British Music

[albion]

is there any more pre WW 1 orchestral content available that can be donated/uploaded??

I'm always on the lookout! I would love to know if anyone has -

Hamilton Harty: The Mystic Trumpeter (1913)
Brian Rayner Cook, baritone/ BBC Singers/ BBC Concert Orchestra/ John Poole (broadcast 5/8/1991) or
Belfast Philharmonic Society Choir/ Ulster Orchestra/ John Lubbock (broadcast 12/10/1994)

Alexander Mackenzie: Scottish Rhapsody No. 1, Op.21 (1879)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/ Bryden Thomson (broadcast date unknown)

Hubert Parry: The Soul's Ransom (1906)
Bach Choir/ Philharmonia Orchestra/ David Willcocks (broadcast 5/6/1986)

Ethel Smyth: Mass in D (1893)
BBC Symphony Chorus/ BBC Concert Orchestra/ Meredith Davies (broadcast 6/4/1986)

Arthur Sullivan: The Golden Legend (1886)
Leeds Philharmonic Chorus/ BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/ Charles Mackerras (broadcast 15/3/1986)

Joseph Holbrooke: Byron (1904)
BBC Singers/ BBC Concert Orchestra/ John Poole (broadcast 6/12/1978)

Charles Villiers Stanford: Requiem (1897)
BBC Singers/ BBC Concert Orchestra/ John Poole (broadcast 6/10/1978)

Charles Villiers Stanford: Phaudrig Crohoore (1896)
BBC Singers/ BBC Concert Orchestra/ Ashley Lawrence (broadcast 11/6/1974)

and (post-1918)

Ina Boyle: Overture (1933-34)
Ulster Orchestra/ Colman Pearce (broadcast 17/3/1992)

In the meantime, there are some more wonderful recordings of later twentieth-century repertoire in progress!

[albion]

I've finally located and uploaded my copy of the 2000 broadcast of the mighty 1935-7 Piano Concerto by Alan Bush (Folder 6). This work, lasting nearly an hour, was consciously modelled on the Busoni Concerto with a fiendish solo part and male voices in the Finale (to a text by Randall Swingler).

There is some useful information on this remarkable composition here - http://www.musicweb-international.com/BushA/alanbush.htm

[thalbergmad]

That is incredible, I have never heard this.

I will have to listen to it in shifts, as it exceeds my attention span by a considerable margin.

Superb thread.

Thal

PS. Has any of Simon Waley's compositions been recorded or broadcasted??

[albion]

Our great friend in BMB Dylan has just sent me a large number of recordings which I've just begun to work through.

I've just uploaded two fascinating near-contemporary operatic rarities, Malcolm Arnold's 1951 one-act opera The Dancing Master (Folder 8) and another instalment from the 1995 series Britannia at the Opera: extracts from Arthur Benjamin's A Tale of Two Cities (1950) - Benjamin has been conscripted into BMB (Folder 6) on account of his long residence in this country, the commissioning of his opera for the Festival of Britain and the sheer enjoyability of his music! 

Over the coming days I will endeavour to research, convert, edit and upload the many other excellent items from this latest haul. 

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Delighted to read of your response, Thal, to the Bush concerto. I've been itching to hear it for a good number of years. We've been fortunate in having had several pretty excellent recordings of the Busoni starting with John Ogden, and I wish some of those who've risked breaking their fingers on Busoni would turn their attention to Bush instead.

I suppose the problem here is that 'everyone' has heard of Busoni, but few know much of Bush. It is one of those many scandals that he is so unrepresented. I was lucky to hear a semi-professional performance of the 1st symphony in Manchester some 20 or more years ago - and I walked back home because I couldn't tolerate the sound of a train disturbing the memory of what I'd just heard! (Younger in those days!).

Both the 1st and 2nd symphonies (from 1940 and 1949) have been recorded by the RNCM / Douglas Bostock (that man is a hero!) on a Classico CD - hopefully that is still available, and is certainly worth seeking out.

The 2nd, incidentally, is subtitled 'The Nottingham', and was written for the celebrations that took place to mark the 500th anniversary of the town being granted its Royal Charter of Freedom. There's an amusing account of its performance by Bush's wife, Nancy, on the excellent Alan Bush website. It seemed a very grand affair with the Mayor and all the top brass present in their full regalia - and a right proper nosh was held afterwards! The Mayor seemed to enjoy it....as did many inhabitants of Nottingham, for the symphony was repeated and nearly all tickets sold - probably wouldn't happen these days!

Neither the 3rd (the 'Byron') of 1959, nor the 4th (the 'Lascaux' - named after the caves in France) have ever been recorded. I'm hoping that one day someone (Dutton is the obvious one) will wake up to the fact that Bush is a British composer of real stature and has had very few recordings indeed.

From the works of Bush that I've heard (which must be approximately one tenth of his total worklist - for it numbers just over 100 plus 4 operas) I have little hesitation in placing him firmly on the same platform as, for example, Tippett, Rawsthorne, and Rubbra to name just a few. Obviously such a categorisation is a trifle daft since there are very clear differences between all 4 composers. But rely on Bush for a very tight control of his musical materials, and a well-worked out and satisfying development and resolution of ideas. That is especially true of the fairly early 'Dialectic for String Quartet' of 1929. That's a hugely rewarding work, and it was recorded by the Medici on a Claudio CD, where it is c/w the Violin Concerto performed by Manoug Parikian, BBC SO / Norman Del Mar.

Maybe to some extent Bush shot himself in the foot through his own political preferences. The text contained within the Piano Concerto apparently offended the BBC establishment, and his music was rarely broadcast again. Don't know whether it is true, but there's a lovely story of a performance conducted by Boult who, immediately after the PC, insisted on playing the National Anthem!!! That side of Bush's reputation is thoroughly silly, of course, for quite a few significant British composers got up to tricks that had a greater potential for upsetting the worthies.

Back to the keyboard and Thal in particular. Bush's Op. 2 is the single movement Piano Sonata written when Bush was 20. Not in the same league as that stunning young man's sonata by Benjamin Dale, but nonetheless quite a gem. There is a Mark Bebbington performance on a CD where it is coupled with Karg-Elert's transcription of Elgar's E flat major symphony (but I have to confess I found the latter a dull affair. Poor old Karg-Elert, eh?!!)

[albion]

The following are now in BMB:

Daniel Jones: Symphony No.12 (1985) - Folder 7

Alun Hoddinott: Symphony No.10, Op.172 (1999) - Folder 7

Robert Still: Concerto for Strings (1964) - Folder 6

Benjamin Dale: The Flowing Tide (1924-43) - Folder 5

Christopher Steel: Cello Concerto and Symphony No.5, Romantic (1986) - Folder 7

John McCabe: Double Concerto (1987-8) - Folder 7

[albion]

Morning additions to Folder 7:

Panorama (1949) by John Veale, the Clarinet Concerto (1959) by Graham Whettam and Nicholas Simpson's Symphony No.2.

[Amphissa]

I remember hearing that CD with Bush symphonies 1 and 2 some years ago. I found them rather difficult going. The 1st was especially tough gristle, with a lot of 12-tone and craggy passages. The 2nd was somewhat easier to fathom, although not exactly inviting. I'm not sure I would consider them in the romantic idiom.

I did not rush right out to buy that CD. I might find it more accessible these days, as my tolerance for dissonance and atonality has increased over the years.

I am interested to hear the concerto. I'm hoping it will be less acerbic. Otherwise, I might not last through to the end.

[albion]

Two more additions today - two attractive dances from the 1940 ballet Puck Fair by Elizabeth Maconchy (Folder 6) and Thomas Wilson's String Quartet No.4 written for the Edinburgh Quartet in 1978 (Folder 7).

Again, many thanks to Dylan for these recent contributions.

[ahinton]

The Bush Piano Concerto was once described by Sorabji as the greatest piano concerto ever composed by an Englishman (which might not be saying so very much, but a compliment was indeed intended - and this from one who knew York Bowen's contributions to the medium well before most other people besides Bowen himself did). The Swingler doggerel is really a piece of penny-dreadful writing and it is one of the more unusual virtues of this concerto that Bush somehow manages to ensure that the music does not suffer as a consequence. I've only ever heard it played by Rolf Hind in a performance that sounded rather under-rehearsed and which followed Tippett's Second Symphony (arguably one of his finest works of all); the Bush could have done with more attention, really, but it still sounded profoundly impressive. Bush himself was the soloist in the première and the Boult/National Anthem story probably is correct(!); I wish that I could have heard this but I am unaware that it was ever recorded.

Sorabji gave me my copy of the score of the Bush concerto many years after he had published an enthusiatic review of it when it first emerged; he urged me to get to know it by practising its solo part (what did he think I was - a pianist?!)...

Best,

Alistair

[albion]

At BMB recordings and files come in, get researched and processed and then go out again (uploaded). Over the last couple of evenings I've taken time to actually listen to and absorb some more of this wonderful music.

Recent stand-out highlights for me have been Malcolm Arnold's witty and vivacious opera The Dancing Master and the music of John Veale from the series of 2006 broadcasts conducted by David Porcelijn (many thanks to Dylan and jimmattt for these). Here was a fascinating composer that I'd never encountered before, so I was please to discover that there is a website devoted to him - http://www.johnvealecomposer.co.uk/index.asp.

More music by Veale would be very welcome indeed, especially the 3rd Symphony performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra under Barry Wordsworth (broadcast in November 2006). 

[jimmattt]

More BRAVOs to Albion and contributors, what wonderful new additions to an already incredible treasure. I will need to find more about Nicolas Simpson, am loving that Symphony No. 2.  And may I request anyone who has more orchestral music by Elizabeth Maconchy would you please submit it, especially anything with piano and orchestra, I believe there is at least a concertino, not sure. And for that matter, how about anything by Elizabeth Lutyens. If you don't ask, you don't get...Thanks again, Maestro Albion.

[albion]

Nicholas Simpson has his own blog here - http://www.nicholassimpson.com/ and here is some biographical information from another site -



Nicholas Simpson was born in Manchester and read law at Nottingham University . For ten years he played in rock bands, making a small but still faintly detectable impact on 1980's pop, before studying composition and conducting at Trinity College of Music in London.  At Trinity he had lessons for four years with John Tavener, winning the Chappell Prize for composition and the Ricordi Prize for conducting (twice). In 1987 he was a finalist in the national Yehudi Menuhin and Royal Overseas League competitions and, whilst still a student, his first string quartet was given by the Roth Quartet at the Purcell Room.

In the 1990s Simpson earned a living as a criminal lawyer, composing in his spare time, but quit to be a professional musician on moving back to Manchester in 1998.  His music has been played in Europe and the USA by artists as diverse as the Composers' Ensemble, the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra and the English String Quartet. He has written music in a wide variety of genres, including two symphonies and many chamber pieces, and is one of a small (and undistinguished) number of people whose work has been played both on Radio 1 and Radio 3. He has led courses for the Sound Inventors composition in education team which won a Royal Philharmonic Society award.

In 2005 his Symphony No. 2 was recorded by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and broadcast on Radio 3. His piece for the Fell Clarinet Quartet, Mardale Changes, has been performed at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and in Scotland. He is now working on a 3rd symphony. Scheduled for 2007 were two performances of his oratorio Recreation, recently nominated for the British Composer awards. He is Conductor of the Gorton Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester and the Halifax Symphony Orchestra in West Yorkshire . He has also conducted the Amaretti Chamber Orchestra, Chelsea Symphony Orchestra, Salford Symphony Orchestra and the Manchester Beethoven Orchestra.

Nick Simpson is married and has three children.

[albion]

Another conscript into BMB on account of his close associations with this country - Bernard van Dieren (1887-1936).

The Elegy for Cello and Orchestra (1908) and the Chinese Symphony (1914) are now in Folder 6. Many thanks to dafrieze for these recordings.

[albion]

A friend from outside the forum recently sent me four compact discs containing a wealth of important broadcasts - Ruth Gipps' Symphony No.4 (1972), Arthur Butterworth's Violin Concerto (1978) and a wonderful collection of cello concertos by Lennox Berkeley (1939), Arnold Cooke (1972-3), Daniel Jones (1986), David Gow (1990), Robert Simpson (1991) and David Blake (1992) - mostly world premiere performances.

Now that I have ascertained all the broadcasting dates, the concertos by Berkeley and Cooke can be found in Folder 6, whilst all the other items are in Folder 7. There is a very slight digital click in the concluding minutes of the Ruth Gipps Symphony, but nothing that will hinder enjoyment of this wide-ranging and ambitious work.

There is plenty of music here that ought really to be better known - happy listening!