The World of DECCA Post 9 Classical Music: 20th Century Period

Foreword

Just a quick reminder of where we are in the chronology of Classical Music:

§ Early Music (up to c. 1400)

§ Renaissance (c. 1400-c. 1600)

§ Baroque (c. 1600-c. 1750)

§ Classical (c. 1750-c. 1830)

§ Romantic (c. 1830-c. 1900)

§ 20th Century and Beyond (c. 1900-James Bond)

And off we go again ...

20TH CENTURY JEAN SIBELIUS Sibelius was born Johan Julius Christian and he claimed Jean as his nom de music. As well as the LP that he shares with Grieg (see Post 8), Jean Sibelius features on ten         

other WORLD OF records including two on which he stars exclusively; THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: SIBELIUS: SYMPHONY NO. 5: KARELIA SUITE (SPA 122), SIBELIUS: SYMPHONY NO. 2 (SPA 282) and another one entitled FINLANDIA (SPA 549)

that he also shares with Grieg. The tone poem, ‘Finlandia’, which opens the latter record, is unofficially thought of today as Finland’s national anthem and this may be partly due to its perceived reference to the increasing influence of Russia on the country at the time of its writing. ‘Valse Triste’ (Sad Waltz), which features on SPA 282, is one of Sibelius’ most popular compositions but it may well have been a source of sad regret. In a moment of financial weakness, he sold the rights to it for 300 marks, which, I dare say, was a biggish sum of money in those far distant days but what might it have been worth if he’d hung on to it for a bit? Another piece that crops up on both SPA 122 and 549 is the ‘Karelia Suite’ which is usually presented as a work of three movements but there are, in fact, eleven. Karelia was a small area of Finland, most of which actually fell inside Russia. Sibelius recognised it as the home of Finnish culture and was happy to take a commission to compose a piece in its honour. MALCOLM ARNOLD

Arnold is a less well-known composer but his ‘Tam O’Shanter Overture’ can be found on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: DANSE MACABRE (SPA 175). The overture begins quietly and sluggishly but begins to build into the riot of instrumentation which provides the main shape of the piece depicting the music of St Nick and the chasing by witches of poor ol’ Tam. Tam O’Shanter? Well, he was a skellum which the notes on the back cover advise is a ‘blithering, blustering, drunken bellum’. That’s tidied that up, then! Also written by Arnold was ‘Beckus the Dandipratt’ which, sadly, doesn’t feature in our collection but I felt needed mentioning. AARON COPLAND

Perhaps Copland is one of the finest examples of the advantage of struggle during an artistic upbringing over conventional training. Whilst Aaron was the only one of five siblings to miss out on musical training when young, it is his name that is so popular today. If one knows just one piece by Copland, it is likely to be ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’. This tune can be found on FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN (COPLAND) etc. (SPA 525). It was composed in answer to a request to produce a patriotic fanfare for the United States at the time of their introduction to World War II. It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if the Common Man could stay out of such shindigs and leave the aristocrats to punch it out themselves. SERGEI PROKOFIEV There are two versions of Peter and the Wolf, a narrated ‘symphonic tale’, in the ‘WORLD OF’ series; on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS VOL. 5: PROKOFIEV:

PETER AND THE WOLF (SPA 90) the story is told by Sir Ralph Richardson whilst Sean Connery narrates on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BRITTEN: THE YOUNG PERSON’S GUIDE etc. (SPA 520). This was an ingenious attempt to find a way of teaching children the sounds of different orchestral instruments with an animal character being represented by a short refrain played on a specific instrument. Of course, these things are always down to personal taste but I wonder if Sir Ralph sounds a little severe for the young audience for which this piece was prepared. Sean Connery, with his soft Scots’ burr, makes him sound more of a storyteller amusing an enthralled congregation whereas Ralph seems to come across more as a school headmaster in morning assembly. Either way, though, I should think the gathered

youths enjoyed Peter’s adventure as he sought the big bad wolf, eventually heroically catching him and having him placed in the local zoo. So, a happy ending then. Well, happy for all except the poor old duck who was swallowed whole midway through the story. Happy too, I hope, for beneficiaries of the Malcolm Sargent Cancer Fund for Children as the proceeds from the sale of SPA 90 provided monies in their direction. On the front cover is a photo of an unusually attentive first year class of children from a school in Kent. Think how fantastic it would have been to be looking forward to seeing yourself on a top-selling LP. Think, then, how disappointed you’d be to find that, whilst all of the rest of the class (even Tommy Upizzown and Fiona Fullofherself – how they ever had friends I’ll never know – yuk!) are represented fully in glorious colour, two thirds of your lovely face was obscured by an image of the, admittedly, perfectly formed visage of the star of the record, Mr Connery. Sadly, this fate befell one of the number and, call me sensitive but, I can’t help feeling that if this thoughtlessly casual design incident had been my misfortune, I would quite likely be of a different mentality today. Anyway, moving on. The afore-mentioned Sean Connery, on the other side of this album, also narrates another educational exercise on classical music instrumentation, Benjamin Britten’s ‘Young Person’s guide to the Orchestra’ (see below). This is a more advanced lesson and might be a bit too much for the class on the front cover to

follow (yeah, especially Tommy and Fiona!). Sergei Prokofiev also wrote for grown-ups. For example, there are two ballets represented on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: PROKOFIEV: SELECTIONS FROM ROMEO AND JULIET etc. (SPA 226); Romeo and Juliet along with Cinderella. The back cover notes claim that former work remains faithful to Shakespeare’s play but Prokofiev’s first thought was to change the ending to a happier one than that where both lovers end up victims of manslaughter. Controversial? Well, that’s just the way I see it – if it wasn’t for Friar Lawrence giving Juliet a drug which would make her appear dead, thus avoiding having to marry someone else, Romeo, thinking she was proper dead, would not have taken a draft of real poison and then, Juliet, upon waking up and discovering the facts, would not have imbibed some proper dead-making stuff either! Hands up who thinks we should re-open the case … Oh, just me then … BENJAMIN BRITTEN THE YOUNG PERSON’S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA (SPA 520) is not always narrated as it is generally considered to be self-explanatory but this Connery version renders the whole scene accessible to absolutely anyone who is interested regardless of previous knowledge. The four main families of instruments are introduced to the listener separately, starting with the woodwind and continuing with the brass, strings and percussion. The instantly recognisable main theme that the orchestra explores is by Henry Purcell and variations of it are used to exercise each family and then individual instruments until they all come together again for a rousing finale. As well as the Young Person’s Guide, there does exist THE WORLD OF BENJAMIN BRITTEN (SPA 74) which showcases the incredible variation in this man’s music. Opening side 1 and closing side 2 are extracts of the Guide but

in between there can be found a mine of unusual, but harmonious, sounds. The jaunty strings initially flit lightly during the ‘Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge’ with sudden bursts of exuberance whilst the very English-sounding tenor of Peter Pears works its magic through pieces that switch from melody to opera and back again in ‘Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings’. The stormy ‘Storm Interlude’ is a most convincing depiction of a turbulent sea and this leads on to two dramatic pieces from War Requiem … and so it goes. It really is too difficult to satisfactorily describe the range of musical styles spread over the two sides of this LP that it might be just as well to list the entries in a thesaurus for the word ‘fantastic’. Absurd, crazy, exotic fanciful etc. and, once again, etc. Each word is appropriate for at least a moment of this record. Cue cinematic advertiser’s voice, ‘If you only listen to one album from this collection, make it this one!’ Whoa! But hey, dear reader, please, don’t listen to just one. Now, the interesting bits: during his school days, young Edward Benjamin Britten, later to be known as Baron Britten of Aldeburgh OM CH, was fielding in the deep for the school cricket team when, plummeting from out of the blue summer sky, was seen a ball heading straight for him. Such a bullet-hard missile can issue much pain on impact with the fleshy palms and delicate fingers of a budding piano-player and Eddy B might well have been pondering the problem of whether to try and catch it or not. In the event, the decision was made for him … the spectating music-loving headmaster, afraid for the loss of a fine musical future, was heard to boom, ‘You are not to catch it, Britten!’ Whether he attempted a catch or not is not recorded but by then he’d have laid down most of the 534 pieces for posterity by the age of 14 so his life would not have been wasted if his pretty hands had been destroyed. Still, clearly, he survived the near calamity to maintain his mother’s wish for Master Britten to one day be considered the fourth B along with Beethoven, Bach and Brahms. Another B that Britten had a simmering disregard for was Sir Adrian Boult who beat Benjamin’s favourite, Frank Bridge, to become the first conductor of the newly founded BBC Symphony Orchestra. Even more irritating for Britten might have been that, even though Boult was born before him, he outlived Ben who missed out on the chance to walk all over his stone on the floor of the North Choir Aisle of Westminster Abbey!

IGOR FEDOROVICH STRAVINSKY

THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: STRAVINSKY: THE FIREBIRD: PETRUSHKA (SPA 152) presents us with Stravinsky’s first two ballets. There are several versions of The Firebird. The original 1910 rendition runs for around 50 minutes and was written for a large orchestra but Igor Fedorovich, recognising the usefulness of having adaptations for concert use, produced three shorter forms which are known by the year that they were produced: 1911, 1919 and 1945. The 1919 form is the most popular one and there are two movements

from this version (three if you count two for this LP’s opening track – ‘Introduction and Tableau One’) that are found here. Petrushka was similarly shortened but there is just the one adapted form, dated 1945. However, some of Side 1 and all of Side 2 of our WORLD OF is taken up by the complete ballet which was written in 1911. Stravinsky’s third and best known ballet is the Rite of Spring but seems to be omitted from our collection except for a brief excerpt on THE WORLD OF STEREO ACTION (SPA 125).

ENRICO TOSELLI Italian Enrico Toselli is best remembered for his Serenata ‘Rimpianto’ Op. 6. No. 1 which turns up three times amongst the WORLD OFs; on THE WORLD OF YOUR

HUNDRED BEST TUNES VOL. 4 (SPA 264), THE WORLD OF IMMORTAL SERENADES (SPA 298) and THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: SERENADE (SPA 323). Actually, Toselli will be best remembered by some for the scandal caused by his affair and four-year marriage to the Archduchess Louise of Austria-Tuscany! He enjoyed this new-found fame so much that he celebrated it by writing a book about the unhappy relationship entitled Memoirs of the Husband of an Ex-Crown Princess [Louise Antoinette Mary, Countess of Montignoso. FRITZ KREISLER In 1975 it was the centenary of the birth of Fritz Kreisler, violin maestro extraordinaire and Decca celebrated in the best way that a record label could by releasing the LP THE WORLD OF THE VIOLIN VOL. 2 (SPA 405). The LP comprises 17 violin pieces, nine of which use an

arrangement devised by Fritz or are composed by him. Some of his compositions mimic the style of other violinists and when, sometime later after the works had been roundly praised, he let slip that, actually, it was ‘imself what done ‘em! The reviewers of the pieces were less than impressed but, as Kreisler apparently said at the time, words to the effect that though the composer’s name has changed, the value assigned to the music must, necessarily, remain. Anyway, there are two compositions by Kreisler, ‘Caprice Viennois, Op. 2’, which sounds very distinctive in its liveliness and with its double stopping, a simple device used by violinists to

insert variation in the sounds, achieved by playing two strings at once. His other track ‘Schõn Rosmarin’ is also a nice, happy little tune with a spring in its step. Regarding his arrangements of the other tunes, it may amuse you to track down the composer’s version and compare it with the one here. Often Kreisler would re-score pieces to replace other instruments for the violin such as the Rameau’s clavecin (harpsichord) or Dvorák’s piano. Fritz Kreisler also penned a few operettas including Sissy a tune from which crops up on THE WORLD OF OPERETTA (SPA 52). The playing on SPA 405 is performed by Derek Collier on violin and Daphne Ibbott on piano. The back cover tells us that Derek’s violin is something of a collector’s piece in that it was constructed in Cremona by the famous Petrus Guanerius who made very few in this Italian town. Collier’s instrument remained in its original condition at the time of this recording. MAURICE RAVEL Olympic gold medal winning, English ice-skating duo, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean had much to do with bringing the music of Ravel into homes up and down the country in 1984 as they were lead through their dance routine by his Boléro. Ravel’s

Boléro is a one-movement piece for orchestra but in music generally, a bolero may be either a kind of Spanish ballroom dance or a flamenco-type style, more often known as boleras. Maurice Ravel’s piece was actually commissioned by dancer Ida Rubinstein and so was originally composed for ballet and if you’re at all familiar with it, you may remember that, whilst it is a most pleasant piece to listen to, it is pretty much a melody-free zone. In fact, Ravel referred to it as a ‘piece for orchestra without music’1 Boléro closes THE WORLD OF RAVEL (SPA 392). Also on this record is ‘Pavane for a Dead Infanta’, La Valse (The Waltz), Rapsodie Espagnole along with the

first of three scenes from the one-act ballet, Daphis et Chloé, ‘Daybreak’. Now, all of these are duplicated on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: RAVEL: DAPHIS & CHLOE etc. (SPA 230) but at least it introduces an opportunity to compare the different approaches, on ‘Daybreak’ and the Pavane, of two stellar conductors, Ernest Ansermet on SPA 230 and Pierre Monteux on SPA 392. Actually, in the case of ‘Daybreak’ there is a third version conducted by Zubin Mehta on THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES (SPA 598). Boléro crops up

on THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES VOL. 8 (SPA 356) and THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BOLERO (SPA 551) whilst ‘Five O’Clock Foxtrot’ appears on THE PHASE 4 WORLD OF SPECTACULAR DANCES (SPA 407) and others. ‘Rapsodie Espagnole’ shows up on SPA 551 as well as on other WORLD OF LPs. It seems that Ravel was a little too short and of too slight a build to join in the World War I effort and ended up driving ambulances and trucks during this period. He was determined to enlist and this may have punctured his ego a little as evidenced by his response to learning that Saint Saéns had knocked out quite a lot of music during the same period, saying, ‘If he’d been making shell-cases instead, it might have been all the better for music!’2 Tetchy …

CLAUDE DEBUSSY Achille-Claude Debussy wasn’t so sure that the invention of the gramophone record was such a good thing. He would have been about 36 at the time of the release of the first record and well into his composing career. At four minutes a side, the 10 inch, 78rpm, shellac disc could hardly be called a long player and several were required to bring together a whole symphony as an album. Even so, this cumbersome collection became very popular amongst those who could afford them and this ready availability led to a sense of loss, amongst musicians of the time, of their precious compositions. Claude asked if those of his ilk should not be fearful of the ‘domestication of sound’ where anybody can produce, from these magic slivers of brittle plastic, their life’s work at the press of a couple of buttons and the swing of a small lever. It’s good for us listeners, though. Debussy also produced a piece of musical

impressionism. Just as impressionistic painters make no claim of photographic faithfulness to their various subjects, so composers of music cannot of their soundscapes. ‘La Mer’, which can be heard on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: DEBUSSY: LA MER (SPA 231), therefore, can be said to give musical impressions of various conditions of the sea in its three movements. First there is ‘From Dawn to Midday on the Sea’, the water of which is largely untroubled but with occasional eddies and wave splashes (you are listening aren’t you?) except for the very end, which I assume corresponds to lunch-time. At this time, unfortunately, there seems to be some form of mighty indigestion as the music swells in a rapid crescendo and then dies away just as quickly. Shame – spoils the mood, rather, what with the sun in my daydream having climbed slowly up over the horizon until it was directly above, I was mentally floating on my li-lo at the time. This dream shattered (thanks Claude!) I took my thoughts to a water-side bar and had a quiet lunch which was just as well as the tide seemed to be coming vigorously in during the second movement (‘Play of the Waves’) and with the third (‘Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea’) promising a punch-up between the wind and the water, I headed off for a mental siesta. Now, however easy it is to imagine the sea and its many moods whilst listening to La Mer with your eyes closed, it is not so easy to imagine having a siesta without actually nodding off, I discovered.

As well as the above, there are 14 other WORLD OF LPs on which the music of Debussy can be found including the usual number of duplications. ‘Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun’ appears on SPA 231 as well as THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES VOL. 8 (SPA 356).This symphonic poem heralded the beginning, according to Pierre Boulez (a French composer and, it says here, creator of musical institutions), of modern music, a perceived period of radical change that occurred around the start of the 1900s similar to the counter culture of the 1960s. I guess if you have ‘Creator of Musical Institutions’ on your CV, you’re obliged to invent stuff like the aforementioned Modern Music movement. It’s true, though, that there is a rather jazzy feel to the piece with a hint of improvisation. Perhaps M. Boulez was on to something.

PIETRO MASCAGNI Italian Mascagni is known pretty much for just one of his works, the opera Cavalleria Rusticana, which means Rustic Chivalry, particularly the ‘Intermezzo’ which c

towards the end of the work. However, if it was not for his wife, one wonders how he would have been remembered at all. The success of this work depended entirely on her good self. You see, it went like this: tempted by a competition to produce a one-act opera, Pietro determined to compose music for a play written by Giovanni Verga augmented by a librettist friend. After two months, Mascagni had his masterpiece … but he developed cold feet. He lost confidence in it and stowed it away in a drawer – out of sight, out of mind. Unless, that is, the wife comes

snooping … and she did. She sent it off regardless of her husband’s fears and, like all good stories, it was unanimously voted Top of the Ops (Operas, you see) and Pietro Mascagni became rich and famous and lived forever afterwards irritated by the chore of having to live up to it. One might say that he never did. There are seven LPs in our collection with his name on it and all see it represented by a part of Cavalleria Rusticana; four ‘Intermezzos’, one ‘No No Turiddu’, one ‘Siciliano’ and one ‘Easter Hymn’. The ‘Intermezzo’ on THE WORLD OF OPERA VOL. 4 (SPA 490) is accompanied by ‘Beato Voi … Regina Coeli’, also of C. Rusticana. Other records are THE WORLD OF ITALIAN OPERA (SPA 105), THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES: THE TOP TEN (SPA 112), THE WORLD OF JOAN TURNER (SPA 135), THE WORLD OF OPERATIC MELODIES: FRANK CHACKSFIELD etc. (SPA 266) THE WORLD OF IMMORTAL SERENADES: FRANK CHACKSFIELD etc. (SPA 298) and finally, THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES VOL. 6 (SPA 316).

JOAQUIN RODRIGO

Spanish composer Rodrigo made music largely for guitar and much of it has a flavour of his native country. Though he has many works to his name, he is most well-known for Concierto de Aranjuez whose three movements take up side 1 of THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: RODRIGO: GUITAR CONCERTO (SPA 233). He was blind since the age of

three but hey, they’ve got Braille for that. Braille, incidentally, was invented in the early 1800s and soon included musical notation and yes, Rodrigo DID use it. He used a Braille printing machine to put down his thoughts and then dictated them so that they could be transcribed in the conventional way. Side 2 is taken up by music from Fantasia para un Gentilhombre which was actually written for Spanish classical guitar virtuoso Andrés Segovia (though it is played by Narciso Yepes here) and influenced by music by Gaspar Sanz. Rodrigo said words to the effect that if Sanz heard the Fantasia, he would hope that his fellow composer would comment that though he would know that it wasn’t his work he could recognise his style there. The second movement of the Guitar Concerto features on THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES: THE NEW CHART VOL. 2 (SPA 488). The back cover notes of SPA 233 inform us that Rodrigo considered the perfect guitar to comprise the wings of a harp, the tail of a piano and a soul of its own. Not a guitar at all, then!

GUSTAV HOLST Gustavus von Holst doesn’t sound very English but he was born in Cheltenham; he

did have Swedish ancestry, however. He shortened his name in order to avoid being taken for a German during the First World War. His most well-known work is The Planets for which he imagined personalities for each celestial orb and created appropriate music. The suite was written during the build-up and early months of the War so it is fitting that the first piece is for Mars, The Bringer of War followed, hopefully, by Venus, The Bringer of Peace. Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune; they’re all there. Hey, wait a minute! No they ain’t!

One of our planets is missing.

! Of course, Pluto. This planet was only discovered in 1930 so missed the boat by something like 15 years and even though its discovery came a few years before Holst’s death, he wasn’t inclined to fill this little void with more music. ‘Mars’ was used for the theme tune for the Thames TV science fiction serial Quatermass and you can remind yourself of this tune by listening to THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: CLASSIC TV THEMES (SPA 580) whilst ‘Jupiter’ crops up on THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES (SPA 598). Gustav also had a go at writing tunes for ancient Christmas Carols, too. On THE WORLD OF CHRISTMAS (SPA 501) and THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: A FESTIVAL OF LESSONS AND CAROLS (SPA 528) we find ‘Lullay, My Liking’ which is a lullaby depicting a gentle scene with the Virgin Mary lulling the infant Christ during the nativity.

FRANZ LEHAR

Operettas were Hungarian Franz Lehár’s main game with The Merry Widow being his most successful. Just prior to the start of hostilities of the Second World War, things could have become a little awkward for Lehár. He preferred to use Jewish librettists which drew the attention of the Nazi regime and their supporters and, as if this wasn’t bad enough, his wife

was originally Jewish though she had, by this time, converted to Catholicism. Luckily for Franz and family, however, Hitler quite liked his ditties and word got around that Lehár was OK. His wife was even granted ‘honorary Aryan by marriage’ status but they still had to be sure to behave themselves. Franz Lehár’s link to Decca began in 1947 when extracts of his operettas were released on record. Lehár’s music appears on three WORLD OFs, namely, THE WORLD OF FRANZ LEHÁR (SPA 517), THE WORLD OF OPERETTA: HILDE GUEDEN (SPA 52) and THE WORLD OF OPERETTA FAVOURITES (SPA 466). On this latter LP we find two pieces from The Merry Widow and two from the Land of Smiles whilst SPA 52 gives us another four pieces, one each from Gypsy Love, The Tsarevitch, How Fair this World and, of course, The Merry Widow. These all show up on SPA 517 plus others in a nice array of musical selections for those not familiar with the work of Franz Lehár.

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Charles Darwin’s great nephew became good friends with Gustav Holst. Ralph (pronounced Rafe) Vaughan Williams studied at London’s Royal College of Music at the same time as Gussy, as his pupils at the St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith affectionately called their tutor, Holst, after which the composers became firm pals. Vaughan Williams contributes to

six WORLD OF compilation LPs and has one all to himself. THE WORLD OF VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (SPA 587) contains two of his top three big hitters in ‘Fantasia on Greensleeves’ and ‘The Lark Ascending’ but ‘Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (my personal favourite) is nowhere to be found in the whole collection. Mind you, this piece takes around 20 minutes so might occupy pretty much a whole side of a record. Still, there is plenty to placate a fan of this man’s music though his arrangement of ‘Greensleeves’ crops up again on THE WORLD OF ENGLAND (SPA-R 190) and THE WORLD OF YOUR HUNDRED BEST TUNES (SPA 316). ‘O Clap your Hands’ from SPA 587

is duplicated on THE WORLD OF ST JOHN’S (SPA 300) whilst ‘Fantasia on Christmas Carols’ makes a second appearance on THE WORLD OF CHRISTMAS MUSIC (SPA 501). An excerpt of Vaughan Williams’ 1st Movement of Symphony No. 6 was used as the theme tune of ITV drama series A Family at War which charted the lives of ‘ordinary folk’ through the Second World War and can be heard on THE WORLD OF TV THEMES (SPA 217) whilst ‘O Taste and See’ is presented by the Choir of St Michael’s College on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: MUSIC FOR ROYAL OCCASIONS (SPA 500). ‘O taste and See’ is

one minute of solitary gentleness as the voice of a treble solo marks the moment of the Queen’s communion. It seems that Ralph had a soft spot for military bands which he saw as an important contribution to English culture and he wrote ‘English Folk-Song Suite’ (off of SPA 587) for them. Finally, he claimed to be agnostic but still produced religious as well as secular works along with music for royal occasions.

MUSIC FOR ROYAL OCCASIONS ARTHUR BLISS, ARNOLD BAX, ERNEST BULLOCK, JOHN BLOW, CHARLES PARRY, WILLIAM WALTON Bax, Bullock, Bliss and Blow. Nope! Not a firm of solicitors but a bunch of composers on this LP. Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss appears thrice in the WORLD OFs; once as a composer and twice as a conductor. He conducts Elgar’s ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: MARCH (SPA 173) and conducts his own ‘Welcome the Queen’ on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: MUSIC FOR ROYAL OCCASIONS (SPA 500) but his services were not required by the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble who perform his ‘Antiphonal Fanfare for Three Brass Choirs’ on the LP. He wrote both of these pieces in his capacity as Master of the Queen’s Music; the former for the return of the Queen from her tour of the Commonwealth and the latter for the investiture of H.R.H. Prince Charles. He was appointed to this office on the death of his predecessor, Sir, Arnold Bax. Arnold Edward Trevor Bax wrote ‘Fanfare for the Wedding of Princess Elizabeth’ for her marriage to Prince Philip and it is the piece that is presented here. In his early years in music training, he was exposed to folk music and folk dancing but could not become enthused with it. In fact, he is quoted as saying that one should try everything once ‘except incest and folk dancing’102. Fair advice, I’d say. As if music wasn’t enough, Bax, or should I say, Dermot O’Byrne, for that was his nom de plume for the several poems, plays and short stories that he also found time to write. Sir Arnold has just the one showing in the WORLD OFs as does Ernest Bullock. Sir Ernest was the organist and Master of the Choristers and it was in this capacity that he was concerned with the coronation of King George VI and many of his works were also performed throughout the service for Queen Elizabeth including ‘Fanfare for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II’ which can be found on SPA 500. The final member of the B Team is John Blow and his tune, ‘God Spake Sometime in Visions’ that finds its way onto the record, was composed for the coronation of James II. During the early years of his career Blow was organist at Westminster Abbey and later, was one of the group of private musicians to the King. His reward for loyal service was to be buried in the north choir aisle of Westminster Abbey. Charles Hubert Hastings Parry’s ‘I was Glad’ was the first piece of music played at the coronation of the Queen. Parry is known for the above tune and others but particularly for putting the music to William Blake’s poem ‘And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time’ (‘Jerusalem’). Finally for this LP, it was William Walton who composed ‘Crown Imperial’ and it was first performed at the coronation of King George VI. It seems to have become a bit of a staple for regal events as it was used again for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation as well as the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Walton was exempt military service during the Second World War as long as he took up the office of Music Advisor to the Army Film Unit and composed music for propaganda films. This may not have been a terribly exciting proposition to a creative artist but some such as ‘The First of the Few’, a biography of the designer of the Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft, RJ Mitchell, and the works for Shakespeare’s Henry V, have become considered classic pieces. ‘Crown Imperial’ gets another outing on a record actually called CROWN IMPERIAL (see below) and William Walton crops up on another Great Classics LP, CLASSIC TV THEMES (SPA 580) with ‘Façade – Popular Song’ which was used to introduce ‘Face the Music’ a TV programme compered by WORLD OF star, Joseph Cooper.

JEREMIAH CLARKE, LOUIS VERNE, ALEXANDRE GUILMANT, SIGFRID KARG-ELERT So, we move on to another record which comprises royal music: THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: CROWN IMPERIAL: SIMON PRESTON AT THE ORGAN IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY (SPA 507).

This LP is obviously a showcase for the organ skills of Mr Simon Preston and whilst it features big names including Handel, Elgar and Wagner, it also throws up a chance to briefly introduce to you some more less-acclaimed composers. Jeremiah Clarke has single entries on seven different WORLD OF records including SPA 507, THE WORLD OF THE TRUMPET (SPA 260), THE WORLD OF THE ORGAN (SPA 262) and COMMERCIAL CLASSICS (SPA 581) where his ‘Trumpet Voluntary’ was used in an advert for Real Cream. Clarke is best known for his ‘Trumpet Voluntary’, after which THE WORLD OF GREAT

CLASSICS: TRUMPET VOLUNTARY (SPA 556) was, clearly, named. Well, here’s a little nugget for you; ‘The Prince of Denmark’s March’ on SPA 507, is the posh name for the same tune! Actually, it’s a shame that he didn’t have a few more names for it because this is the only tune on all seven of our records!! And, as if that wasn’t enough, the tune was attributed to Henry Purcell until the mid-20th century!!! Poor, unlucky ol’ Jeremiah committed suicide. The story is that it was unrequited love that was the motive but I‘m…not…so…sure…

SPA 507 is the home of Louis Vierne’s and Sigfrid Karg-Elert’s only tunes; ‘Final (From

1st Symphony)’ and ‘Marche Triomphale (Now Thank We All Our God)’ respectively. Karg-Elert was born Siegfried Theodor Karg but changed his name to the Swedish form of his first name and adding a marginally abbreviated version of his mother’s maiden name, Ehlert. In his late 20s, Sigfrid was introduced to the somewhat unusual instrument, the harmonium which is similar to the pipe organ but making slightly different sounds due to the type of reed used. Karg-Elert seemed to recognise a gap in the market and went on to produce a considerable archive of music specific to this instrument. Louis Vierne was born with a condition normally associated with older age; cataracts rendering him almost blind. This and his mode of death are quite likely the most interesting thing about this unfortunate composer. He went, as his friends are bound to have said, as he would have wanted; on stage. The story goes that just as he was about to begin an improvised part of the piece being performed, he keeled over onto the keyboard causing the organ to emit an appropriately low groan. Well, it was his 1750th concert. That’s enough, isn’t it?

Felix Alexandre Guilmant composed mainly for organ, piano and harmonium but the

instrument he most cherished was something called a Kunstharmonium, which, for those of a more curious bent, translates to Art harmonium. This monster has extra levers which are controlled by the knees which enables a musical process known as ‘double expression’. This is a method of playing both bass and treble parts of the keyboard simultaneously at different volumes and sound dynamics via the division of wind pressure. Both Bizet and Karg-Elert, amongst a few others, wrote specifically for this instrument but it was Guilmant who was considered the most important composer to do so. Alexandre is represented by two tunes in the series; SPA 507 has ‘March on a Theme by Handel’ whilst the ceremonially styled ‘Grand Choeur (choir) in D’ is found on WEDDING FAVOURITES: STEPHEN CLEOBURY AT THE ORGAN IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY (SPA 554).

SAMUEL WESLEY, CHARLES-MARIE WIDOR, HENRY WALFORD-DAVIES, MARIE-ALPHONSE JONGEN, EUGENE GIGOUT It would be a surprise, would it not, if Mendelssohn’s ‘Wedding March’ did not feature on an SPA 554 (above) and sure enough, it is the opening track. There are some big-hitters here such as Bach J.S. (‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’), Wagner (‘Bridal Chorus’), Handel (‘Largo’) and Brahms (‘A Rose has Bloomed’) but here we find Wesley and Widor, too. Samuel Sebastian Wesley’s ‘Air and Gavotte’ creeps into your consciousness with its kind of fade-in start and the Air continues kind of widdly diddly before giving way to the more solid Gavotte.

Charles-Marie Widor goes all Emerson Lake and Palmer getting in your face from the off with his ‘Toccata for Fifth Symphony’. Rock And Roll! Anyway, Widor’s Toccata can be heard three more times in the WORLD OF collection, including a record called TOCCATA (SPA 583) but, happily we also get his ‘Allegro from Symphony no. 6’ on GREAT ORGAN WORKS: PIECES CELEBRES POUR ORGUE: BERHÜHMTE ORGELWERKE (SPA 595). Incidentally, the label on the record states that this is VOL. 1 but the cover is not so forthcoming. No matter - we have more maestros of the organ to talk about. Amongst your Bachs, Mozarts and Handels (all dealt with elsewhere) there are Gigout, Jongen and Walford Davies. Henry

Walford Davies composed the ‘Royal Air Force March Past’ but it’s his ‘Solemn Melody’ that appears in the WORLD OFs … three times! Well, it’s solemn, alright but in a good heavy way. The consensus seems to be that it is good, too because it is annually performed on Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph in Whitehall. Marie-Alphonse-Nicolas-Joseph Jongen wrote more than 30 organ works with ‘Toccata’, the track that features here, being performed frequently even today. Some might consider Jongen to be one of the top five Belgian composers ever … but then, there were only ever five that were well-known, weren’t there? And Cesar Franck is maybe the only other name that can be pronounced (Ockeghen or Ysaye anyone?) so Jongen is going to come at least second in most people’s list on that strength alone. Finally for SPA 595, Eugène Gigout is little performed these days but in the event that his work is played, it is likely to be ‘Scherzo’, that you’ll hear. Incidentally, I believe that this title is the abbreviated form of ‘Scherzo in E major’ and this piece is one of ten in his major work, 10 Pièces pour Orgue which also includes his very best well-known tune, ‘Toccata in B minor’.

THOMAS WEELKES, HERBERT HOWELLS, CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI, ADRIANO BANCHIERI, OLIVIER MESSIAEN There a handful of records in the WORLD OF garden which comprise religious tunes; LPs of THE WORLD OF CHRISTMAS, WORLD OF KING’S and for starters, THE WORLD OF ST JOHN’S: CHOIR OF ST JOHN’S COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE (SPA 300). Amongst the big names on this latter disc, there are some that may be less familiar to you. Maybe you have heard of Olivier Messiaen but what about Adriano Banchieri, Claudio Monteverdi, Herbert Howells and Thomas Weelkes?

This latter, Thomas Weelkes, was known more as a madrigalist, born, as he was, in the 16th century when these songs were very popular. Madrigals are secular songs with no instrumental accompaniment but what we have here is something closer to the church. ‘Alleluia, I Heard a Voice’ goes on to tell us that the voice was ‘as of strong thunderings’ and there you have approximately a third of the complete lyric for this song which has most of its 2½ minutes taken up by ‘Alleluias’. Perhaps it’s just as well that his song words are few, though, because Weelkes was a bit sweary in unguarded moments … and drunken … and blasphemey. He was English and so was Herbert Norman Howells. When Herb was about 23, he was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disease which usually results in hyperthyroidism and this can go on to produce all sorts of unpleasant symptoms. Doctors thought that he had a few short months to live and so offered Howells a new untried treatment – radiotherapy. Thus, our organist became the first person in the UK to receive this radical radium remedy living to the age of 90, thus extending his life somewhat beyond the prognosis. His early compositions were not received very kindly resulting in severe disappointment and an unproductive lay-off of nearly ten years. It turns out that the tune on SPA 300, ‘Like as the Hart’, is one of the three most popular pieces composed by Howells.

Italian composer Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi, much like the brass bands of this century, was obliged – by the Duke of Mantua, who had taken Monty on as court viol player and cantor (head singer) and who was about to set off to conquer the Turks – to boost the morale of the Italian soldiers and jump aboard the bus to Constantinople. This could not have been much of a holiday but he survived to marry one of the other singers at court and all, so they say, is fair in love and war. The one song that represents Monteverdi in the collection crops up on SPA 300 and is called ‘Laudate Pueri’, Latin for ‘Boys, give praise’; a sprightly piece for eight voices including soprani, tenors and basses. Unusually madrigalic for liturgical stuff. Try our man’s ‘Vespers of 1610’ if you are ever in the mood for this type of music – nothing else will do it in quite the same way! Another Italian on this LP is Adriano Banchieri and the lyric to his song here, ‘Omnes Gentes’ translates in attitude and emotion to something similar to Vaughan Williams’ ‘O Clap Your Hands’ which also features. Have a look:

OMNES GENTES by BANCHIERI

O clap your hands together, all ye people.

O sing unto God with a voice of melody. For the Lord is high, and to be feared

He is the great King upon all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us,

and the nations under our feet. He shall choose out an heritage for us,

even the worship of Jacob, whom he loved. God is gone up with a merry noise,

and the Lord with the sound of the trump.

O CLAP YOUR HANDS by V WILLIAMS

O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the Lord most high is terrible. He is a great King over all the earth. God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God; sing praises. Sing praises to our King; sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen. God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness. Sing praises unto our King. Sing praises.

Well, it amused me, anyway … and so does this! Another fine name: Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen. Messiaen was famous for committing birdsong to notated form for playing by musicians. His most ambitious work in this direction was Catalogue d’Oiseaux for solo piano covering 77 bird species in all. One of Messiaen’s piano students, Yvonne Loriod, had unusual ability and was able to produce just the sounds that her teacher was looking for. She played like a songbird calling a lover and, sure enough, Messiaen was promptly snared. Our lovebirds were eventually married. So, you’ll be wondering on which WORLD OF you can hear these oiseaux – not a one, is the answer. What we get is ‘O Sacrum Convivium’. This single offering is on SPA 300, a religious choral piece – an exquisitely subtle understatement in praise of the good lord. Fine stuff. Is there nothing that this man cannot achieve? Messiaen really did have all of his eggs in one basket!

Refs:

1. https://www.classicfm.com/composrs/ravel/guides/ravel-15-facts/torvill-and-dean-12/

2. https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/latest/insults-classical-music/

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Bax

Other references available on request

Regarding the LP cover images, they are photographs of the records in my own collection and are taken by my own hand (which explains the slight wonkiness of some of them). All images are, however, copyright of Decca.

Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of any image in any form should be considered prohibited.

Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the text in any form is prohibited, restricted by permission of the author.

So, what's next? We are not out of the classical woods yet and in the next post we'll see how politics might interfere terminally with a simple composing career, meet a guitar player adept at Bach and Scarlatti but also rubbing shoulders with Pete Townshend of The Who and finally, polyphony or not polyphony? That was the question.