As Lewis Foreman relates
in his scholarly notes to this album,
"Robin Milford is one of those
distinctive minor voices who seemed
to proliferate in English music between
the wars, but whose reputation did not
fare well in the face of the avant-garde
establishment briefly in favour in his
last years and the years following his
death."
Milford died tragically
by his own hand, at the age of only
56. He had studied with Holst and Vaughan
Williams and both influenced his music.
He was a close friend and working colleague
of Gerald Finzi. Milford’s style is
neo-classical, genial and gently pastoral
For Fishing by Moonlight,
Robin Milford drew inspiration from
the Dutch artist, Aernout van der Neer’s
(1603-1677) nocturnal picture of the
same title showing fishing boats in
a river estuary, nets drying in the
foreground, and a village church in
the background. It is probably Milford’s
best known work. Apart from being the
most immediately appealing piece in
this compilation it also has the strongest
melodic lines. It opens with gently
rocking figures (almost a lullaby) that
are later stated in much stronger rhythms.
In between there is faster folk-like
material which at the same time is quite
reminiscent of John Ireland.
The neo-classical Miniature
Concerto for string orchestra, from
1933, begins with a jolly, rollicking
Allegro that also has a brief,
melancholy, central episode. The central
Adagio movement has very much
the atmosphere of Warlock in Capriol
Suite mode, while the Allegro
vivace finale, especially beautifully
crafted, is jaunty and full of sunshine.
The score of the deeply-felt
Elegiac Meditation (1946-7?)
for viola and strings is prefaced by
two lines from Wordsworth’s ‘Lines Written
in Early Spring’ from the Lyrical
Ballads of 1789: ‘Have I not reason
to lament, What man has made of man.’
The music moves between
defiance and despondency with material
of great refinement and delicacy. It
is not difficult to imagine the composer
mourning the death of his young son
Barnaby killed in a road accident in
1941 as well as the waste of World War
II just ended. A little gem that the
Guildhall Strings burnish to perfection.
The brief Two Orchestral
Interludes (pub. 1930) are slighter
but most charming fare featuring traditional
tunes: ‘D’ye ken John Peel’ and
‘Drink to me only with thy eyes’.
Go, Little Brook
Suite (pub. 1930) is based on lines
by Robert Louis Stevenson that are at
once declaimed by the soprano soloist.
There follow seven delicious little
musical vignettes: a flowery ‘Thy
Garden’, a jolly evocative ‘Meat
in the Hall’, while ‘Thy Bin
of Wine’ is a merry (but not too
merry) dance, ‘Thy Wit’ is genteel
and modest , ‘Thy House and Lawns’
and ‘Thy Living River’ both evoke
rural peace and calm, the latter with
flute emulating birdsong; ‘Thy Nightingale’
rounds it all off with a gentle tripping
dance. An enchanting little suite.
Another deeply-felt
composition, the Elegy for James
Scott, Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch,
was composed in 1939 and is influenced
by the string writing of Ralph Vaughan
Williams. In fact, the score has allusions
to the latter’s Fantasia on a theme
by Thomas Tallis.
The beautiful and wistful
Interlude for flute and strings
was developed from the composer’s 1944
Flute Sonata. Again the influence of
RVW is clear and one is reminded, in
the concluding pages, of RVW’s The
Lark Ascending
The compilation ends
with Milford’s Festival Suite
dating from 1950 and clearly intended
for the Festival of Britain in 1951.
As usual the atmosphere is gently pastoral,
the style neo-classical. This music
celebrates a cosy past that was hardly
conducive to the required thrusting
spirit of modern post-war optimism for
the 1951 celebration. No doubt this
was the difficulty that Milford faced
– his music was simply out-of-joint
with the times.
Glowing performances
of charming, undemanding music by a
minor British composer who deserves
to be much better known.
Ian Lace
see also review
by Rob Barnett
Clare Finnimore (viola); Carys Lane (soprano);
Julian Sperry (flute), Julian Milford (piano)