William WORDSWORTH (1908-1988)
Orchestral Music - Volume 4
A Spring Festival Overture Op. 90 (1970) [8:13]
Symphony No 7 ‘Cosmos’ Op. 107 (1980) [24:48]
Jubilation: A Festivity for Orchestra Op. 78 (1965) [11:33]
Confluence: Symphonic Variations Op. 100 (1976) [14:45]
Liepäja Symphony Orchestra/John Gibbons
rec. 4-5 February & 16-18 June 2021, Great Amber Concert Hall, Liepäja, Latvia
TOCCATA CLASSICS TOCC0618 [59:21]
Last year I played an ex-student, now a friend, a movement from Wordsworth’s Third Symphony. The word ‘dour’ came up in the conversation. This may describe some of his music, but it does not apply to at least two works on this disc: A Spring Festival Overture and Jubilation. We thank Toccata Classics for showing us this much overlooked, apparently curmudgeonly composer. I have come to realise that behind the notes and orchestration there is a definite sound-world and style, quite singular and full of character. But it often needs to be sought out; perhaps one needs to work at it.
A Spring Festival Overture was composed for the twentieth anniversary of the Pitlochry Festival Theatre. It opens as spring tries to emerge from the icy chill of winter, and ends in a joyous flourish: a wonderfully lyrical melody and cuckoo calls climax a final joyous Allegro.
Wordsworth was born in London and lived a long time in the South-East. Yet there is something distinctly northern, Scottish maybe, about his music. In the otherwise witty and diverting Jubilation: A Festivity for Orchestra, one of the recurring motifs is the rhythm of the so-called scotch snap. Paul Conway’s detailed booklet notes do not say why Wordsworth wrote this work. In 1934-1936 in Edinburgh, Wordsworth was a pupil of the famously stern Sir Donald Tovey. Scotland became his home for the last 27 years of his life.
Confluence, subtitled Symphonic Variations, was written for a concert in Inverness, and was first conducted by Sir Alexander Gibson. It is worth getting to know the opening cor anglais melody, because the whole work seems to be related to it. It is in many ways rather severe but it has magical moments, for example the violin solo two thirds of the way through and a passage for flute with harp and celesta. It reminded me of Rubbra in his easy moving from one tempo to another, in the colour of its orchestration. Also, as with Rubbra, it is not a work that reveals its true beauty necessarily in one hearing.
The recording of Wordsworth’s Symphony No. 7 ‘Cosmos’ make his sixth symphony the only one awaiting release. The Seventh results from the composer’s love of astronomy. There are, sensibly, seven tracks which play without a break. The tempi vary, beginning with an Allegro largamente which is rather more largamente than allegro, as it acts as slow introduction. Like Confluences, this work was first heard at the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness under Gibson and, like Confluences, it begins with pre-recorded material. I could not tell where the live orchestra emerged but that may be what Wordsworth intended. Right from the start you plunge into a world of mysterious vastness enabled by the widely spaced harmonies and orchestration. Eventually, the Holstian tread of time, as it were, underpins in the bass the oscillating chords which rise during its course into two overpowering climaxes. The whole is impressive and highly original – to me, the most impressive of Wordsworth’s symphonies available either on Toccata or on Lyrita.
John Gibbons and the orchestra have the measure of this music. I wonder what the redoubtable Liepäja Symphony Orchestra make of Wordsworth, whose music would be new to them. Toccata Classics often use this fine Latvian ensemble. They play with considerable stylistic understanding, obviously communicated by John Gibbons who clearly enjoys exploring unusual repertoire. He so often does that in his role of principal conductor of the Worthing Symphony Orchestra.
Paul Conway’s notes are, as ever, as fascinating as they are exemplary.
Gary Higginson
Previous review: John France
