Two neglected
works played
VAUGHAN Williams, Warlock,
and Delius were the shadows
behind the concert given at the
Civic Hall, Guildford, by Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra and
Chorus under their conductor,
punctuated by a txmpam call which
turns out to be part of the folk tune.
Skilful orchestrator
Hadley was a skilful orchestrator, and this point was driven home
Vernon Handley. It was fitting that
by the G.P.O.’s performance; most
V.W.'s uncompromising Fourth
telling were the interplaying
Symphony should be preceded by
melodies on solo woodwind in the
works by two neglected composers - second movement, and the chilling
who, like V.W ‘owed much to
tornado at the outset of the third.
folksong.
We must look forward to the
recording by the G.P.O. chorus and
‘Patrick Hadley’s The Trees so
the New Philharmonia.
High, after a successful premiere in
E. J. Moeran’s Violin Concerto,
1931, had virtually fallen into
written during the Second World
oblivion.. Its neglect is simply
War, contains much hauntingly
another result of the unambitious
beautiful music, but lacks momenattitude of the average concertgoer,
for it is a well-written, effective tum, andis too long for what it has
‘work
tightly
unified
by the
\beautiful West Country folksong
| which was
the
source
inspiration andits title.
of
its
After three purely orchestral
movements, the bass soloist and
| chorus relate the tragic story of the
young bride whose fiance is sent
away by her father to be educated;
|
he dies during his absence leaving
her with his child.
-
~
Word-painting
to say. Bemar;i Partridge’s rendering was. appropriately rhapsodic
and restrained; he spelt moderation
and mtrospecnon both in tempo
and dynamic, as though the
meditative finale was being foreshadowed in the rest of the work.
One felt that the orchestra might
have favoured
interpretation.
a
more
robus
‘Mankind’s predicament
In his Fourth Symphony Vaughan Williams takes one long hard
“look at the predicament of man-
I tell the story because many of
kind and then strides off stage as
the verses were omitted from the
angrily as he arrived. Ironic jollity
programme and the chorus's
counterpoint,
savage
‘diction was not such that the words . stark
dissonances were piled upon each
came across clearly. The setting has
other by the orchestra. Frightening,
,‘-‘ some brilliant “word-painting,
indeed, were the crashing opening
\ depicting the shriek of the “wind on
bars, the searing chromatic themes
‘the thatchTM and the knell for the
. dead man. These, and the mood of
'the piece, were carefully pointed by
the soloist John Barrow and the
archestra, while the chorus pro-
iided a sweeping warmth of tone.
The atmosphere of the ballad
pervades
the three orchestral
movements, particularly the first,
ever recurring; awesome were the
pianissimo string chords; provocative of much to come were the flute
cadenzas, perfectly executed, in the
second movement. This was an
inspired performance. - Sheila
- Godwin.
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