George Lloyd

George Lloyd ‘s long life – he was born in 1913 and died only eight years ago – was affected as much by the ups and downs of musical fashion as by the vagaries of his own life. Hailed as one of Britain’s composers in the thirties, he had written three symphonies by the age of 21, and two operas he composed by the time he was 25. Both of these were performed in London at the Lyceum Theatre and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and to some acclaim. He was seen as a typical English composer in the tradition of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Edward Elgar. His promising career, however, was cut short by the 39-45 War in which he served as a bandsman in the Royal Marines. His ship, H.M.S.Trinidad, accidentally torpedoed itself and he was one of only three out of fifteen bandsmen who survived, though suffering from shell-shock from which he took much time to recover.

Taken by his wife to her native Switzerland to recuperate, slowly his confidence as well as his health returned and he composed his fourth and fifth symphonies there. Settling in Dorset, he then became a market gardener, writing music in the mornings before work began. The American record company, Albany recognised his worth, and with their encouragement he began a new career, eventually completing twelve symphonies and the dramatic Symphonic Mass. I collected some of the symphonies and the Mass, relishing in his rich romantic style and wonderful tunes, though disappointed in the way in which I felt his musical language lacked development and was sometimes more enjoyable than profound; but what’s wrong with enjoyment! I see there is now a Society devoted to him, and I have borrowed some of the information on their web site for this posting.

Sir Edward Downes believed in the quality of Lloyd’s work, and conducted first performances and recorded some of the symphonies. But the critical establishment didn’t share his positive views. William Glock, then BBC’s Controller of Music, is reputed to have had implacable ideas on what should and should not be broadcast on the BBC’s music channel, and Lloyd in company with Edmund Rubbra and Robert Simpson, whom we met last time, were effectively banned from the airwaves.

At the end of November BBC’s Radio Three made Lloyd their Composer of the Week, and those morning programmes were supplemented by some of his music in the afternoons as well. I have just heard his eighth symphony and earlier his fourth, the last movement of which has the most delayed final climax of any work I can remember. It keeps on nearly happening, but then eventually gets there. It was a studio performance and the audience went wild. Since then the wonderful optimistic upward thrust of the main tune in that movement – superbly orchestrated - has lodged in my mind; and is welcome!

Perhaps some of the Albany discs will be re-released.

B.R.

Robert Simpson

Robert Simpson, author, musicologist and composer, died nine years ago this month. I heard him give an introductory talk for a London Concert in the 1980’s, a precise, friendly, quietly but firmly spoken man, enthused about the music of Sibelius and Nielson. People say that his advocacy was partly responsible in the U.K for the revival of interest in Anton Bruckner. He was employed by the BBC for thirty years, until he resigned in 1980 in protest over their programming policy for the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts at that time.

He produced a steady stream of quartets and symphonies over the years, few of which were heard in regular performance, but some of the fifteen quartets and all of the eleven symphonies were recorded by the enterprising Hyperion Company. There is a Robert Simpson Society and their commitment has helped to honour his work and to keep him in the public mind. All of his symphonies have just been reissued as a complete set.

Eschewing atonal music, Simpson wrote in traditional classical mode, his orchestration rich in colour, but his musical argument intellectual and demanding. I still have a CD of his ninth symphony played by the Bournemouth Orchestra conducted by that champion of British music, Vernon Handley. The symphony lasts for 50 minutes and, unusually, is in one movement although there is a structure corresponding to the normal movements of a symphony.

I have been listening to it again and trying to give it the concentration it deserves. It’s a tough but rewarding work and I am wondering whether to invest in the whole set of his symphonies. Writing about this one, one reviewer says that Simpson doesn’t stand ‘ at any fixed pole of today’s music, but rather at a kind of magnetic north, free from attempts of musical cartographers to pin down his position, spiritually allied to composers of any age and style who have penetrated to the essence of music’s motion in time.’

…Which is a bit flowery but I think I know what the writer means, for this is a composer firmly in the mainstream of the classical tradition, but of his time and as himself.

George Lloyd, a very different composer, next time.

B.R.

More New Music

Following on from the last posting, I see that this week Matthias Pintscher was conducting the first British performance of his Cello Concerto in London’s Barbican Concert Hall. That puts into perspective my gloomy reflection on the British scene, which was a bit over the top anyway. Born in 1971 and winner of many international awards, Pintscher has studied in London and Dusseldorf, been composer in residence at the Mannheim National Theatre and the Cleveland Orchestra, and is presently a professor of music in Munich.

This arrangement whereby for two or three years a composer is connected with an orchestra, has become a common practice in Europe and North America, and provides a context in which new compositions can evolve and be grounded. Pintscher is regarded as the foremost German composer of his generation and, multi-talented, he in fact conducted the whole of last Wednesday’s concert which was very favourably reviewed in the paper the following day. He has produced a variety of works in different genres and they have been performed by prestigious orchestras under such conductors as Simon Rattle.

Another contemporary composer who has been a composer in Residence -with Sinfonia 21 and with the Cleveland Orchestra - is the English composer,Julian Anderson. He has also been associated with the City of Birmingham Orchestra in this capacity since 2001. Holding various academic positions he is now Professor of Composition at Harvard University and has held a similar position at the Royal College of Music. (How do these people ever have time to compose?!). The Website, www.fabermusic, characterises Anderson’s style of composition as a ‘fresh use of melody, vivid contrasts of texture and lively rhythmic impetus’.

Anderson apparently has a wide appreciation of ethnic music, ranging from the folk music of Eastern Europe and India. His Alhambra Fantasy (2000) is inspired by Moorish folk music as well as the world of Lorca. Since its first performance this work as been performed by many of Europe’s major ensembles and was toured by the Ensemble Modern under Oliver Knussen, himself a composer of distinction. A CD of some of his pieces has just been issued. Played by the City of Birmingham Orchestra and Chorus, the disc is enthusiastically reviewed in today’s Guardian.

Two English composers of another generation are being given new attention just now, Robert Simpson and George Lloyd, and we will have a look at them in the next posting.

B.R.

Contemporary Music

Music lovers tend to be very conservative. We like what we know and we enjoy hearing different interpretations of the same works again and again. Looking at the syllabus for a concert season in any of the provisional cities in Britain and even more so in London, you will see the same diet of classical music, much of it composed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and guaranteed to please conventional tastes and therefore to keep some sort of hold on a constantly reducing audience. It makes economic sense. Performers have to be paid and concert halls and opera houses maintained.

Meanwhile new music struggles to be heard and imaginative conductors like Ilan Volkov in Scotland and Marion Alsop in Bournemouth slip in what Henry Wood called ‘novelties’ in what otherwise is a popular programme. Without the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, the innovative input of the BBC’s Radio Three, useful anniversaries when a neglected composer can be remembered, and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival held in November of each year, new composers would have even less opportunity to get their music heard. Ironically some of our native composers have a better hearing on the continent and in Europe than in the U.K.

Spain seems to have a better solution to this problem. The Foundation Juan March commissions new works by Spanish composers and gives them their first performance, compiles an up to date archive of contemporary Spanish music and organises concerts in honour of new and well known Hispanic composers on a regular basis. Moreover the foundation encourages young musicians who are often still at school, and there is now a new generation of professionals who have been launched on the first stage in their careers as a result of the foundation’s support.

The Foundation was established in 1955 by the Spanish financier Juan March Ordinas, who seems to have been a sort of James Bond character during the Franco years and by playing a clever game and dodging the political come-back, he was at one time the seventh richest man in the world. The foundation is a family run institution “with the aim of contributing to the knowledge and solution of problems that affect the future of humanity…to the progress and dissemination of knowledge and, within that, to the study of man and society.” .Its base is in Madrid where many of its sponsored concerts are held, but apparently it also hosts impressive art exhibitions in its galleries in Cuenca and Palma de Mallorco.

Until some billionaire philanthropist emerges in Britain, we have to muddle on as well as we can, welcoming the new instead of shrinking from the effort of meeting a musical language that may not follow a familiar notation and style. When given the opportunity, I must remember to do that, as I have done on several occasions, sometimes to my bewilderment, often to my profit. Or travel to Madrid!

B.R.

Albeniz - once again

I see that Deutsche Grammophon are publishing on the 14th of November a double disc of Isaac Albeniz’ two act comic opera, Pepita Jimenez. This is the third opera Albeniz composed with a libretto from the extraordinary Francis Burdett Money-Coutts (see my article of June 27 2005) and is consequently in English, though the story is based on the well known Spanish novel by Juan Valera.

There’s an impressive cast including the indefatigable Placido Domingo and the American soprano Carol Vaness. The conductor is Jose De Eusebio whom we have met in these articles before. He is responsible for pioneer recordings of the two other Albeniz/Coutts operas, both Decca recordings. Here he conducts the Madrid Community Orchestra and Chorus.

Juan Valera had an interesting ( and very privileged )life. Born in 1824 in Cabra, Córdoba to an aristocratic family he attended university in both Granada and Madrid. He subsequently entered the diplomatic service as a companion to the Duke of Rivas, Ambassador in Naples, where he dedicated his time to reading and Greek studies. He also travelled to Portugal, Russia, Brazil, USA, Belgium and Austria. In 1861, Valera was admitted to the Real Academia Española and wrote various newspaper articles and essays, such as "Sobre el Quijote" (1864). He later wrote several books including"Las Ilusiones del Doctor Faustino (1875), "Doña Luz" (1879), and "Juanita la Larga" (1895), as well as Pepita Jimenez(1873).

Tim Ashley who reviewed the new recording in The Guardian last week, calls the story line of the two act comic opera ‘frothy’, which may be more the fault of the librettist than the original author. Apparently the novel tells the story of a wealthy young heiress and widow (Pepita) and her love for a young seminarian, Don Luis De Vargus, and although Ashley says the opera lacks memorable tunes*, he says it is beautifully performed, with Domingo ‘rolling back the years as her ardent young lover.

So here is another addition to the growing discography of Albeniz’s compositions, as his worth as a composer who contributed so much to the development of Spanish classical music, is increasingly recognized.

B.R.
* an enthusiastic review on Radio Three this morning takes a different view, arguing that the work proves that Albeniz was much more 'than a mere composer of various works for piano'04/11/06