The Bauhaus lives on

Important article about the Bauhaus design school in yesterday's Guardian . The Bauhaus in Dessau was closed by the Nazis in 1932. Four years earlier the architect Walter Gropius had resigned, choosing to work outside Germany. In 1935 Gropius designed the building in East Anglia seen in my header photo. It is Impington Village College in Cambridgeshire, which was a design collabaration between Gropius and Maxwell Fry. It was Gropius' only major UK commission, and the Village College is still in use today. Gropius married Alma Mahler, widow of Gustav Mahler, in 1915. Their daughter Manon died of polio aged eighteen, and composer Alban Berg wrote his Violin Concerto in memory of her. Gropius and Alma Mahler were divorced in 1920.

The Bauhaus zeitgeist also found refuge in Dartington in Devon. Here the headmaster's house for the progrssive Dartington Hall School, seen in the lower photo, was designed by William Lescaze in the Bauhaus style, and the Ballets Joos from Essen performed in Dartington after they were banished from Germany in 1934. The Bauhaus vision of a creative community working for the greater good lived on in Dartington after the Second World War. The music summer school at Dartington was run by William Glock in the 1950s and attracted great creative spirits ranging from Igor Stravinsky, through Bruno Maderna to Elisabeth Lutyens. The header photo in my recent article Walking with Stravinky, shows Lutyens and Stravinsky together at Dartington.

First performances in the UK, and sometimes in the world, given at Dartington included Elliott Carter's First and Second String Quartets, Boulez's Le Marteau sans maître, Sonatina for flute and piano, and Improvisation on 'Une dentelle s'abolit', Peter Maxwell Davies' Sextet, Luigi Nono's Polifonica-monodia-ritmica, Stefan Wolfe's Quartet for oboe, cello, percussion and piano, and Stockhausen's Zeitmasse and Kontapunkte. And those last works remind us that Dartington ran parallel to that other great music summer school, Darmstadt.

Wliiliam Glock's policy of embracing, rather than fearing, the new continued when he became Controller of Music at the BBC in 1959. His work with Pierre Boulez and others proved that new music has as much to say to audiences as the music of Beethoven et al. This thinking was continued at the BBC by Sir Robert Ponsonby. But, alas, in the years after Ponsonby reactionary forces came to the fore in musical Britain, just as they did in Dessau in 1932.


More unlikely cultural migration here.
The exhibition Bauhaus 1919-1933 is at Mima, Middlesborough to Feb 17 2007. Header photo credit Cambridge2000, but the non-Bauhaus rubbish bin was removed by me. Lower photo from HughPearman.com. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

A title given by the Gods

Many musicians have wondered why Boulez used the German title Cummings ist der Dichter for a work based on an English poem. Here is the answer; "I was commissioned to write a piece for the festival at Ulm. I couldn't find a title for the work when they asked me what to print on the program. In a letter in German - my German was not very good at that time - I wrote: 'I have not chosen a title yet, but what I can tell you is this: Cummings is the poet.' A reply came from a German secretary who had misunderstood my letter: 'As for your new work, Cummings ist der Dichter....' I found that mistake so wonderful that I thought, well, then, that's a title given by the Gods" ~ from Boulez - Composer, Conductor, Enigma by Joan Peyser (Schirmer ISBN 0028717007)

Pierre Boulez (above) will be one of the composers in my Overgrown Path webcast on Sunday August 19 on Future Radio. I am playing his Rituel in Memoriam Bruno Maderna bookended by Bach. The opening work is Webern's orchestration of the Ricercara from the Musical Offering, BWV 1079/5, and the closing work is the cantata for the fourth Sunday after Easter, BWV 108, in a performance by the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. The webcast is from 5.00 to 6.00pm British Summer Time on Sunday August 19, click here for the audio stream.

For the full story of Rituel in Memoriam Maderna follow this path.
Convert webcast times to your local time zone using this link. Windows Media Player doesn't like the stream very much and takes ages to buffer, WinAmp or iTunes handle it best. Unfortunately the royalty license doesn't permit on-demand replay, so you have to listen in real time. If you happen to be in the Norwich, UK area tune to 96.9FM.Photograph credit Richard Oliver. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Youth - not a time of life but a state of mind

If you are gay, black or female the good news is your chances of making it big in classical music are definitely improving. But the bad news is if you are the wrong side of 40 your chances of hitting the big time are not looking so good.

Institutionalised age discrimination in classical music has been around for a long time. One of the most famous examples was the forced retirement of Sir Adrian Boult from the position of Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra when he reached the BBC's mandatory retirement age of 60 in 1949.

But more insidious is the underground age discrimination that is now starting to appear. To get a buzz going about new classical talent they must be under 40, sport an iPhone and be on Facebook, play uptown venues without seats, and have hip-hop remixes on YouTube.

The problem is all due to classical music's obsession with attracting younger audiences. (I wonder if rock musicians spend their time obsessing over how to attract older audiences?) The marketing men now say that unless the elusive youngsters can relate to the performers they won't come to the concert, or buy the CD. So, if there is a choice between a good young musician and a great older musician, the danger is the younger performer will get the nod.

This mindset appeared in a recent Newsweek interview with Christopher Roberts, chairman of Decca Label Group.

Newsweek - Have young, good-looking artists like pianist Lang Lang and opera singer Nicole Cabell helped create new audiences for classical?

Christopher Roberts - Younger artists like Nicole Cabell, Lang Lang and others move a consumer on the edges of classical music toward purchasing, especially given how easy it is to do online, with the close proximity of these artists to those from other, more traditionally mainstream genres.

We also see the mindset in statements like 'middle-aged wankers in dinner suits', in cartoon-style sleeve artwork that tries to give classical music a younger image, in young director's introducing telly talent shows into Wagner's operas, not to mention penises, and in the hyping of symphonies by 15 year olds.

When Alan Gilbert was appointed music director of the New York Philharmonic there was more media coverage of his age than of his outstanding musical credentials. The Washington Post headline summed it all up - New York Philharmonic Picks Young New Leader. If they had appointed Kurt Masur to the post again would the headline have read - New York Philharmonic Picks Old New Leader?

Now there are many very good young musicians around, and they have featured regularly On An Overgrown Path over the years. But there are only two conductors today who I will travel a long way to hear in concert. One is Sir Colin Davis, age 79, and the other Bernard Haitink, age 80. My header photo shows another truly great conductor, Otto Klemperer, celebrating his 86th birthday in 1971. On Sunday we marked Mikis Theodorakis' 82nd birthday here, and on internet radio. Only yesterday I wrote about the superb recordings of his own works made by Igor Stravinsky when he was in his 80s. Pierre Boulez is now 82, and last year London welcomed the 97 year old Elliott Carter, and György Kurtág celebrated his 80th birthday.

Age is also a real asset in the jazz world. Back in 2005 I wrote a profile of jazz pianist Jack Reilly when he was a youthful 73. Two years later Jack has notched up his three-quarters of a century, and his music sounds even younger. Jack's forthcoming Bill Evans inspired double CD Innocence - Green Spring Suite is some of the best jazz piano I've heard from anyone, of any age, for a long time.

Meanwhile London is bracing itself for the tidal wave of hyperbole that Deutsche Grammophon and the BBC will unleash when the young Gustavo Dudamel, and the even younger Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venzuela, storm into town for their August Promenade Concert. I am one of the few people on the planet who didn't receive a free advance copy of their new Mahler 5 CD. But the underground buzz is that it's musical dynamite, and I'm delighted for the youngsters from Venezuela.

Personally, I have been getting a very satisfying buzz from two other Mahler recordings. Bruno Maderna's interpretation of Mahler's 9th Symphony with the BBC Symphony Orchestra is also dynamite. But Maderna made two marketing mistakes. First, he was 51 when he made the recording. Secondly he died two years later. I bet that if Maestro Maderna was under contract to a major record company today, their marketing department would never allow him to make those two elementary mistakes.

While writing this post I listened, on vinyl LPs, to another Mahler recording that really celebrates the joy of age. Otto Klemperer's recording of Mahler's Second Symphony, made in the Kingsway Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra, is one of the classics of the gramophone. Klemperer was 78 when he made it, but it simply sweeps aside the rival recordings from young bloods such as Simon Rattle. (Rattle was 31 when he recorded Mahler 2, he is now well over the hill at 52). Klemperer's Mahler Second has never been out of the catalogue since its LP release in 1963. I wonder how many Mahler symphonies released in 2007 will still be in the catalogue in 2051?

The choice between the young and old audience is a no-brainer. Classical music needs both. But we are increasingly defining youth as a time of life, and this opens the door to age discrimination. Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind, as Robert Kennedy so eloquently explained:

"There is discrimination in this world, and slavery, and slaughter and starvation. The answer is to rely upon youth - not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity."

What better examples of that youthful state of mind than our many living musicians who have passed 40? Let's celebrate them, as well as those fortunate enough to be at the right time of life.

Now read about the perfect mix of youth and experience
Photo credit Godfrey MacDominic. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Boulez - great bogeyman of 20th century music

Henry Holland has left a new comment on the post "Boulez - Rituel In Memoriam Maderna":

Ah, one my favorite Paths of yours Pliable since I started to read OAOP two (three?) years ago. I love Rituel in Memoriam Maderna, I listened to it on my iPod a few weeks ago. I wish that there was more than one official recording of it or I could find some live versions on my usual file theft sites. I know Boulez is The Great Bogeyman of 20th Century music along with Schoenberg, and while I certainly don't like all of his pieces, there are some that are among my favorite pieces of music.

I went to a performance of Pli selon Pli at the Concertgebouw when I was in Amsterdam recently and despite the excellent performance by the ASKO Ensemble and Barbara Hannigan I wasn't impressed by the piece all that much; I hadn't heard it in a while.

I keep hoping that a performance of the amazing Repons will take place in the US so I can easily afford to travel to hear it but it's obviously very complicated to do in a live situation.

About 15 years ago (?) Mr. Boulez conducted the four Notations that he had then completed the orchestral versions for here in Los Angeles with the Philharmonic and it was one of the most stunning things I've ever heard in a concert hall. The Phil back then could just barely play the pieces (they'd have no problem now that Mr. Salonen has whipped them in to shape) but what stunning music. I've really wanted Mr. Boulez to come back and conduct here, anything will do, but he hasn't been here in at least a decade. I wonder if he and Mr. Salonen had a falling out? :-(

Great picture of the set-up for the Gruppen premiere and what handsome men Boulez and Stockhausen are in the bottom picture. There's apparently going to be a book about the gay aspect of the Darmstadt group appearing soon and while I will buy it instantly, I'm also afraid that the revelations in it will be used to browbeat that group, much like if you read some of the criticism of Britten in the 40's-70's, there's a barely disguised layer of homophobia to it. As if a lot of people needed the gay angle to denigrate the Darmstadt composers, any excuse along the lines of "they killed classical music" will do! :-)

Thanks for that diversion Henry. Now follow this path for the funny side of Darmstadt, and my picture shows more handsome men there, from left to right, Luigi Nono, Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen.
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Boulez - Rituel In Memoriam Maderna

Bruno Maderna was a close friend of Pierre Boulez. In 1958 Boulez and Maderna were conductors of two of the three orchestras in the fraught premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen, the third orchestra was directed by the composer. My picture above, from the Stockhausen archive, was taken at a rehearsal for the premiere in Cologne. Left clicking on the image will enlarge it. Stockhausen is conducting orchestra 1 on the left, Maderna orchestra 2 in the centre, and Boulez orchestra 3 on the right. The photo at the foot of the article shows Boulez, Maderna and Stockhausen in Darmstadt in 1956, and, interestingly, was taken by Hans Keller. .

Maderna's relationship with the BBC Symphony Orchestra was established before Boulez's period as the orchestra's chief conductor, and was one of the many fruits of William Glock's period as BBC Controller of Music between 1959 and 1972. Maderna made his debut with the orchestra in 1959 when he gave the first public performance in Britain of Schoenberg's Op. 22 Songs, together with the symphonic extracts from Berg's Lulu and Stravinsky's Les Noces.

Maderna conducted the BBC Symphony in the notorious premiere of Luigi Nono's uncompromisingly left wing opera Intolleranza at the 1961 Venice Biennale. Protests included stink bombs thrown at the orchestra in the first act, and after the interval Maderna turned up the volume of the pre-recorded chorus parts to drown out the dissenters. In those pre-Classic FM days the BBC relayed the performance live from Venice.

In his invaluable autobiography Notes in Advance (OUP ISBN 0198161921) William Glock writes ~ Maderna himself was one of the most sympathetic human beings I have known, a man of great warmth and amplitude, always generous to other musicians without being blind to their failings. A familiar sight (at Dartington) was to see him with a bottle of wine under each arm and a hamper of food, which he would then cook and devour with friends with the gusto that marked everything he did. As a conductor he achieved authority and friendliness together, and would congratulate individual players on some felicitous phrases in their performance. But, though he was a leader of the avant-garde to whom many others such as Luigi Nono owed a great deal, he did not shut himself away from the music of the past, and more than once I played the Mozart Sonata for two pianos with him, and saw the way he revelled in it".

In 1970 Maderna premiered his Quadrivium with the BBC Symphony, a performance that prompted a perceptive critic to describe the work as - "a large piece, around half an hour long, full of exuberant, romantic, well-wined music, expertly constructed, beautifully scored." Maderna was a regular guest with the orchestra while Boulez was chief conductor, and it was during this period that I was fortunate to see Maderna conduct. I have already praised his Mahler Ninth here which I heard in the 1972 Proms, an interpretation which critic Dominic Gill described as - "both convincing and moving. In human, dramatic terms often very impressive...the final pages were absolutely right." Maderna was also a champion of Elisabeth Lutyens, and programmed her Music for Orchestra 1 with the BBC Symphony.

In March 1972 Boulez conducted Maderna's Aura in place of a new work of his own which was unfinished. In the autumn of that year Maderna was to have conducted a BBC Symphony concert including his Third Oboe Concerto, but he fell seriously ill and withdrew. In November 1972 Maderna died, and this tragedy provided the inspiration for Boulez to complete his unfinished commission.


Rituel in Memoriam Maderna is one of a series of musical memorials by Boulez, which include the Tombeau added to Pli selon pli for Prince zu Fürstemberg, ..explosante - fixe... for Stravinsky, and Messagesquisse for Paul Sacher. Rituel is scored for eight separate groups of instruments, including double percussion in one group. The clarity of structure and Eastern sounding percussion makes Rituel one of the most accessible of Boulez's compositions, and William Glock described it as "the majestic processional in memory of Bruno Maderna". The photo above shows Pierre Boulez at the BBC Maida Vale studios in 1969, before a rehearsal for the premiere of Pli selon pli with the BBC Symphony.

The premiere of the BBC commissioned Rituel in Memoriam Maderna was given by Pierre Boulez and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in April 1975. In November 1976 Boulez and the orchestra recorded the work for CBS in the Henry Wood Hall, London. The fine recording, produced by Paul Myers and Roy Emerson and engineered by Bob Auger, is still in the catalogue at mid-price. It still sounds wonderful, and is highly recommended both as a valuable document of Pierre Boulez the composer, and a moving tribute to Bruno Maderna the musician. The CD couplings of Eclat and Multiples were recorded with Boulez and the Ensemble InterContemporain at IRCAM in Paris.

Staying with Pierre Boulez, IRCAM and the Ensemble InterContemporain, Deutsche Grammophon has just re-released important recordings of three of his later works, Sur Incises (1996/1998), Messagesquisse (1976-1977) and Anthèmes (1997). The CD was recorded in Paris in 1999 with the composer conducting the Soloists of the Ensemble InterContemporain in the first two works. Wonderful music, wonderfully recorded, and in today's crazy music market it is retailing in the UK for just £6.99 ($13). Both this re-release and the CD of Rituel In Memoriam Maderna are musts, both for card carrying Boulez fans, and for any readers who haven't yet been fortunate enough to discover his special sound world.


For more Bruno Maderna resources follow this path,
Picture credits. Pictures 1 and 3 Stockhausen archive, picture 2 BBC. Nicholas Kenyon's excellent book The BBC Symphony Orchestra contains invaluable listings of the premieres given by that great orchestra. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Bruno Maderna the composer

My recent post about the BBC Legends release of Bruno Maderna conducting Mahler's Ninth Symphony attracted a lot of readers. So it is good to see a new CD of Maderna's music on the Vienna based Col Legno label. The new release features Maderna's three oboe concertoes played by Fabian Menzel with Michael Stern conducting the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra. In my post I wrote: 'I can...express the hope that we may see a revival of interest in Maderna the composer as well as Maderna the conductor'. Looks like it could be happening.

For more on Maderna on the path visit The Year is '72.
Photo shows Bruno Maderna (centre) in 1958 with two other important contemporary composers - Pierre Boulez (left) and Karlheinz Stockhausen (right), credit Drammaturgia.it. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Twentieth century music on an overgrown path

My article on the Berlin Philharmonic's darkest hour told how the 23 year old violinist Gerhard Taschner (photo above) played in the orchestra's final concert before the surrender of Berlin in 1945. DG Archiv has just released a CD of Taschner's playing which combines the Bruch Concerto with two lesser known 20th century violin concertos by Hans Pfitzner (1869-1949) and Wolfgang Fortner (1907-1987).

Elsewhere my centenary tribute to Elizabeth Maconchy lamented that two important Lyrita CDs of her orchestral music had not been transferred to CD. Well, forget the complaint, the new owners of Lyrita have now combined the music from the two CDs onto a single CD which includes Maconchy's gorgeous Symphony for Double String Orchestra, and Manoug Parikian playing the Serenata Concertante for Violin and Orchestra. No excuse now not to get to know the music of this scandalously neglected composer.

Another outstanding CD of twentieth century music from the path is the BBC Legends release of Bruno Maderna conducting Mahler's Ninth Symphony. This recording dates from 1971, and I was fortunate to hear Maderna conduct this work at a Promenade Concert shortly before his untimely death in 1973. That evening was one of the most profound musical, and emotional, experiences of my life. This CD of Mahler Nine is one that I will return to repeatedly; a reviewer described it as 'an incandescent performance of a masterpiece'. I can add nothing more to that other than to express the hope that we may see a revival of interest in Maderna the composer as well as Maderna the conductor.

For more musical memories read The Year is '72
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

The Year is '72

What were you doing in 1972, or dare I ask, were you even born then?


1972 was a bad year for violence. It started on 'Bloody Sunday' January 30 when British troops opened fire on civilian demonstrators in the Bogside, Derry, Northern Ireland, killing thirteen people (below). And it continued through the year, and beyond, as the US B-52s (above) unleashed their Christmas bombardment on Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam. The bombing was started by president Richard Nixon against the advice of the U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command, and with opposition from the majority of Congress (does that sound familiar?).

Violence and sport collided in September at the Munich Olympics when members of the Israeli team were taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists. A failed rescue attempt resulted in the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes, five kidnappers, and one German police officer, and sparked a series of Israeli revenge assassinations. 1972 was also a bad year for FBI director J. Edgar Hoover who died in office in May age 77, having held the position since 1924.

Space travel and missiles were much in the news. The three-man US spacecraft Apollo 17 successfully landed on the moon, and the crew took the last moon walk. Back on earth the SALT 1 Treaty between the US and USSR introduced limits on strategic nuclear missiles. And the whole Xbox thing started with the simple paddle operated Pong video game.

In a year of violence the committee for the Nobel Peace prize dediced not to make an award, instead the prize money was allocated to the main prize fund. But the Literature prize was awarded, to German novelist Heinrich Boll for his acute observations of post-war Germany. He produced one of my all time favourite quotations, 'meddling is the only way to stay relevant', and his view on the role of art in society was pungently expressed in his Nobel acceptance speech.

"Art is always a good hiding-place, not for dynamite, but for intellectual explosives and social time bombs. Why would there otherwise have been the various Indices? And precisely in their despised and often even despicable beauty and lack of transparency lies the best hiding-place for the barb that brings about the sudden jerk or the sudden recognition." (from Nobel Lecture, 1973)

The top selling non-fiction title for the year didn’t contain too much intellectual explosive – it was Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull. But the number two title did contain some well-placed social time-bombs, it was Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s August 1914 (he went on to win the Nobel Literature prize in 1970). Another sort of revolution was started with the publication of Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution, the first of a sequence of titles that have lived off the fat of the land for the last thirty years.

In rock music the albums were the Rolling Stone’s Exile on Main Street (right), and the Pink Floyd ‘concept album’ Dark Side of the Moon. Also expressing lunar preoccupations was the last album from the tragically talented Nick Drake, Pink Moon. And another last album was Clear Spot, made by the team of Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band before the magic failed and they went their own ways.

In the jazz world Weather Report produced their fusion classic I Sing the Body Electric, while Chick Corea moved in the other direction with his sparse Light as a Feather. Gospel legend Mahalia Jackson died in Chicago, and violence came to the performing arts when talented young hard bop trumpeter Lee Morgan was shot dead by his mistress New York City jazz club.

Change was also abroad in classical music. Pierre Boulez was in his second year as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and new music ruled in London. UK premieres included Maderna's Julliard Serenade, Stockhausen's Mixtur (version for small orchestra), Ligeti's Ramifications, Crumb's Echoes of time and the river, Sessions Fifth Symphony, Xenakis' Avrova, Berio's Chemin 11b, Boulez's e.e. cummings ist der dichter, and Maxwell Davies' Blind Man's Buff.

I joined the BBC from university in 1972 (see trivia note below). One of my most vivid musical memories of that time is a searing Mahler Ninth at the Proms conducted by Bruno Maderna; I think it must have been 1972 as he was already mortally ill, and was to die the following year. His tragically early death was the inspiration for one of Boulez's most moving compositions, the funeral elegy Rituel in memoriam Maderna. Other personal musical memories for '72 include the trail-blazing Boulez concerts at the Roundhouse in London, particularly the premiere of Peter Maxwell Davies' Blind Man's Bluff.

1972 was certainly a year of violence and change in politics, and new directions in the arts. What an extraordinary time then for the composition of a tonal work using a formal design reflecting the Bach Passions. Yet that is exactly what Edmund Rubbra produced for his Op. 140, his Ninth Symphony, the Sinfonia Sacra. Subtitled 'The Resurrection', it is a setting for soprano, alto and baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra, of words from the New Testament telling the story of the events from the Crucifixion to the Ascension It is arguably his masterpiece and, in my view, is a grossly under-rated work. The scoring was completed appropriately on Good Friday 1972, and the first performance was given the following year by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Groves.

In many ways Rubbra (photo above) defies categorisation. He was born in 1901 to of musical working-class parents. In his early years he was influenced by Holst and Vaughan Williams, but his compositions do not belong to the so-called 'pastoral school' of English Music. Instead his love of the polyphonic music of the 16th - 18th centuries infuses the texture and structure of his compositions. His mid-life conversion to Roman Catholicism was important to his musical development (and forges a link to Bruckner, both composers use cathedral like structures in their music), and in later years he became interested in Buddhism and Taoism.

The initial inspiration for the Ninth Symphony came from the painting of the Risen Christ by the Italian Renaissance painter Donato Bramante (1444-1514). The structure of the work reflects the Bach Passions, although clearly this Resurrection symphony deals with later events. It is scored for soprano, contralto, baritone, chorus and orchestra (S C Bar soloists, chor 2.2(ca).2.2. -4.2.3.1. timp perc str) and takes a contemporary feminist view by stressing the role of the women in the Resurrection story.

Each of the four sections of the forty-five minute work ends with a Catholic hymn set by Rubbra. Three of the four sections end with a Lutheran chorale, which develop seamlessly from the preceeding hymn. The chorales are based on those by Johannes Crüger (1598-1662) - see audio file below, Melchior Teschner (1584-1635) and Hans Leo Hassler (1562-1612). The use of Catholic hymns coupled with Protestant chorales was an important gesture in a year which opened with the sectarian violence of Bloody Sunday.

Rubbra’s encapsulation of the Christian message, and homage to polyphony must have seemed very out of step with the zeitgeist of 1972. But his central themes proved to be remarkably prescient, and were a precursor to a group of composers that can be said to loosely include Arvo Pärt, John Tavener and James MacMillan.

But sadly, even though Rubbra can be identified as a forerunner of some of today's fashionable composers, his works remain resolutely unfashionable in the concert hall, although the Fourth Symphony was performed at the Proms a while back. (His neglect may have something to do with the fact that his scores are published by Lengnick, a subsidiary of a pop publisher, Complete Music).

His Ninth Symphony, like most of his compositions, remains a rarity reserved for the recording studio. Fortunately we are well served by the magnificent premiere recording with Lynne Dawson (soprano), Della Jones (alto), Stephen Roberts (baritone), and the BBC National Chorus of Wales and BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Richard Hickox. Here as a sampler of this magnificent work are three brief audio files:

From the Prelude -

From the Chorus 'Crux Fidelis'-

From the Chorale 'Almighty Lord we pray thee' -

Next year is the twentieth anniversary of Rubbra's death. Thankfully his publisher, Lengnick, is preparing a new edition for the anniversary. It would be good if the BBC could give similar recognition at their Promenade Concerts, or elsewhere. But increasingly the internet driven BBC sees itself as a global brand delivering global music to global audiences. Sadly in this brave new global world local masterpieces such as Rubbra's Ninth Symphony (and Malcolm Arnold's similarly masterly and important ninth symphony) increasingly fail to register on their global radar. Regular readers will know I rate the music of J.S.Bach as one of the pinnacles of Western civilisation. Currently the BBC are putting massive PR efforts behind their forthcoming, and globally bankable, Bach Christmas. But I just wish 1% of those efforts could be put behind spreading the word about the music of Rubbra, Arnold, and other neglected 20th century composers.

Follow this link for the Edmund Rubbra website

Credits:
Audio clips - Amazon
Photos
B52 - Air Force Link
Bloody Sunday - InfoSatellite.com
Rolling Stones - Rocks Off
Rubbra - Paul James
Ninth symphony CD - Musicweb-international
Trivia corner - In 1972 I was on a BBC training course, follow this link for only the fourth personal photograph in 244 posts On An Overgrown Path. Where are they now? Chris Swann went on to direct some excellent TV arts programmes including the documentary (with Humphrey Burton) on the studio recording by Bernstein of his 'West Side Story'. Andrew Mussett was a fine BBC Radio 3 Producer before bailing out, like many other talented people, in the John Birt era. Stewart Taylor moved from a career on the technical side to loudspeaker manufacturers KEF and Celestion. None of us changed the world, but it was fun.
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If you enjoyed this post take an overgrown path to The Year is '42