Musical missionaries—
his
and needed
revivals
great
friend
Jacobean
master,
contemfellow the
porary and teacher of Purcell,
The Master of the Queen’s
Music, who composed this excellent orchestral set of variations
and
worker Vaughan Williams. Doubtless
one
of
his
finest
choral
works, the
to Death, has
been condemned to comparative
obscurity
by
its
gloomy
ftitle.
There is, however, nothin
V\F mor-
MO about fhe s Wit
poem -— rather a welcome resignation
to
death
as
a
blessed
release from war and distress.
Its
unique mixture of . modal
theme and cohromatic development
certainly calls for highly refined
singing, which 1t received from
the Philharmonic Choir. The delicate wonderment of the words,
though
not
always
in
1955,
keeps
one
guessing
as
to the full theme until ‘the trium-
Wit phant
clearly
dist-
finale.
Previously
it
is
carried,
in
puzzling
sn
es,
through the peaceful scenes of
23rd Psalm, The Lond is My She-
pherd, with remarkable variations
of orchestral colour, tinted not
a little by exquisite touches on
the lighter
rcussion. The pas-.
toral atmosphere could have been
a shade quieter, however.
A frantic interlude illustrating
the “valley of the shadow of
death,” in which Mr. Handley
inguished:
the
beautiful
pianissimo fading of the end; the enlivening sustaining of so-f't soprano managed
the
alarmingly mixed
,
tone from fortissimo tutti; and time changes and the frxgxhtam«ng
with
consummate
RNON Handley and the written first saw just the first the wutter suitability of the harp dissonance
fearsome chord and its enormous obbligato,
all
provided
fice decision, leads to the noble and
Guildford Philharmonic span, he declared it unplayable. moments of sheer musical delight. gradually
trancui]
coniclusion.
Orchestra, with the Philhar- He and a few others have since One can ignore the few untidy This is altogether an emotionally
proved that decision e
gerated.
entrances
of
the
chorus.
The satisfying dissertation on a sacred
~monic Choir, . continued
As usual there
ittle sen- tenors, in the wedge formation theme — an example of Bliss's
their
~musical
missionary timent about S‘m‘aVlflSkN except now so justly favoured, were out- excellent economic yet fully dfective use of the orchestra.
work in the Civic Hall on perhaps vaguely in the two arias, standing in their leads.
The
short
tome-picture:
in the second of which .an imperbv
Mr.
Handley
himself showed
Saturday.
Not
so
much sonal, still angular, medody may his ' technical ability as a con- Albeniz which opened the programme,
E]
Corpus
en
Sevilla,
is
be
heard
over
a
deeply
smoulderductor
to
its
highest
degree
in
resurrection this time as an
ing
string
bass.
In
the
outer the Meditations on a Theme of typical of the colourful Spanish
overdue revival of lesser- movements, Stravinsky's trick of John. Blow, by Sir Arthur Bliss. impressionism of a composer who
known (though certainly not doubling the solo violin with This extraordinary work may restricted himself mostly to the
often unlikely, instruments again be the victim of its title stage and the piano. The brass
lesser) works by 20th-cen- other,
like the tuba, gives the impres- — for most of its. lengthy score may have been a bit heavy for
tury COmposers.
sion of a concertante.
it is not meditative in content its setting, but the cor anglais
contained
programme
The Welsh violinist Roy Gil- at all, but a vastly varied com- and. oboe added sweetly to the
Their
romantic
flavout.
now ' sub-leader ' of
the “mentary on a magnificent tune warm,
four of these — all comparative lard,
:
Orchestra, from a Sinfonia for Strings .by LGB
rarities, all great music of re- London = Symphony
markably distinctive kinds and all gave what sounded like a cool
at - deast .outside and technically brilliant appraisal
‘neglected,
of the concerto, especially the
i{ London, for diffe:ren-t reasons.
e
5
The ‘reason for this ‘neglect in "’ha&lein-gmg and chilling Capriccio
| the case of Stravinsky’s Violin — without fervour, bwt with the
{ Concerto is, no doubt, owing to aloof and objective detachment it
| its extreme difficulty. The violin essentially needs.
{ was not, it is said, Stravinsky’s
"‘avo-unte
instrument
and when
the virtuoso for whom it was
Less
notice
appears
to
have
been taken of the centenary of
Gustav Holst’s birth than that of
e
R
e