Sleevenotes from Prima Facie Records PFCD245, Manchester Accents
1 Terence Greaves: Rondino for piano and small orchestra
Jonathan Scott piano
2 Anthony Gilbert: Another Dream Carousel
for string orchestra
3-7 Walter Carroll/Eric Fogg: Seascape: A Children’s Suite for small orchestra
Sea Hunting,
Mermaid’s Lullaby,
Dwarfs of the Mist,
The Echo Nymph,
Samoan’s Dance
8-9 John McCabe: Two Dances from “Mary, Queen of Scots” for string orchestra and harp
Country Dance for Queen Elizabeth,
Riccio’s Lute Dance
10-15 Thomas Pitfield: Theme and Variations for string orchestra
Theme,
Minuet and Trio,
Air and Canon,
Mazurka,
Hymn,
Finale
16-19 John Manduell: Diversions for chamber orchestra
Allegro,
Andante,
Scherzo,
Adagio – Allegro
20-23 James Langley: Four Movements for string orchestra
Aubade,
Scherzo,
Cavatina,
Moto Perpetuo
Programme Notes
Rondino for piano and small orchestra
Terence Greaves
The composer wrote: This light-hearted eclectic piece is substantially the last movement of a Piano Concerto written and performed during student days in 1960. It was reworked in 1969 with the instrumental combination used by Menotti in The Telephone and performed in this version, conducted by Michael Savage (to whom the work is dedicated), at lunchtime concerts as part of the Cheltenham Festival fringe activities, where it was sandwiched between Monteverdi’s Combattimento and The Telephone. The present version retains single woodwind but uses a second horn instead of a trumpet. It has a rondo form with two episodes, both suggestive of the waltz.
TERENCE GREAVES (1933-2009) was a chorister at Welbeck Abbey, where his father was Assistant Organist. After school at Buxton College and extended national service in the Royal Signals Staff Band (which no doubt contributed to his penchant for wind instruments), he read music at Keble College Oxford. Work as a lecturer and subsequently Director of Studies at the Birmingham School of Music brought him into regular contact with members of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, particularly wind players, and his work with them, as pianist, arranger and composer, combined happily with his academic duties. In 1973 he was appointed Dean at the Royal Northern College of Music, with the remit of developing the College’s new graduate course.
After taking voluntary early retirement in 1989 to pursue his other interests, he continued both to compose and to write tests and educational books, particularly in connection with the work of the Associated Board, for whom he was both practical examiner and academic consultant. His solo pieces have been performed by countless young musicians, as he was anonymously responsible for the composition of numerous sight -reading and quick study pieces for the Board. His published works include music for voices, the church, various chamber combinations and solo piano.
Another Dream Carousel for string orchestra
Anthony Gilbert
This waltz sequence, which conjures up starkly contrasting images, was commissioned by The Ida Carroll Trust for the Northern Chamber Orchestra and first performed by them at the Lowry Centre, Salford, on November 10th 2000. The original version of the work (for piano, with an alternative version for piano duet) was composed in 1984, but the work was extended and scored for string orchestra in 2000. The composer wrote: This group of waltzes reflects upon the “city of my dreams” – childhood dreams induced by the experiences of my young pre-war refugee friend Daisy Koppmann (later Anna Korda), born Vienna 1922, date of death unknown, to whom or whose memory the work is dedicated.
ANTHONY GILBERT (1934-2023) studied languages prior to becoming a translator. His early musical studies were part-time – first at Trinity College of Music, then later with Matyas Seiber and at Morley College with Anthony Milner and Alexander Goehr. This led to concentrated study under Goehr, whose influence on Gilbert was profound. He immersed himself in the London musical scene whilst working (latterly as Editor) at Schotts, who published his own music from 1962 onwards. After a spell as composer-in-residence at Lancaster University, he was appointed Head of Composition at the Royal
Northern College of Music in 1974, from which he retired in 1999.
His works exhibited an inquiring and stimulating mind, plainchant and non- European musics (particularly North Indian music) being notable influences, and he has a strong penchant for unusual instrumental sonorities and sharply hued colours. His works cover a wide range of forms – from the two operas The Scene-Machine and The Chakravaka-Bird, to concertos (the violin concerto On Beholding a Rainbow, the piano concerto Towards Asavari and the recorder concerto Igórochki), a much acclaimed Symphony, numerous chamber works (the String Quartet No.3, after Machaut, being one of his best known and most popular works) and instrumentally-accompanied song-cycles.
Seascape: A Children’s Suite for small orchestra
Walter Carroll / Eric Fogg
The circumstances surrounding the making of these arrangements and of their first performance (there exists a marked score and parts) have unfortunately not yet been discovered, there being no apparent references to the work in the Carroll Archive at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. Movements 1, 2 and 4 are transcriptions of pieces originally published in Water Sprites (1923), movement 3 is from Forest Fantasies (1916) and the final Samoan’s Dance comes from In Southern Seas (1922). All the movements are prefaced by literary quotations, which are as follows:
I. Sea Hunting (Heine)
Shrill and clear their horns re-echo;
Then anon, from all around,
In the depth of the dim waters
Little mocking laughters sound.
II. Mermaid’s Lullaby (Arnold)
Children dear, was it yesterday
We heard the sweet bells over the bay?
In the caverns where we lay,
Through the surf and through the swell,
The far-off sound of a silver bell?
II. Dwarfs of the Mist (Scott)
Dimly seen through twilight bending,
Lo, what varied shapes attending!
IV. The Echo Nymph (L.E.L.)
I float on the breath of a minstrel’s lute,
Or the wandering sounds of a distant flute
Linger I over the tones that swell
From the pink-veined chords of an ocean shell.
V. Samoan’s Dance (Scott)
His kirtle, made of forest green, reached scantly
to his knee;
And, at his belt, of arrows keen a furbished
sheaf bore he.
WALTER CARROLL (1869-1955) could with some justification be regarded as the father of Manchester’s composers. Born in Cheetham into a family with no artistic pretensions and in straitened financial circumstances, the young Carroll’s musical interest was ignited when he joined the choir of St. Chrysostom’s Church, Victoria Park, Manchester and commenced lessons in piano, organ and harmony with the organist Frederick Pugh. Following further study with Henry Hiles, he was one of the first students to enter for the Mus. B. degree at the University of Durham in 1891, for which he entered a cantata Praise the Lord O my Soul.
Another cantata, David’s Thanksgiving, was submitted for the Manchester University Mus. B. degree in 1896, followed by a setting of the Jubilate and an orchestral Festive Overture for the degree of D.Mus., also from Manchester (Carroll was the first student to obtain this latter degree by examination). During these early years, Carroll composed a quantity of church music, songs and piano pieces – including a large-scale Piano Sonata in C minor (1892). His later career, as a lecturer at both Manchester University and the Royal Manchester College of Music, and also as Music Adviser to Manchester City Council, with his associated achievements, have been well documented (see Walter Carroll: The Children’s Composer, by Anthony Walker, Forsyth, 1989, and Walter and his Daughters, by Basil Howitt, 2010).
As a composer, he turned his hand to the production of the beautifully-crafted piano miniatures for educational use with which his name remains synonymous. In accordance with his belief in the fusion of the arts to awaken and sustain the child’s interest and enthusiasm, the pieces were published in handsome editions with covers and frontispieces by Arthur Rackham, Heath Robinson, Folkard and others, accompanied by apt literary quotations.
After the publication in 1912 of Scenes at a Farm, with verses by H. Lang Jones, Carroll confined his compositional activities to music for children, with the sole exceptions of one song (Slumber Song, 1915) and an Armistice Day anthem Sleep thy last Sleep (1923). However the year 1929 saw the publication of a suite of arrangements of his piano pieces by the Manchester composer Eric Fogg, who was much associated with both Hamilton Harty (Carroll’s collaborator in the celebrated Nymphs and Shepherds recording) and with Carroll himself, as he became in 1933 the conductor of the Manchester Schoolchildren’s Orchestra.
ERIC FOGG (1903-1939), the son of two prominent Manchester musicians, was precocious as a composer, his first published work, a Phantasy for ‘cello and piano, being written when he was aged only fifteen. In 1919 he won the Cobbett prize for his Dance Phantasy for piano quintet, and by the time he commenced his studies in Birmingham with Granville Bantock, he had already reached his opus 59. He joined the BBC in Manchester in 1924, initially as staff accompanist, and then as Director of Music. He was known as Uncle Eric to a generation of Children’s Hour listeners. Like his contemporary E. J. Moeran the circumstances of his death were uncertain. He was killed by an underground train at Waterloo Station whilst on his way to Bournemouth where he was to remarry. His name is known today only for the popular Bassoon Concerto, composed for Archie Camden (the composer thought it his best work), and the exquisite Carol of the Little King. The whereabouts of his manuscripts is unknown, but if they surface, perhaps more of his music will be heard.
The suite is scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, percussion and string orchestra. According to the published full score, the percussion employed is timpani and (in Mermaid’s Lullaby) triangle, though for this recording a surviving manuscript part (possibly in the hand of Fogg himself) for bells substitutes for the triangle.
Two Dances from “Mary, Queen of Scots” for string orchestra and harp
John McCabe
These two dances were arranged by the composer from his first full-length ballet Mary, Queen of Scots, which was composed for the Scottish Ballet and produced in 1975 in Glasgow, with choreography by Peter Darrell and scenario by Noel Goodwin. The first dance, Courtly Dance for Queen Elizabeth, which has a prominent viola solo, comes from Act II Scene I and here appears in its original instrumentation in the ballet. The second, Riccio’s Lute Dance, comes from Act I Scene III, where Riccio, a favourite of the Queen, entertains both her and the company present at a social supper party with a lively dance. The original scoring for this dance was for small orchestra of woodwind, strings and harp.
JOHN McCABE (1939-2015) was born in Huyton, Liverpool. He studied composition at the Royal Manchester College of Music under Thomas Pitfield, and later in Munich. McCabe enjoyed a dual career as pianist (his complete recordings of the Haydn Sonatas and his championship of contemporary British piano music being particularly noteworthy) and composer.
His works covered most of the established forms (with the exception of grand opera) and include five symphonies, two violin concertos, three piano concertos, concertos for flute, oboe, oboe d’amore, clarinet, viola, etc., music for wind and brass ensemble, the opulent orchestral song-cycle Notturni ed Alba, and much title and incidental music for television. Particularly significant are the four full-length ballets – Mary, Queen of Scots (from which these dances are extracted), Edward II (1993/5, for the Stuttgart Ballet) and Arthur Pendragon and Le Mort d’Arthur (1998/2000), a diptych for the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Although he lived and worked for some years in Kent, McCabe continued to retain the strongest links with Manchester, where his career was effectively launched with Hallé performances of his Violin Concerto No.1, Symphony No.1 (under Barbirolli) and the Hartmann Variations.
Theme and Variations for string orchestra
Thomas Pitfield
Theme; Minuet and Trio; Air and Canon; Mazurka; Hymn; Finale
This remarkable work has had something of a chequered history. It was dedicated to John F. Russell, the distinguished Librarian of the Henry Watson Music Library in Manchester, and published by Augener (they also issued a miniature score) in 1951. At this time Pitfield was living in Broken Cross, Macclesfield, and was teaching composition at the Royal Manchester College of Music. The composer, in the second volume of autobiography, A Song after Supper, tells us that, although the work had “already been broadcast from Manchester, [and] was played by other orchestras, including the Liverpool Philharmonic (or it could have been the Merseyside String Orchestra, which was a section of it)”, it was subsequently rejected by the BBC’s Reading Panel with the comment: “Suitable for school orchestra” (this remark made Pitfield wonder if the writer had ever heard a school orchestra, “for while my Theme and Variations were not virtuoso stuff they were obviously written for a very competent group”). Another Reading Panel comment was “The player is instructed to play pizzicato with backs of nails at one point – the insides would have been more appropriate”. Pitfield found these cruel rejections shattering and they may well have been largely responsible for his subsequent turning away from large-scale orchestral composition to concentrate on being a community composer, writing particularly for children and amateurs. When some 50 of his compositions were subsequently taken out of the Augener catalogue, the scores and performance materials of the Theme and Variations were pulped, and the material for the present performance has had to be reconstructed from a surviving copy of the miniature score.
Pitfield wrote that folk-song “has been my lasting joy”; nowhere is this more apparent than in this work. The theme is a simple and gentle hymn-like tune scored with rich harmonies in a serene B Major. There are five variations: a delicate and graceful Minuet and Trio, Air and Canon (a folktune-like meditation scored for solo string quartet and string orchestra), a Mazurka (with the shadow of Delius lurking behind the quirky and pointed dance rhythms), Hymn (in which the theme is translated into an even more richly scored pentatonic tune heard on both the first violin and the solo celio), and a spirited and driving Finale, whose wild climax leads directly and touchingly into a reprise of the tender tune on which the work is based.
THOMAS PITFIELD was born in Bolton in 1903 and died in 1999. His father was a joiner and builder, and his mother a dressmaker. Although from infancy he had first artistic and then musical leanings, these were denigrated by his conformist family, and at the age of fourteen he was pitchforked protestingly into a seven-year apprenticeship in engineering, designing transmission machinery for the cotton industry. His savings during this period did however afford him a year’s study of piano, cello and harmony at the Royal Manchester College of Music. After attempting a freelance career as a musician, commercial pressures dictated a change of direction and he won a scholarship to study art and cabinet-making at the Bolton School of Art. During his years as an art and craft teacher in the Midlands he became increasingly known as a composer, in no small measure due to the help and encouragement of Hubert Foss, of the Oxford University Press, who published many of his compositions and commissioned for the Press cover designs (including that for Britten’s Simple Symphony), cards, folk song translations and book illustrations. In 1947 Pitfield was invited to teach composition at his old college, and remained on its staff (through the transition to the Royal Northern College of Music) until his seventieth birthday in 1973. In a long and happy retirement he continued to pursue both his musical and his artistic interests until well into his nineties.
Diversions for chamber orchestra
Sir John Manduell
Allegro; Andante; Scherzo; Adagio – Allegro
The composer wrote: Diversions was written in November and December 1969 in response to an Arts Council of Great Britain commission for the Birmingham- based chamber orchestra, Orchestra da Camera. It was first performed by that orchestra in a concert given in the City of Birmingham Art Gallery, conducted by Leon Lovett, in March 1970. The commission specified an orchestra consisting simply of two oboes, two horns and strings. This was because the orchestra was seeking a work for this essentially simple and classical combination which it could pair with early and middle period Haydn symphonies and the like. The title is simply an Anglicised equivalent of the Italian Divertimento and its purpose is, no less simply, to divert. There are four compact movements. The first is a brisk Allegro, in which bars of 4/4 and 3/4 alternate throughout. Two interlocking triads give the harmonic substance, whilst the first oboe introduces the main tune. The second movement is an Andante, in which the second oboe turns to the cor anglais. In character it is gently muted, some of the instruments literally so. The third is a fast Scherzo for strings alone, with a virtuoso double-bass part in which the notes make a play on the letters by which Orchestra da Camera is generally known: ODAC. Since “0” does not exist in the musical vocabulary, I decided (quite arbitrarily) that Orch sounds like C sharp! The finale starts Adagio and ends Allegro. Descriptions of Divertimenti finales are generally superfluous.
Although he continued to compose throughout his career – significant landmarks include Gradi for chamber ensemble (1962), a Viola Concerto (1963), a String Quartet (1970), and a Double Concerto for di-zi, er-hu and orchestra (1985) – it was only from his retirement from the RNCM in 1996 that he had the leisure time to immerse himself more fully in composition, combining his writing with adjudication at many international festivals and with the establishment in Manchester of the European Opera Centre. Works composed since 1996 include the orchestral Vistas (a commission from Nagano and the Halle), the song-cycle Into the Ark, for mezzo-soprano recorder and guitar, and a Flute Concerto.
Four Movements for string orchestra
James Langley
Aubade; Scherzo; Cavatina; Moto Perpetuo
This work was found amongst the manuscripts of this most reticent of composers after his death and no details of any performance during his lifetime have been traced. The work is very much in the English tradition of light music for strings.
After a lilting Aubade in the sunny key of F sharp major, there follows a lively Scherzo in 6/8, in the key of B flat, with a soaring cantabile tune in the trio. The Cavatina, in D minor, is wistful in character, with a chromatic accompaniment and extensive modulation in the central section. The final Moto Perpetuo in A minor/major, in rondo form, is in the nature of a brisk reel, the interludes being based on a haunting folksong-like tune, which dashes to an emphatic conclusion in the major.
JAMES LANGLEY (1927-1994) won a scholarship to Moseley Grammar School. After service in the Royal Signals, including a spell in Klagenfurt (Austria), where he found the prolific local music-making very stimulating, he studied part-time at the Birmingham School of Music, subsequently (in 1955) enrolling at the School as a full-time mature student, studying horn, piano, composition and conducting. Amongst his teachers were Clarence Raybould and Christopher Edmunds. Following a short period as a freelance tutor of brass instruments, he joined the BBC in Birmingham in 1958 as a studio manager (his wartime work with the Forces Network being invaluable experience in this connection), becoming a producer in 1965. During his BBC Birmingham days, he was involved in the premiere of Britten’s War Requiem from Coventry Cathedral and also made the pioneering first broadcast of extracts from Elgar’s unfinished opera The Spanish Lady. On re-organisation of the BBC in 1970, he relocated to Manchester, becoming Senior Producer for the plannng and production of Radio 3 broadcasts by orchestras, choirs and brass bands in the North of England. He masterminded programmes such as Bandstand and Listen to the Band, and was responsible for the first major Radio 3 brass band commission – George Lloyd’s Royal Parks. Following his retirement from the BBC in 1987, Langley continued to produce programmes on a freelance basis, to adjudicate brass band competitions, and to examine for Trinity College of Music. He was taken ill suddenly and died in July 1994, shortly after returning from an examining tour to Australia and the Far East. Throughout his career Langley was much concerned with music for young people. He was associated with the Midland Youth Orchestra from its inception in 1956, being successively horn player, Associate Conductor, Principal Conductor and Music Director. He was also associated from the start with the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition, for which he organised and adjudicated the preliminary rounds in the North of England. His compositions include a Symphony, two Sinfoniettas, two sets of orchestral variations, several concert overtures and much chamber music (particularly for brass instruments) as well as numerous choral works. Although many works were published, performed and broadcast during his lifetime, a substantial quantity remains in manuscript and unperformed.
Programme notes compiled / written by and © John Turner except where otherwise stated.
The Performers
JONATHAN SCOTT was born in Manchester. After studying piano and organ at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, he continued his studies in the USA and the Netherlands. He enjoys a varied international performing career and, as Associate Artist of the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, gives a series of lunchtime organ recitals there. He has performed regularly with the Hallé Orchestra, the Manchester Camerata and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, including many broadcasts and recordings with the latter. Recent and forthcoming appearances include a solo organ recital at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms and concerts in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Poland, Belgium and elsewhere.
THE NORTHERN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (NCO) has come a long way since this disc was first issued in 2000. The orchestra now presents a successful, annual series of eight concerts in Macclesfield and pursues an extensive community and education programme. It attracts world-class soloists such as Jennifer Pike, Sir Stephen Hough, Steven Osborne, Craig Ogden, Martin Roscoe, Raphael Wallfisch and Jeneba Kanneh-Mason. It has over thirty, critically acclaimed recordings to its name and is recognised both nationally and internationally. While excelling in performing music from the classical repertoire, the NCO and its Music Directors, Zoe Beyers and Sarah Brandwood-Spencer, champion pieces from a wide range of contemporary composers. In that way they continue the work of their predecessor, Nicholas Ward, who directed the orchestra on this disc.
Violin 1
Nicholas Ward (director)
Julia Hanson
Amanda Britten
Maureen Allt
Paula Smart
Violin 2
Louise Latham
Nicola Hatfield
Stephen Wilkie
Sheila Barnfield
Viola
Richard Muncey
Michael Dale
Richard Williamson
Cello
Alice Neary
Barbara Grunthal
Double Bass
James Manson
Flute
Conrad Marshall
Oboe
Christine Swain
Nigel Roberts
Clarinet
Christopher Swann
Horn
Naomi Atherton
Diane Harper
Harp
Clifford Lantaff
Percussion
Joy Powdrill
Credits
Recorded at St. Thomas’ Church, Stockport, October 30th and 31st 2000
Producer: Andrew Walton
Executive Producer: Steve Plews
Engineer and Editing: Richard Scott
Front Cover “Albert Square, Manchester” by Valette reproduced by kind permission of Manchester Art Gallery
The copyright in this sound recording is owned by The Ida Carroll Trust
Published under licence by Prima Facie Records