Merseyside Echoes is one of the best pieces of
cross-over music that I have heard. Dickinson has written that this work,
which is dedicated to his son Jasper, is a ‘tribute’ to The Beatles. It was
commissioned in 1986 by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and was
first performed there that year. It takes the form of a ‘rondo’ where the
main theme is a ‘fanfare’ derived from an early organ work with the episodes
being the ‘songs’. There is no direct quotation of the Fab Four,
nevertheless the two songs are a definite pastiche of the Lennon/McCartney
genre. These melodies are presented simultaneously in an Ivesian
‘counterpoint’ before the final fanfare sees the work to a conclusion. This
highlights the composer’s ability to work in dissimilar genres and
sound-worlds. It is a composition that should appeal to all ‘baby-boomers’
and ought to be heard widely on radio and in the concert hall. It is a great
place to begin an exploration of this CD.
A few notes about the composer will be of interest. Peter Dickinson
celebrates his 80
th birthday this year (2014) on 15 November. He
was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Lytham St Annes. After Cambridge,
where he was Organ Scholar at Queen’s College, he started to compose. With
encouragement from Lennox Berkeley, he studied at the Juilliard School of
Music in New York in 1958. For the next three years he was a freelance
performer and critic in the United States. On returning to the United
Kingdom, Dickinson lectured at the College of St. Mark and St. John in
Chelsea. In 1966 he moved to Birmingham University as Staff Tutor in Music.
Dickinson was appointed the first professor of music at Keele University in
1974 where he founded the Centre for American Music. Between 1991 and 1997
he was professor at Goldsmith’s College and was latterly Head of Music at
the Institute of United States Studies at the University of London. Other
appointments include being a board member of Trinity College of Music and
chairman of the Bernarr Rainbow Trust.
Peter Dickinson has shown a strong interest in performing British and
American music. He has often appeared as piano accompanist for his sister,
the mezzo-soprano Meriel Dickinson (
review). As a writer, Dickinson has published a number
of important books including studies of
Lennox Berkeley, Lord Berners,
Samuel Barber and Billy Mayerl.
Dickinson’s musical style is well-defined as ‘eclectic’. Many of his works
explore what would be regarded as ‘avant-garde’ techniques; other pieces are
written in an immediately approachable manner. One of his more personal
musical devices is ‘style modulation’ where ‘serious’ and popular styles are
presented together. He has been inspired by ragtime, jazz and pop music. His
tools of composition include electronic playback, serial music and
traditional forms. Dickinson’s sound-signature is very much his own, however
he has clear connections with Stravinsky, Satie and Charles Ives.
The Organ Concerto and the Piano Concerto were issued on CD in 1986 on HMV
EL270439-1 and later on
Albany TROY360. These are the recordings re-released here.
Merseyside Echoes and the Violin Concerto have been newly recorded
for the present CD.
Peter Dickinson’s
Organ Concerto dates from 1971 and is
one of the finest examples of that genre I have heard. It was commissioned
by the Three Choirs Festival and dedicated to Simon Preston. The Concerto
has been performed a number of times over the years with soloists including
Christopher Robinson and the present recording with Jennifer Bate. The prime
theme of this work is derived from a ‘blues’ setting that the composer made
of Lord Byron’s ‘So we’ll go no more a-roving’. This song in turn made use
of a passage from Ravel’s
Valses nobles et sentimentales. The
formal structure of the concerto is a single movement presented in nine
hugely contrasting sections. The liner-notes give a detailed analysis of
this work, however four things are worth saying. Firstly, the organ and
orchestra are typically complementary rather than antagonistic. Secondly,
the composer has used a number of unexpected effects – for example in the
third section an organ two-foot stop plays a duet with a celesta. This is
magical. There is a duet for two timpani over the organ’s rendition of the
motto theme, first heard in the works opening bars. Thirdly, the climax of
work is when the percussion manages to ‘obliterate’ the power of the organ.
I believe this would sound terrifying in the concert hall. Finally, the
music makes use of jazz, blues and more ‘traditional’ modernist musical
harmonies and gestures. The concerto is at times beautiful, scary and
mystical. Jennifer Bate is a tremendous advocate for this music. A
masterpiece.
The
Piano Concerto was completed thirteen years later and
was dedicated to the present soloist Howard Shelley. It was commissioned by
the Cheltenham Festival. Like the Organ Concerto, this work is made up of
contrasting sections rather than formal movements. There are a number of
themes that are used as the building blocks of this concerto –a blues tune,
a wayward toccata and a dirge. The ethos of the work is Dickinson’s
trademark technique of contrasting ‘serious’ and ‘pop’ music both
sequentially and simultaneously. A feature of this concerto is the ragtime
ensemble (Track 10: Moderato). This is a deconstructed ‘rag’ which seems to
‘float in and out of earshot’. I understand that an ordinary upright piano
is used in this section which has definite nods towards Malcolm Arnold. Yet
this cool music is followed by a powerful outburst from orchestra which is
dissonant, confused (presumably deliberately) and violent. Gradually, the
music settles down and the concerto concludes with a quiet restrained
presentation of the ‘blues’ theme. The genius of this work is the composer’s
ability to amalgamate the various elements of the concerto without there
being any sense of it being a mere patchwork of sundry ideas. A reviewer of
this work (
Gramophone, August 1996) suggests that the listener
‘sees one music through another’ as the concerto progresses. It is a good
tool for approaching this excellent work.
The latest work on this CD is the
Violin Concerto from
1986. This was commissioned by the BBC and written in memory of the British
violinist Ralph Holmes. It was premièred by Ernst Kovacic with the BBC
Philharmonic Orchestra under Bryden Thomson. The inspiration for the
concerto goes back to a performance that Holmes and Dickinson gave of
Beethoven’s
Spring Sonata in 1981. The composer has taken the
principal subject of the first movement of this sonata and transformed it
into, amongst other things, a 1930s popular song and a waltz. The formal
structure is allegro-adagio-scherzo-finale in a single movement. In spite of
the fact that Dickinson has presented what can only be called ‘swung
Beethoven’ this not a ‘jazz’ or ‘pop’ concerto as such. It is another
example of his ‘layering’ technique which seeks to synthesise a number of
different musical styles. The more ‘approachable’ elements of this concerto
are often brusquely pushed aside by more complex and ‘serious’ musical
devices. The Violin Concerto displays a great understanding of the technical
possibilities of the instrument as well as a masterly knowledge of
orchestration.
This is a new recording of this work made at the Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff
in April of this year (2014). The performance by Chloë Hanslip is stunning.
Her repertoire includes Adams, Glass, Nyman, Maxwell Davies and Weill, so
she is ideally prepared to perform this present work. She brings
understanding and sympathy to this beautiful, sometimes ravishing and often
moving concerto.
This is a fantastic CD from Heritage which showcases four superb works by
Peter Dickinson. It is well-presented, superbly recorded and brilliantly
performed by the soloists and orchestras. The liner-notes by the composer
are detailed and essential for proactive listening. These works display
Dickinson’s ability to write music that is at the same time approachable and
challenging. His ability to fuse diverse musical styles is masterly. This is
a fitting 80
th birthday tribute to a great composer, performer,
teacher and writer.
John France
