The (usually) derisory term 'Cheltenham Symphony' comes up time and again in discussing mid-twentieth-century British music. Can anybody supply a comprehensive list with dates of modern British symphonies actually commissioned for or first performed at the Cheltenham Festival since its inception in 1945? ???
hrm. quote from paper (http://edgehill.academia.edu/RichardWitts/Talks/36789/Shopping_and_Fricker_The_Cheltenham_Festival_of_Contemporary_Music_1946-1964): "and there was no need in the early days to commission one..." - this may be more difficult - the best-known examples of works premiered may not have been commissioned, indeed, yes. still, can have a look into that question... ooh. actually, that link (though you've probably found it already, of course!) may help a lot ("I'm going to reveal the source of the notorious Cheltenham symphony", the author writes with a grin) - I will read it tonight (I need a rest alas, chronic headache)
Unfortunately the document in the link refers (on page 7) to a list of twenty-five symphonies premiered at Cheltenham between 1946 and 1964, but does not supply the list! >:(
So far I've got
1946 - Edmund Rubbra No.2
1950 - William Alwyn No.1
1950 - Peter Racine Fricker No.1
1951 - John Gardner No.1
1953 - Richard Arnell No.3
1953 - William Wordsworth No.3
1954 - Stanley Bate No.3
1957 - Arthur Butterworth No.1
1961 - Malcolm Arnold No.5
1964 - Alan Rawsthorne No.3
1969 - Lennox Berkeley No.3
Any others spring to mind? ???
and 2 of those are after 1964 :), and Fricker symphony no.4 was premiered in Birmingham, not Cheltenham- erm-... not the same thing?...
that should be Rawsthorne 3 in 1964 btw yes?
1947- Ian Whyte 1
1948- Benjamin
1951- Arnold 1 apparently
1952- Veale 1 (revised, but likewise is Rubbra 2)
1953- Iain Hamilton 2
1954- Geoffrey Bush 1?
(bracket: 1960- British, but not world, premiere of Frankel 1 :) )
1962- Benjamin Frankel 2 (his clarinet quintet was indeed a Cheltenham commission, btw. I forget if the symphony was. anyhow, 16 so far, continuing, not counting bracket)
Thanks - Rawsthorne 4 was a slip of the digit and you're quite right about Fricker 4 as well (now corrected)! ::)
As a native of the lovely spa town of Cheltenham, I always wince when I hear the phrase "Cheltenham Symphony" because it is seldom heard without a sneer. But heck, they were commissioning symphonies for heavens sake! I may not like some of the results, but surely the festival deserved praise for still believing in a traditional form of music?
Mark, you'll be happy to hear that the pejorative term "Cheltenham Symphony" is completely unknown in my neck of the woods. ;)
David
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Thursday 31 March 2011, 13:02
I always wince when I hear the phrase "Cheltenham Symphony" because it is seldom heard without a sneer. But heck, they were commissioning symphonies for heavens sake! I may not like some of the results, but surely the festival deserved praise for still believing in a traditional form of music?
I couldn't agree more - a brave and pioneering venture by the Festival Committee with the result that we now have quite a number of extremely worthwhile compositions to explore (and not just symphonies, but concertos, chamber music ...)! It is great to see a lot of this repertoire now becoming more accessible and finding a far more sympathetic (and reasoned) response than it did in the 1950s and 60s.
Has anybody acquainted themselves with this recording of Symphony No.1 by John Gardner (b.1917) -
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Nov07/Gardner_8570406.jpg)
written in 1947 and first performed at Cheltenham under Barbirolli in 1951? It's one I've not got round to yet and wondered if I should! ???
I am not really well acquainted, but I have appreciated and found rewarding the Symphony, in its very, very temperate modernity.
The Naxos CD (I bought in 2007) quotes a site www.musicweb-international.com/gardner/symphonies.html.
It speaks to the state of things here that there's no comparable term "Louisville Symphony" - except to describe, that is, works actually titled by their composers "Louisville Symphony". I mean, though, for the symphonies commissioned or more generally world- or US- premiered by the Louisville Orchestra during its heyday (iirc, a wide range of American symphonies, plus Milhaud's 6th, Martinu's 5th, Bentzon's Louisville Symphony, and a number of others. Expand the range out-symphony and one includes - I think? - Britten's violin concerto, Rosenberg's 3rd concerto for orchestra "Louisville"... etc.! - if not premiered by the orchestra I'm on surer ground saying that they received possibly their earliest recordings from them- maybe it's a good thing their name has neither the negative nor the positive connotation... I go by the no publicity is bad publicity way-of-thinking, though. well - sort of. though it's far from true that the Louisville Orchestra has had none.)
Quote from: Albion on Sunday 03 April 2011, 10:25
Has anybody acquainted themselves with this recording of Symphony No.1 by John Gardner (b.1917) -
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Nov07/Gardner_8570406.jpg)
written in 1947 and first performed at Cheltenham under Barbirolli in 1951? It's one I've not got round to yet and wondered if I should! ???
I bought this CD a little while ago purely out of curiosity. I am SO glad I did. I have found this one of the most rewarding CDs of English music I have bought in a long while. While perhaps not the most daring voice of his time, Gardner speaks with a style very much his own. The symphony is finely wrought and captures the imagination from beginning to end. I am not such a fan of English piano concertos (can't explain why), but the
Midsummer Ale overture is a good romp. The style is slightly reminiscent of Vaughan Williams à la 4th and 6th symphonies and the Holst of, say,
Egdon Heath. Anyone who enjoys the EJ Moeran Symphony wouldn't go too far amiss with this CD either.
Get it and enjoy!
I am a Yank, so didn't know about the required derisibility (not a word according to spellcheck) of the Cheltenham commissions, or that I shouldn't like Rubbra's 2nd, et al. I think those who deride things usually have something missing in themselves, seems unlikely that they wrote symphonies, unlikely that they premiered one if they did write one, etc. So I say Hooray Cheltenham and all things and persons Cheltenhamian (also spellcheck derided), and if you aren't currently commissioning symphonies, please recommence doing so! :)
... I like Rubbra 2 just fine (quite a whole lot actually- a strong work) and several of the others that I know (and was a bit surprised to see Frankel in the list, though it was his quintet, not his less tonal symphonies, that was commissioned by the Festival. All works I enjoy, anycase.) I will admit with an embarrassed face that I did, several decades ago, with little knowledge of Rubbra or of Cheltenham (having only recently gotten to know the former's music and knowing of the latter only by reputation) allow myself to lose interest in the former because of rumored association with the latter, for a time, but after hearing the violin and viola concertos on Conifer and some other works my interest in Rubbra was reignited, that particular foolishness shamed, etc. ...
Eric
I also am a huge fan of Rubbra in general, so I have a feeling that I'd like a lot of these symphonies, despite the potential sneering I might encounter. :)
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. :)
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
Frankel's op.33 was, as noted above (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1016.msg13306.html#msg13306), actually given its UK premiere at the Cheltenham Festival- it was given its world premiere in Germany. (source: this (http://www.musicweb-international.com/frankel/works.htm) 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...
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! :)
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...)
It is a great pity that Herbert Howells was never asked to compose a symphony or a concerto for Cheltenham.
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)
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!
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?
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.
Quote from: giles.enders on Wednesday 27 April 2011, 11:38
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! ;)
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.)
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) -
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51eKc%2B4i2QL._SL500_AA280_.jpg)
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. :)
Here are a couple of interesting group photographs taken at early meetings of the Cheltenham Festival:
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/Chelt49.jpg)
1949: Richard Arnell, Gordon Jacob, Richard Hall, Phyllis Tate, Philip Sainton and E.J. Moeran
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/Chelt51.jpg)
1951: William Alwyn, John Barbirolli, Arnold Bax, Edmund Rubbra and Bernard Stevens
Quote from: Albion on Wednesday 27 April 2011, 05:49
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.
Calling Dan Aykroyd! Bad Opera, anyone? This is a job for Leonard Pinth-Garnell! ;D
P.S. I always thought that the music introducing that segment of SNL was an original composition by Howard Shore, the bandleader of the show during that period. But it's March of the Lunatics by Leonard Pennario.
as to Hadley/Sainton, I recall a very positive review in Fanfare of one of the discs when it appeared on Chandos some years back. Intriguing...
Only just seen this site on Cheltenham, but in answer to the original question there is a 36-page booklet 'The Cheltenham International Festival of Music 1945-1994 - Reminiscences' (oddly, no publisher or printer named) that lists all first performances by year from 1945 until 1994 (11 pages), together with a list of all featured composers, giving years but not listing all individual works. A very useful booklet.
Thanks, and welcome to the forum!
Even so perceptive and distinguished a writer as Malcolm MacDonald can write (in reference to Havergal Brian's Symphony No.21):
"....it may be this prevailing 'Englishness' that leads one to view it as almost a representative manque of that peculiarly English genre, the 'Cheltenham Symphony': the formally correct, harmonically fairly innocuous symphony in a 'modern English' idiom (Post-Hindemith, post-neo-classical Stravinsky, with some post-Vaughan Williams tunes, if we must be unkind) acceptable to the English critical establishment of the 1950's but with little to offer more exploratory minds. Except, ironically, that Brian was never commissioned to write anything by the Cheltenham Festival. One wonders however (perhaps over-mischievously) if he might one day have heard on the radio a sufficiently worthy specimen from William Alwyn or Lennox Berkeley or Peter Racine Fricker or Alan Rawsthorne (or even Edmund Rubbra....) to have thought to himself: 'I can do that sort of thing too-only a bit better' ".
This appears in Volume II of Malcolm's book on the HB Symphonies. I remember almost exploding when I first read the passage and writing to the author to express my surprise and indeed shock that he should be starting to compare in this way, should be crudely lumping a number of British composers in this way and should be dismissing their works with such faint praise.
To be entirely fair, Malcolm regrets the passage :)
(....and, looking through the list of works played at the Festival, there does not appear to be a performance of a Lennox Berkeley symphony).
I agree - this umbrella dismissal of such diverse composers as Alwyn, Rubbra, Rawsthorne, Berkeley and Fricker jarred with me when I first read it, but I'm glad that MM has effectively retracted the comment.
;)
Quote from: Dundonnell on Sunday 02 October 2011, 03:05(....and, looking through the list of works played at the Festival, there does not appear to be a performance of a Lennox Berkeley symphony).
When I provided the listings of symphonies and other orchestral works earlier in the thread I was reliant upon Frank Howes' history of the Cheltenham Festival published in 1965 which only covers the Festivals up until 1964, so the many works performed subsequently will need a further list. Lennox Berkeley's Symphony No.3, a direct commission from Cheltenham, was performed at the Festival in July 1969.
Quote from: secondfiddle on Sunday 10 July 2011, 11:01there is a 36-page booklet 'The Cheltenham International Festival of Music 1945-1994 - Reminiscences' (oddly, no publisher or printer named) that lists all first performances by year from 1945 until 1994 (11 pages), together with a list of all featured composers, giving years but not listing all individual works. A very useful booklet.
I've been trying to locate a copy of this for ages without success! If any member has this title and could send me scans of the relevant eleven pages (or, better still the whole booklet) I would be very grateful - and the lists could be further extended.
:)
Quote from: Delicious Manager on Tuesday 05 April 2011, 15:55
Quote from: Albion on Sunday 03 April 2011, 10:25
Has anybody acquainted themselves with this recording of Symphony No.1 by John Gardner (b.1917) -
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Nov07/Gardner_8570406.jpg)
written in 1947 and first performed at Cheltenham under Barbirolli in 1951? It's one I've not got round to yet and wondered if I should! ???
I bought this CD a little while ago purely out of curiosity. I am SO glad I did. I have found this one of the most rewarding CDs of English music I have bought in a long while. While perhaps not the most daring voice of his time, Gardner speaks with a style very much his own. The symphony is finely wrought and captures the imagination from beginning to end. I am not such a fan of English piano concertos (can't explain why), but the Midsummer Ale overture is a good romp. The style is slightly reminiscent of Vaughan Williams à la 4th and 6th symphonies and the Holst of, say, Egdon Heath. Anyone who enjoys the EJ Moeran Symphony wouldn't go too far amiss with this CD either.
Get it and enjoy!
Totally agree wth this.
QuoteI've been trying to locate a copy of this for ages without success! If any member has this title and could send me scans of the relevant eleven pages (or, better still the whole booklet) I would be very grateful - and the lists could be further extended.
May I echo John's request, please.
Albion points out that I did my esteemed friend Malcolm a disservice by suggesting that Lennox Berkeley had not written a 'Cheltenham Symphony'. I wish that I had checked that out :-[
Regarding John Gardner: at the age of 94 he must be Britain's senior composer. Gardner has composed a wide range of tuneful and accessible works and it is excellent that he has received some attention for record companies in more recent years(Richard Arnell and Arthur Butterworth are two other examples of British composers who have received belated recognition in old age). The Gardner Symphony No.3-a short work of 16 minutes duration-and the Sinfonia Piccola for strings are on an ASV cd issued in 2000 with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Gavin Sutherland.
What we need though is Gardner's much more substantial Symphony No.2 from 1984.
There is a superb website devoted to Gardner and run by his son Chris.
Quote from: Dundonnell on Sunday 02 October 2011, 17:24
Regarding John Gardner: at the age of 94 he must be Britain's senior composer.
Not quite: as far as wikipedia knows Roy Douglas is still alive - at 103!
Roy Douglas died in- correction, that 1990 death listing is for a "Roy Douglas Wright", writer in medicine- whoops!. I really need to read more carefully. Skip that... *goes to look further*
Quote from: britishcomposer on Sunday 02 October 2011, 17:33
Quote from: Dundonnell on Sunday 02 October 2011, 17:24
Regarding John Gardner: at the age of 94 he must be Britain's senior composer.
Not quite: as far as wikipedia knows Roy Douglas is still alive - at 103!
There is a rather moving Musician's Benevolent Fund video interview with Roy Douglas -
http://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/help_you/retired/retired_musicians/roy_douglas_story.aspx (http://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/help_you/retired/retired_musicians/roy_douglas_story.aspx)
Thanks for that video link :)
Wow..Roy Douglas is only two months off 104 now :) Good for him :) :)
Here are scans of the souvenir programmes for some of the Cheltenham Festivals -
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1949-1.jpg?t=) (http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1950-1.jpg?t=) (http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1953-1.jpg?t=)
1949, 1950, 1953
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1954-1.jpg?t=) (http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1955-1.jpg?t=) (http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1956-1.jpg?t=)
1954, 1955, 1956
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1959-1.jpg?t=) (http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1961-1.jpg?t=) (http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1964-1.jpg?t=)
1959, 1961, 1964
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1965-1.jpg?t=) (http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1967-1.jpg?t=) (http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1968-1.jpg?t=)
1965, 1967, 1968
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1969-1.jpg?t=) (http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1970-1.jpg?t=) (http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1971-1.jpg?t=)
1969, 1970, 1971
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/1972-1.jpg?t=)
1972
:)
Well done, John, for obtaining this valuable archive. I'm so glad it has gone to a good home.
Thanks, Gareth. There are also single-sheet folded paper programmes from 1947, 1951 and 1952 including the following first performances -
1947 (3/7) - Richard Hall: Theme and Variations
1947 (3/7) - Alan Rawsthorne: Oboe Concerto
1947 (4/7) - Ian Whyte: Symphony No.1
1951 (3/7) - Arnold van Wyk: Symphony No.1
1951 (4/7) - Maurice Jacobson: Symphonic Suite for Strings
1951 (5/7) - John Gardner: Symphony No.1
1951 (6/7) - Malcolm Arnold: Symphony No.1
1951 (8/7) - Humphrey Searle: Poem for Twenty-two Strings
1951 (8/7) - Philip Sainton: Serenade Fantastique for Oboe and Strings
1952 (15/7) - William Wordsworth: Sinfonia in A minor
1952 (17/7) - Anthony Collins: The Hogarth Suite
1952 (20/7) - Gerald Finzi: Suite, Love's Labours Lost
1952 (20/7) - Geoffrey Bush: Overture, The Spanish Rivals
:)
Unfortunately I'm a completist, so the gaps will need to be filled.
::)
Arnold van Wyk??
Quote from: Dundonnell on Saturday 08 October 2011, 14:07
Arnold van Wyk??
Wyk, Arnold van (1916–1983)South African composer. He began to learn the piano at the age of 12 and, after working in an insurance office at Cape Town, entered Stellenbosch University in 1936. In 1937 he was commissioned to write music for the centenary of the Voortrekkers and in 1938 he went to live in London, having gained the Performing Right Society's scholarship. He studied composition with Theodore Holland and piano with Harold Craxton at the Royal Academy of Music, joined the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for a short time, and later devoted himself to composition.
Works
Orchestral - two symphonies (1944, 1952); Suite for small orchestra on African tunes,
Southern Cross (1943);
Saudade for violin and orchestra.
Chamber - string quartets; five elegies for string quartet (1941).
Other - three improvisations on a Dutch folksong for piano duet.
See also - http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1252.0.html (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1252.0.html)
:)
I could have sworn that I did a search for Van Wyk on here :)
Things are pretty hectic just now with so much 'new music' having to be listened to and catalogued ;D ;D Oh, well, never mind, much obliged for the info'.
Too expensive for me on Amazon though :(
To add to the lists given earlier in the thread of first public performances at Cheltenham, here are those for the years 1965 and 1967-1972:
1965 Arthur Bliss - Hymn to Apollo (revised version)
1965 Wilfred Josephs - Symphony No.2, Op.42
1965 Alan Bush - Variations, Nocturne and Finale for Piano and Orchestra, Op.60
1965 Don Banks - Divisions for Orchestra
1965 Gordon Crosse - Sinfonia Concertante, Op.13
1965 Benjamin Frankel - String Quartet No.5, Op.43
1965 David Carhart - Fantasy in Three Movements, for piano
1965 William Mathias - Piano Trio
1967 Benjamin Frankel - Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, Op.45
1967 Robert Simpson - Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
1967 Harrison Birtwistle - Three Lessons in a Frame for piano and five instruments
1967 Peter Maxwell Davies - Hymnos for clarinet and piano
1967 Priaulx Rainier - Aequora Lunae
1968 Gordon Crosse - Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, Op.8
1968 Reginald Smith Brindle - Amalgam, for percussion ensemble
1968 Elizabeth Maconchy - Three Cloudscapes for Orchestra
1968 Anthony Gilbert - Missa Brevis, Op.4
1968 Cornelius Cardew - The Great Digest (fragment) for chorus and organ
1968 Denis ApIvor - String Abstract ('67)
1968 Alun Hoddinott - Divertimenti for Eight Instruments, Op.58
1968 Edmund Rubbra - Violin Sonata No.3, Op.133
1969 Alun Hoddinott - Sinfonietta No.2
1969 Tristram Cary - Continuum [electronic]
1969 Gordon Jacob - Suite for Bassoon and String Quartet
1969 Alan Bush - Time Remembered, Op.67
1969 Lennox Berkeley - Symphony No.3
1969 John Metcalf - Chorales and Variants for two orchestral ensembles
1970 Peter Dickinson - Transformations for orchestra
1970 George Brown - Prisms [electronic]
1970 Howard Davidson - Omega Centauri [electronic]
1970 Patric Standford - Metamorphosis for Organ
1970 Patrick Gowers - Toccata for Organ
1970 William Alwyn - Sinfonietta for Strings
1970 Jeffrey Bishop - Spells and Incantations
1970 Richard Stoker - Nocturnal, Op.37 for horn, violin and piano
1970 Humphrey Searle - Zodiac Variations
1970 Michael Tippett - The Shires Suite for Orchestra and Chorus
1970 John Tavener - Coplas for voices and tape
1970 Robin Holloway - Souvenirs de Schumann for orchestra
1970 Howard Riley - Textures for String Quartet
1971 David Jenkins - The Devil's Dream [electronic]
1971 Tristram Carey - Trios, for synthesiser and turntables
1971 Martin Dalby - Concerto Martin Pescatore for strings
1971 Reginald Smith Brindle - Apocalypse, for orchestra
1971 Peter Racine Fricker - Nocturne, for Chamber Orchestra, Op.63
1971 Don Banks - Three Short Songs
1971 Peter Lawson - Valentia Extramaterial, for percussion
1971 Trevor Hold - Four Songs, for baritone and ensmble
1971 Nicholas Maw - La Vita Nuova, for String Orchestra
1972 John Weeks - 6 Facets, for organ
1972 James Stevens - Etheria, for organ
1972 Peter Sculthorpe - Ketjak, for six male voices with feedback
1972 Malcolm Williamson - The Icy Mirror, for chorus and orchestra
1972 Charles Camilleri - Piano Trio
1972 Chris Hazell - Holy Moses!
1972 Gordon Crosse - Ariadne, concertante for oboe and twelve players, Op.31
1972 Wilma Paterson - Five Poems of Charles d'Orleans
1972 David Lumsdaine - Caliban Impromptu, for violin, cello and electronics
1972 Elizabeth Maconchy - String Quartet No.10
1972 Tristram Cary - Peccata Mundi, cantata for mixed choir, instruments and tape
:)
I think also Frankel string quartet 5, July 15 1965 (commission and 1st performance). See http://www.musicweb-international.com/frankel/works.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/frankel/works.htm). (And I spy one of my favorite Rubbra works in that list ...)
Yes, I have missed a couple of chamber pieces off the lists (concentrating for the most part on larger-scale compositions) ...
::)
..., including the Frankel - since amended. This work is not specified in the programme as being commissioned directly by the Festival: although many pieces received their first performances each year at Cheltenham, only a proportion were actual Festival Commissions.
:)
I've just discovered a couple of newspaper clippings tucked into the 1956 programme. The first, headed Young England is by the waspish Peter Heyworth (who later described Malcolm Arnold's 5th Symphony in 1961 as "[throwing] the last shreds of discretion to the winds"):
discussing Francis Burt's Iambics - The important thing about the piece is its consummate craftsmanship. In his pointed and imaginative use of orchestral colour, for instance, Burt shows an extraordinary professionalism, so that every stroke achieved its end with a precision that contrasted sharply with the woolly, congested texture of Rubbra's Sixth Symphony. (Peter Heyworth, The Observer, 22nd July 1956)
:o
A further unidentified cutting reviews Iain Hamilton's Symphonic Variations - Two years ago [sic, actually 1953] his Second Symphony was heartily booed at Cheltenham. This year his "Symphonic Variations" was almost warmly received. As our music critic left the hall, he heard one elderly gentleman say to another, "The trouble with this muck is that if you hear enough of it you get to like it."
;D
QuoteThe trouble with this muck is that if you hear enough of it you get to like it.
As a native of the fair spa town of Cheltenham myself, I had to smile at this. It pretty much describes my own musical education...
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Sunday 09 October 2011, 22:33
QuoteThe trouble with this muck is that if you hear enough of it you get to like it.
As a native of the fair spa town of Cheltenham myself, I had to smile at this. It pretty much describes my own musical education...
I must admit that my listening is still centred very much on British composers, but until recently (i.e. before Lyrita's revival, Dutton's enterprise and the advent of broadcast-sharing) there was little opportunity to get to know any of these 'Cheltenham' composers in any depth: I have been
very glad to have the opportunity to acquaint myself with Stanley Bate, Richard Arnell, William Wordsworth, Daniel Jones, John Veale and John Gardner, all of whom I now regard as significant 'voices'. I've also found Fricker far more engaging than I expected, and would now welcome further recordings of his major works!
:o
For me, the heyday of the Festival was clearly the early-to-mid 1950s and if I could have attended only one meeting I would (perhaps) have chosen 1953 in order to hear first performances of John Joubert's Overture, Geoffrey Bush's Overture
The Rehearsal, Richard Arnell's Symphony No.3, Iain Hamilton's Symphony No.2 and William Wordsworth's Symphony No.3 ...
:)
... although, then again,
The Sleeping Children in 1951 was clearly something to behold ...
;)
Well, courtesy of this forum we can all get to hear Iain Hamilton's Second Symphony and make up our own minds. And the Symphonic Variations will soon be joining it ;D
I agree about 1953. That would have been a Festival to have attended :)
You mentioned Fricker. I admire Fricker's music but there is no use pretending that Fricker sounds like Stanley Bate or Richard Arnell or even Daniel Jones....because he doesn't. His music is chromatic, contrapuntal, at the outer edges of tonality. It is austere, dark, Bartokian. There are few, if any, passages in a Fricker composition where you will get rich, warm, romantic melody a la Richard Arnell. But you could say much the same of Malcolm Arnold's 7th and 8th Symphonies.
Whether Fricker's time will come again or not, I have absolutely no idea. The type of music he and Iain Hamilton were writing from the 1950s onwards now falls almost completely between two stools: the revival of interest in the more romantic/neo-romantic/nationalist music composed in Britain in the second half of the 19th century onwards and the avant-garde music of more recent decades. As such it seems to appeal to very few :(
Quote from: Dundonnell on Monday 10 October 2011, 00:11Well, courtesy of this forum we can all get to hear Iain Hamilton's Second Symphony and make up our own minds.
Spurred on by the notion that Hamilton's Symphony No.2 was (apparently) booed at Cheltenham in 1953, I played it again late last night and found nothing too forbidding - I'm looking forward to hearing the Symphonic Variations which won higher praise at the 1956 Festival.
;D
Quote from: Dundonnell on Monday 10 October 2011, 00:11there is no use pretending that Fricker sounds like Stanley Bate or Richard Arnell or even Daniel Jones [...] The type of music he and Iain Hamilton were writing from the 1950s onwards now falls almost completely between two stools: the revival of interest in the more romantic/neo-romantic/nationalist music composed in Britain in the second half of the 19th century onwards and the avant-garde music of more recent decades. As such it seems to appeal to very few :(
Certainly - I don't think that anybody should go to Fricker's music expecting the easy lyricism and first-listening attractions of many of his British contemporaries (I didn't intend to imply that they should). But if you are a fan of twentieth-century British music, Fricker is a composer that (as I've only recently discovered) you can't and shouldn't ignore - it may not be an idiom that commands affection, but it certainly commands respect and repays close attention. Dundonnell makes a good point about Hamilton and Fricker being caught between a rock and a hard place in terms of general audience appeal - all I can say is that this listener has found himself pleasantly surprised by both composers and has not yet reached for the 'off' button.
;)
Oh. Rereading, the Frankel 5th quartet was a "BBC commission for the Cheltenham Festival", not a Cheltenham Festival commission- my mistake. Erf. Re-read then re-read twice, Eric. (Likewise the Clarinet Quintet.)
Well if you have time for Fricker then you will undoubtedly be looking forward to the deluge of Fricker's music soon to descend onto this forum ;D ;D :
Two symphonies, two concertos, four concertante works for soloist/s and orchestra, three orchestral pieces, one song-cycle and two choral works(including "The Vision of Judgment") :)
It just goes to show how much Fricker was played on BBC radio in the 1970s and points up the astonishing contrast with today when so many have barely even heard of his existence :(
Quote from: Dundonnell on Monday 10 October 2011, 14:42Well if you have time for Fricker then you will undoubtedly be looking forward to the deluge of Fricker's music soon to descend onto this forum ;D ;D :
Bring it on! :o
Ironically enough, I can't recall there actually being a Cheltenham Symphony - there are London (VW), Norwich (Edward German), Nottingham (Alan Bush), Guildford (Geoffrey Bush) and assorted English-, Irish-, Scottish- and Welsh-themed ones ...
???
and Cotswold (Holst)!
A quick search reveals a "Cheltenham symphony: A Youth symphony" by "Henry K. Williams" (about whom I know nothing at this time- alive in the 1950s).
I knew if there was anybody that could find one, you would! - Here's to it's premiere recording on Dutton c.2045.
;D
Haydn's Oxford Symphony(No.92) and London Symphony(No.104), Parry's Cambridge Symphony(No.2), Alwyn's Manchester Suite, Bliss's Edinburgh Overture and Lancaster Prelude and Howard Blake's Violin Concerto "The Leeds" spring to mind ;D ;D
Nah, trust me (I'm a lapsed-librarian) - Henry K. Williams is the one they'll all be talking about long after Haydn, Parry, Bliss and (come to mention it) Alwyn, Jones, Bate, Arnell, Fricker and Rawsthorne have all been consigned to the purifying flames of oblivion.
:)
There are some great adverts in the Festival programmes - a 1950 advert for Midlands Electricity boldly declares
YES - WE CAN DO IT
TO HOUSEWIVES
We can supply your essential electrical requirements from stock, such as cookers, kettles, irons,
waterheaters, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, washboilers, and even radio in some districts.
"RADIO - Marjorie, why in heaven's name would you want one of those damn things - ah, now I see, you've been sneaking round to the neighbours house again to listen to that Cheltenham muck!"
;D
they'll have to find more than 2 works by Hank (may I call him Hank?) (no baseball ref intended) then.
The score and parts for Mr Williams' "Cheltenham Symphony" are in the Fleisher Collection - 4 movts, paginated separately:
ms. score (50, 24, 16, 60) + parts
1. Allegro moderato con brio -- 2. Adagio. Theme and variations -- 3. Scherzo. Vivace -- 4. Moderato ; Allegro con fuoco.
2-fl, 1-pc, 2-ob, 1-eh, 2-cl, 2-bn, 4-hn, 3-tpt, 3-trb, 1-tb, tmp, prc, str.
There is also a Symphony for Strings.
I'm quite frankly amazed at the lack of information regarding the Cheltenham Festival, considering its cultural importance, either in print or online. The Festival site itself has next to nothing about the history, and various standard reference publications just give scanty summaries, not bothering to mention the vast majority of significant works first performed from 1945 onwards. Grove is typical -
Annual summer mus. fest. held (usually in July) in spa of Cheltenham, Eng. Begun in 1945 as a fest. of Brit. contemporary mus. but scope widened in 1969 to embrace contemporary mus. of other nationalities. Many post‐ 1945 Brit. chamber works, concs., and syms. (hence the expression 'a Cheltenham Symphony') received f.ps. at the fest., many of them from Hallé Orch., cond. Barbirolli, who gave bulk of orch. concerts 1947 – 61 . Among operas premièred at the fest. was Judith Weir's A Night at the Chinese Opera ( 1987 ). First dir. G. A. M. Wilkinson , 1944 – 69 . Programme dir. John MANDUELL 1969 – 94 . Michael BERKELEY 1995 – 2004 ; Martyn Brabbins from 2005
Hardly worth bothering to write, really.
>:(
This thread is clearly still very much a work in progress.
::)
I've just received a copy of the following (fairly) recent book -
Graham Lockwood: Cheltenham Music Festival at 65 - A perspective on its Theme and Variations (Lockwood, 2009, 110 pp)
At first glance it seems a bit light on the early decades of the Festival, but it is nevertheless very well-written, well-produced and has a number of interesting illustrations. In view of the dearth of publications on the subject it is recommended.
Copies can be obtained from the Holst Birthplace Museum in Cheltenham for £5.00 plus p&p -
http://www.holstmuseum.org.uk/contact.htm (http://www.holstmuseum.org.uk/contact.htm)
:)
Members who have been following this thread will be aware that I have an interest in the history of the Cheltenham Music Festival and have been attempting (gradually) to compile a list of significant premiere performances which have taken place since the event began in 1945.
I have been in contact with the Festival administration department and they have very kindly supplied me with an extremely useful and comprehensive spreadsheet which lists first performances from the inception of the Festival to date.
For the research interest of members, I have uploaded a copy and provided a link to this document on the Downloads board.
:)
Dear Posters,
I've rather belatedly become aware of this thread, and wanted to make it known that here at Cheltenham Music Festival we do have an archive of programme books and brochures (outlined on the concert programmes database here: http://www.concertprogrammes.org.uk/html/search/verb/GetRecord/8216/ (http://www.concertprogrammes.org.uk/html/search/verb/GetRecord/8216/))
We have also updated the "Reminiscences" book referred to above (a Cheltenham Music Festival in-house production, hence the lack of a publisher - sadly there are only a handful of copies remaining) by way of a 2014, 70th-Festival release called 'Cover Story' listing all the premieres at the Festival and reproducing the cover artwork from each year.
During the past four years I've been chipping away at making sense of the materials we have - cataloging scores (some autograph), live archive recordings and occasional photographs but much remains unsorted and I've no doubt we're yet to discover some treasures.
Although we have no formal archive or research space, I'm very happy to arrange access to the collections (and to share spreadsheets of the materials we have sorted) on a case-by-case basis (I just need to arrange a time when we can provide you with desk space to look at what we have) and to discuss our resources with anyone who is interested in the Festival's history. I've set up this account so that you can email us directly via this username.
Due to some serious flooding at the Festival's previous Town Hall offices, I fear that much early material - particularly photographs - may have been damaged or destroyed, but I'm hopeful that duplicate materials may survive on other public or private collections. There is clearly a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm on this forum, and I'd welcome any contributions that can alert us to the whereabouts of other materials relating to the Festival - I'm beginning to collate a list of collections that make reference to Cheltenham with the ambition of making this a useful resource for future researchers interested in the Festival.
Many thanks, Alexis (Music Festival Manager, 2011- )
Alexis, thanks for this. However, since the last post in this thread UC has revised its focus to one which concentrates on the romantic era, and music written in the "romantic" vein, which will exclude many of the "Cheltenham" symphonies. If you haven't already done so, I suggest that you repeat your post at the Art Music Forum (http://artmusic.smfforfree.com/), which has amongst its membership some of the posters in this thread who are no longer members of UC.