Background
For Peter’s article about the making of
this recording see:-
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/June05/Tovey_symphony_Shore.htm
Peter Shore, whose
project this is, has been championing
Tovey’s music for upwards of twenty
years. Peter is distantly connected
to Tovey. His paternal grandmother was
Tovey’s first cousin.
Mention of Tovey would
be incomplete without reference to his
Essays in Musical Analysis. These
were published between 1935 and 1939
in six volumes. A seventh (Chamber Music)
appeared posthumously. In addition to
his writings on music and his BBC broadcasts
he composed, though not prolifically.
There are various chamber works, a symphony,
an opera and concertos (one each) for
piano and cello, the latter for Casals.
Tovey had his meed
of celebrity performances and was a
close friend of Joachim. He played the
piano in a performance of the Brahms
Piano Quintet with the Joachim Quartet.
London, Berlin and Vienna experienced
performances of his works during the
pre-Great War decade.
He was born 17 July
1875 and died 10 July 1940. His dates
are similar to those of another British
composer, Frank Bridge (1879-1941).
Tovey however was less the revolutionary.
Some might say he remained truer to
his star than Bridge whose embrace with
dissonance (quartets 3, 4, Piano Trio
2, Phantasm) might, in a crueller light,
be seen as fashion-following.
Tovey’s long span of
glory days with the Reid Orchestra (which
he founded) began in 1914 when he took
up a Professorship of Music at Edinburgh
University. These concerts are all too
easily forgotten with all the attention
focused on Godfrey in Bournemouth and
Wood in London. The programmes were
often challenging and included the premiere
on 15 October 1931 of another work issued
this month on Warners: John Foulds’
Dynamic Triptych. Speaking of
Godfrey we should note that Merrick
and Godfrey gave the Foulds work its
broadcast premiere on 4 August. While
as a composer Foulds was something of
a wild Grainger-like revolutionary having
more in common with Chisholm and Cecil
Gray than with Parry and Stanford. Tovey
as a composer leaned towards the solid
legacy of the nineteenth century.
Tovey’s 1903 Piano
Concerto was recorded some years ago
by Hyperion http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2000/feb00/tovey.htm
and http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Aug02/Toveypc.htm.
There was talk of a recording of the
Cello Concerto as performed by Mats
Lidstrom but this failed to come to
anything. The decayed and damaged Casals
broadcast of the Cello Concerto from
17 November 1937 was salvaged from acetates
and issued on Symposium 1937.
You can hear Tovey’s
Brahmsian Clarinet Sonata on British
Music Label BML 002 reviewed here at
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2001/May01/england.htm
Tovey’s The Bride
of Dionysus is his only opera and
was written between 1907 and 1918. It
is in three acts. With the exception
of some Sibelian woodwind the music
of brief Prelude has a serenely Germanic
accent in the manner of Pfitzner and
Bruckner. This is soothingly pleasing
music setting a mood of Olympian calm
for the Theseus-Ariadne-Phaedra drama.
It is good to be able to hear this so
smoothly projected by Vass and the Malmö
folk and with such concentration. Certainly
an improvement on my old 1970s tapes
of the prelude as conducted by Harry
Newstone and Christopher Seaman.
The Symphony came about
at the request of Fritz Busch, then
conductor of the Aachen Orchestra. Tovey
had travelled to Aachen in 1913 to play
his piano concerto and the commission
followed from that meeting. The premiere
date was set for 11 December 1913. Working
at the last moment Tovey completed it
only just in time. There was a London
premiere on 31 May 1915 with the LSO
conducted by Henri Verbrugghen.
The movements of this
unequivocally serious and expansive
work are:-
I: Allegro maestoso
II: Scherzo-Vivace
ma non troppo presto
III: Canzona Dorica-Adagio
IV: Finale-Allegro
con moto energico
Tovey and Vass never
leave the listener in any doubt about
this being a symphony of the utmost
gravity. While it has some moments of
impetuosity this is a gaunt work of
swarthy Brahmsian complexion. Sobriety,
warmth and depth are the order of the
day. Among Brahms’ works the closest
brethren are the Tragic Overture
and the First Symphony. The work
is not without its luminous moments
and many of the passages for strings
glisten in sumptuous colours. One can
imagine how it would have sounded in
the caressing hands of Ormandy with
the Fabulous Philadelphians or Barenboim
and Chicago giving it the treatment
they gave their Warner recording of
Furtwängler 2 a couple of years
ago. This is not quite in that league
but the performance is good both from
the head and the heart. The Pfitzner
of the Palestrina Interludes
also came to mind several times. The
second movement is playful in the manner
of Beethoven’s bubbling woodwind-accented
energy recalling the exuberance of Beethoven
5 and 7. The Canzona Dorica-Adagio (III)
is serene never lumpen. Forward movement
is not sacrificed and the buttery warmth
of the strings makes a memorable impression.
The finale flies along on Mercury’s
wings. The proceedings are lent majesty
by the Nielsen-belling french horns
casting their affirmative benediction
over the finale. At its climactic peak
the music conveys a lofty euphoria as
if some rite had been completed, mysteries
possessed. In the last five minutes
it is as if the listener is surrounded
by streaming clouds of Olympian glory.
You should bear in
mind that Symposium have recently issued
Symposium 1352 which comprises a transcription
of a broadcast recording of the Tovey
Symphony. This recording, made on 25
February 1937 from an Usher Hall, Edinburgh
performance by the Reid Symphony Orchestra
conducted by the composer, will be essential
listening for the growing ranks of Tovey
enthusiasts. Apart from the dated sound
it should be noted that bars 70-74 representing
about 9 seconds of music are missing
from the fourth movement. I am hoping
to review this CD later.
The Tovey Symphony
is a work of gravity that is often solidly
and even densely orchestrated in a Brahmsian
fashion. Tovey surprises with some adroitly
numinous woodwind writing that curvaceously
limns the massive moments. His writing
for French horn is life-enhancing. Altogether
a winning package provided you are well
attuned to an essentially nineteenth
century epic symphonic approach.
We are assured that
Toccata have the Cello Concerto in their
sights and after this will be tackling
the chamber music. Fascinatingly Martin
Anderson’s company will also be recording
the complete orchestral works of R.O.
Morris.
The present disc is
a highly desirable and well-documented
purchase for all those wanting a satisfyingly
Brahmsian sturdy symphony of epic ambition
and execution. The prelude forms a suave
scene-setter for the symphony.
Rob Barnett
Malmö Opera Orchestra/George Vass 
for
details
