
1961   Alan Bush - Dorian Passacaglia and Fugue for Orchestra, Op.52
1963   Reginald Smith Brindle - Homage to H.G. Wells for Orchestra
1964   Elisabeth Lutyens - Music for Orchestra III, Op.56

In Frank Howes' history of the festival, two references are made to The Sleeping Children, commissioned by the English Opera Group from Brian Easdale (1909-1995) -

an astonishing miscalculation on the part of everyone concerned (p.12)

the second (ever) performance of Holst's crisp little comedy, The Wandering Scholar (which never got another production till 1963) was a massive achievement to be set against the disaster of The Sleeping Children. (p.36)

Does anyone have further details concerning the 1951 production of Easdale's chamber opera which might explain Howes' remarks?

[giles.enders]

In reply to Albion, it might be the association with Elisabeth Lutyens that have given the Cheltenham Festival its derisory reputation.  From the list posted it would appear that no further works were commissioned after hers.

[albion]

From the list posted it would appear that no further works were commissioned after hers.

The lists posted above are taken from Frank Howes' 1965 history of the Cheltenham Festival, and for this reason alone the many works performed subsequent to the 1964 meeting are not included! 

[eschiss1]

I'm reasonably sure somehow that this is not the fault of Lutyens' music, whatever the content of that piece and whatever her reputation (outside of this forum) (I like the works I have heard but haven't heard that one.)

[albion]

A little-known composer on the Cheltenham list is Philip Sainton (1891-1967). Two works of his which were performed at the festival are fortunately available in excellent performances, the Symphonic Poem The Island (1939) and the Symphonic Elegy Nadir (1942) -



CHAN 241-22

Although not a premiere, Barbirolli conducted The Island at the 1948 festival and it proved highly successful, continuing to be played nationally into the 1960s. Equally well-received was Nadir, inspired by the composer witnessing the death of a child during a bombing raid in Bristol - first heard at the 1949 festival, Barbirolli wrote to Sainton during rehearsal

you can rest assured that it really sounded splendid and very moving in its tragic intensity and excellent in sheer orchestral sound.

Both the opening and the final chapters of Sainton's musical career are somewhat mysterious - never prolific in output, a significant number of his works now appear to be untraceable, and he died largely forgotten after a long period of ill-health and financial difficulty.

On the strength of these two major scores (and not forgetting a bonus in the form of an attractive ballet The Dream of the Marionette) I would strongly recommend this inexpensive Chandos double to anybody interested in mid-century British music: even if you already have the Lyrita version of Hadley's gorgeous Symphonic Ballad The Trees So High, that too is given a splendid performance here under Matthias Bamert.   

[albion]

Here are a couple of interesting group photographs taken at early meetings of the Cheltenham Festival:



1949: Richard Arnell, Gordon Jacob, Richard Hall, Phyllis Tate, Philip Sainton and E.J. Moeran



1951: William Alwyn, John Barbirolli, Arnold Bax, Edmund Rubbra and Bernard Stevens

[albion]

In Frank Howes' history of the festival, two references are made to The Sleeping Children, commissioned by the English Opera Group from Brian Easdale (1909-1995) -

an astonishing miscalculation on the part of everyone concerned (p.12)

the second (ever) performance of Holst's crisp little comedy, The Wandering Scholar (which never got another production till 1963) was a massive achievement to be set against the disaster of The Sleeping Children. (p.36)

Does anyone have further details concerning the 1951 production of Easdale's chamber opera which might explain Howes' remarks?

There is very little information available regarding the opera (understandably so, given the critical mauling it received): notices from The Times seem to point to an extraordinarily ill-conceived collaboration -

The libretto of The Sleeping Children is by Tyrone Guthrie, who mixes the veristic and symbolical conventions, and asks the composer to resolve the desperate antimonies of the mixture. It is a straightforward tale of adultery, surrounded by a nimbus of vapours about the significance of Life, in which psychological probability is discarded and the baldest theatricality put into its place. The music is an encumbrance on the plot, and the text is prohibitive of independent music. Furthermore, the composer has had to take over Britten's stock orchestration of the English Opera Group's productions in which there is an unbalance of wood-wind and percussion.

(10 July 1951)


A slightly later notice elaborated on the fiasco -

Failures as rule are best buried. They are part of the ceaseless trial and error by which art grows and lives. But Brian Easdale's opera, The Sleeping Children, encompasses error on such a scale that an inquest is expedient, because men of the artistic stature of Tyrone Guthrie and Benjamin Britten, with his coadjutors of the English Opera Group, are involved in it. Admirers of their vigorous and fertile imaginations must steel themselves for the unlovely role of candid friends.

Guthrie is a man of the theatre and he has seen, read, and produced so many plays of so many kinds that he can conceive of a drama being propelled by a variety of motivating powers. In The Sleeping Children he combines three: one, the realism which in opera dealing with characters below the heroic level is called verismo; two, the symbolism expressed in a couple of sentences from the synopsis - "The Children represent the sleeping, dreaming part of creation, unconscious but none the less vital. The School is a world through which one passes, but where one does not remain, and where lessons are supposed to be learnt," and three, the weather - for it is on the pathetic fallacy that he relies to make his last act even conceivably possible. The plot so produced therefore gives a first act which is predominantly naturalistic, a second act which is revoltingly grand guignol, and a third which is woolly idealism in a Celtic twilight.

The head master of a small school (but wearing academical dress far into the night) is informed that during his absence at the war the chief assistant master and his wife have become lovers. The two men confront each other in a scene which is apparently realistic but is shown subsequently to have been enacted at the level of the Freudian unconscious, though the audience has to whatch the assistant master caught in some manacling contraption conveniently at hand and have his face stabbed with a pen that is a dagger (or alternatively a dagger symbolized as a pen). Then, as though nothing had happened, wife and assistant master depart, the head remains, the weather changes, the school janitor decides that he may ring the Great Bell (capital letter show how symbolical it is), and all is well.

Now music might in theory manage this change of level of dramatic motive. Shakespeare in The Tempest differentiates by music mortals and non-mortal beings. Priestly in his plays about Time uses music as a switch from one level to another. Opera composers from the first beginnings of the art have used recitative and aria as alternative gears for dramatic propulsion. But Easdale, confronted with Guthrie's half-baked cake of naturalism, symbolism and the pathetic fallacy, has despaired of doing anything more than keep up a continuous tissue of music, as he might for a film script. The total result is appalling.

(13 July 1951)

It certainly sounds like one hell of an indigestible (although intriguing) mess - perhaps an example of the justifiably (and literally) unsung.