I heard my first work by Gordon Crosse more than
forty years ago. I had found a second-hand review copy of his
Changes
for chorus and orchestra on the old Argo LP (ZRG-656). It was a piece
that I struggled with at the time. In recent years I have been privileged
to re-discover this masterly choral work as well as a number of other
compositions by Crosse. The recent re-issue of
Changes by
Lyrita
included the stunning
Ariadne - Concertante for solo oboe and
twelve players Op. 31 (1972). I have not yet heard his major opera
Purgatory,
also on
Lyrita.
Dutton Epoch has released his
Water Music (
CDLX
7191) and his
Elegy & Scherzo alla Marcia, Op.47 for
string orchestra (
CDLX
7207). NMC have his Cello Concerto and
Some Marches on a Ground
(NMC58).
Gordon Crosse was born in Bury, Lancashire in 1937 and has combined
an academic career with composing. His musical education included study
with Egon Wellesz and Goffredo Petrassi in Rome. Crosse’s university
appointments included Essex, Birmingham and in the United States at
Santa Barbara. He was ‘composer in residence’ at King’s
College, Cambridge between 1973 and 1975. Over eighteen years ago Crosse
largely suspended his compositional activity, but recently he has begun
to write music once again. Works that have been issued recently included
a trio for oboe, violin and cello, a violin sonata, music for recorder
and an anthem for Blackburn Cathedral.
It is difficult to pin-point Crosse’s musical language - but I
guess that it is a subtle balance between tonal and serial with excursions
to more exotic formats. The music on the present disc is less complex
and easier to assimilate than some of his earlier compositions. I would
suggest that in Crosse’s music Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Britten
are never too far away: the more avant-garde style of Petrassi is also
influential.
Brief Encounter (2009) was written at the instigation
of the doyen of the recorder - and many other things - John Turner.
The music makes a sentimental nod to that great film starring Trevor
Howard and Celia Johnson. This present score is not romantic film music
in the Rachmaninov-ian style - but a meditation on farewells. Nevertheless,
the music is romantic in its own way; the clever balancing of the oboe
d’amore and the recorder giving the work a sense of sadness and
regret. The piece is written in straightforward ternary form: the middle
section is intense and even anguished, contrasting with the gentler
music in the outer sections.
The major Crosse work on this CD is the
Concerto for viola and strings,
with French horn (2009). The composer writes that this music was a ‘rescue
operation’ and utilised some themes and motifs that had been devised
during the previous twenty years.
The Viola Concerto is presented in three contrasting movements. The
opening Prelude is dominated by two folk-like tunes. However there is
nothing of the ‘cow & gate’ about these. The movement
is presented in an arch-like structure, with a considerable climax in
the middle section. It is energetic, dramatic music that immediately
captures the listener’s attention. The second movement is a deeply
felt song that is heart-breaking in its effect. The form is once again
relatively straightforward with the main melody being played over three
times. There is a reference to the first movement towards the conclusion.
The Finale, a vivace, is derived from an abandoned Trumpet Concerto
written in 1998 - this time it balances ‘machine shop’ rhythms
with a Durham miner’s folksong. Amusingly, Crosse suggests that
this tune was something that might have appealed to the Scottish composer
Hamish MacCunn. Certainly it could be used as a theme tune in sit-com
or soap ‘from north o’ the border’. It is exciting
stuff with some thoughtful moments. The composer introduces the French
horn into the palette of orchestral texture. This movement is cyclic
with references to the opening ‘prelude’. The Viola Concerto
is impressive and significant and is of huge credit to Gordon Crosse.
In many ways its stylistic content is far removed from his early music:
the quality, the emotional content and the concentration are complete.
It is sympathetic and often moving. I believe that this is one of the
most important viola concertos in the catalogue: let us hope that it
becomes part of repertoire.
I was impressed with Crosse’s lovely
Fantasia on “Ca’
the Yowes” (2009). The composer has suggested that he hoped
to write a piece along the lines of Vaughan Williams’
Fantasia
on Greensleeves, but, ‘as usual things got more complicated
as I worked, and the wonderful simplicity of RVW eluded me.’
The work is dedicated to Stephanie Rose Irvine, whom the composer had
heard singing the folk-song, accompanied by the clarsach. What Crosse
has done is to deconstruct the melody of the song and to present it
either in sections, as a tune or as fragments. The harp has been substituted
for the clarsach and the singing has been presented on the flute - or,
for this recording, the recorder. The string orchestra provides the
background with some very attractive writing that does seem much closer
to the soundscape of RVW than the Gordon Crosse of old. The piece is
well-structured, often moving and quite beautiful.
A few notes about
Sir John Manduell may be of interest to those
who have not yet come across his music. He was born in Johannesburg
in 1928, however his family returned to the United Kingdom ten years
later. Manduell read Modern Languages at Jesus College Cambridge. He
won a Performing Rights Society Scholarship for post-graduate studies
at the Royal Academy of Music: his composition tutors at this time were
William Alwyn and Lennox Berkeley. Manduell’s career was to embrace
a wide variety of musical activities, which must necessarily have limited
the amount of time spent on composition. Amongst many appointments were
a BBC producer in London, the head of music for the Midlands and East
Anglia, the first Director of Music at the University of Lancaster and
in 1971 the first principal of the RNCM. He remained in that post until
1996. Other important activities included the first chairman of the
European Opera Centre, programme director of the Cheltenham Festival
for 25 years and service on the British Arts Council. From a compositional
point of view, Manduell’s catalogue is tantalisingly small. He
has written in a number of genres, including chamber music and song.
Manduell is represented by comparatively few works on CD. The current
Arkiv catalogue gives only one entry - the
Rondo for Nine, which
is part of the Manduell tribute CD ‘Antiphon’ from Dutton
Epoch (
CDLX
7207). There is also a disc dedicated to a number of his chamber
works including the
Trois Chansons de la Renaissance for baritone
and piano, the String Trio and a String Quartet. One or two other works
are scattered about the catalogues such as the ‘C-H’ Aria
and recitative dedicated to Peter Crossley-Holland. The two works presented
on this CD are therefore amongst the few orchestral pieces that are
available.
The
Flutes Concerto dates from a commission from Kent Nagano
and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. Its from 2003. The title ‘Flutes’
is not a ‘typo’ but refers to the fact that the soloist
is required to use the alto flute and the piccolo as well as the ‘concert
flute’. This latter is used exclusively in the opening 'vivo-lento’,
however the slow second movement utilises the alto instrument. The piccolo
makes an appearance in the concluding allegro. There is also an involved
part for harp - which makes this into another ‘double concerto’.
The two percussionists make an important contribution including the
effective use of a ‘rain stick’. The work is presented in
three longish movements - it last for 26 minutes - and explores a variety
of typically reflective motifs and themes.
The musical language is a fine example of an approachable ‘modern’
style that is challenging but never off-putting. Nevertheless, it is
well within the tradition of British and French music. It makes use
of dissonance, but in a controlled and sensitive manner. The melodies
are always clear but never obvious or trite.
If I was seriously impressed by the Flutes Concerto, then the
Double
Concerto ‘took my breath away’. This work began life
as a 1985 BBC commission for the Cardiff Festival of that year. It originally
had ‘dizi’ and ‘erhu’ soloists. The former is
a Chinese flute and the latter is like a single stringed viol. It was
composed in a sabbatical year whilst Manduell was on holiday in Hong
Kong. In 2012 the composer substantially revised the work for solo oboe
and cor anglais. There were apparently no examples of a double concerto
for these forces. In addition to the soloists and string orchestra there
is a requirement for multiple percussionists.
Manduell has created a diaphanous sound-world that is strikingly beautiful
as well as being musically interesting. There is a fine balance between
the soloists who are in conversation, in agreement and in debate with
each other. The musical language is designed to give a sense of timelessness
to this music. There is no obvious reference to Chinese idioms implied
by the work’s genesis. There are three movements: a well structured
opening ‘adagio - allegro molto’, followed by a more penetrating
and introspective ‘adagio molto’ with a short ‘allegro
vivo’ bringing the proceedings to a close with an almost Bernstein-like
aplomb.
The performance of all five pieces on this CD is splendid. These are
demanding works that are not in the standard repertoire, yet the soloists
and the Manchester Sinfonia make them sound second nature. The liner-notes
are written by the two composers and make essential reading as there
are no other sources of information on these pieces. A little bit more
analysis of the Manduell pieces would have been welcome. The CD sound
quality is ideal and reflects the typically intimate nature of these
works.
Finally I do hope that one day an enterprising CD company (like Métier)
will seek to record Sir John Manduell’s
Sunderland Point Overture.
It is a work that I would love the opportunity to hear. Based on his
two master-works presented on this CD, I can only assume that it will
be something special. Sunderland Point is one of my favourite places,
lying as it does between the estuary of the River Lune and Morecambe
Bay.
John France
