ENGLISH MUSIC

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 31, 6 February 1936, Page 8

ENGLISH MUSIC

A FOREIGN APPEAISAL

ORCHESTRAS & COMPOSERS

The "Daily Telegraph" has invited me to summarise for its readers my impressions of the week which, at the invitation of the British Council for Relations with Other Countries, I spent in London (writes Paul Ladoring, the French musical critic, in the "Daily Telegraph"). My first word must be one of acknowledgment of the kind welcome extended by the council, by colleagues of the London Press, and by various eminent persons in the political and social worlds. Those days spent in London passed' all too quickly, in the most friendly atmosphere. I came to England not unaware of what music has owed to your nation and race. I recalled how, in far-off centuries, the English had introduced the euphony of thirds and sixths to the learned of the Latin countries, then engrossed (following a misunderstanding of ancient precepts) by fourths and fifths. Dunstable,, who died in 1453, was, I knew, one of the founders of counterpoint; nor did I forget the glorious school of English sixteenth-century polyphonists and virginalists, Christopher Tye, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, and many another, celebrated in their day throughout Europe. For Henry Purcell, who, towards the end of the seventeenth century, raised England's musical glory to its apogee, and who in my view is a peer of Monteverdi, Lully, and Gluck, if he does not at times surpass them—for Purcell I cherish-a particular admiration, and I have been responsible for organising in France performances of his masterpiece, "Dido and Aeneas," which captivated the Paris public. While here I and my colleagues were invited one day to Oxford, where we heard the incomparable choir of New College sing a choice selection from those revered and ever-living masters. That visit and the effect of those pure and faultlessly blended voices have left an impression in my memory like nothing else. GREAT RENAISSANCE. But what I was above all interested in examining on the spot was, alongside the glorious past, the present-day musical movement in London—that amazing renaissance which asserted itself towards the end of the nineteenth century and which has become still more pronounced in recent years. The British Council invited the principal music critics of eighteen European countries to observe for themselves that England was not, as the too long-accredited legend had it, "the land without music." The demonstration was utterly convincing. In the first place, we heard three orchestras—the London Symphony, the 8.8.C. Symphony, and, at the Royal Philharmonic Society's concert, the London Philharmonic—which, by the quality of their players, equal the best of the Continental symphonic organisations, whether French, German, Italian, or. Austrian, if, indeed, not at times surpassing them. First-rate conductors were in charge—Sir Landon Ronald, Dr. Adrian i Boult, and Sir Hamilton Harty—who brought to the performances the utmost care for precision of detail and, at the same time, a sensibility and a fine shading in their interpretations which cannot be spoken of too highly. The performances of the "Chasse Royale" from Berlioz's "Troyens," conducted by Sir Hamilton Harty, struck me particularly. Never have I heard that page played with" gradations so perfect and with such poetry—that page of music haunted, as the shivering violins most subtly tell, by a secret unrest and a vague anguish. And then, that marvellous horn! THE COMPOSERS. It may be fairly said that England possesses the most perfect means of musical execution existing at the1 present day, the finest orchestras, the best conductors, the most penetrating interpreters. Does she possess the best composers? She seems to me to be about to have them. . After a long silence English music reawoke to a full life in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and the celebrated name of Edward Elgar symbolises that fertile revival. Elgar, as I see him, represents the imitative period which always precedes that of pure creation. In order to write, one must first of all form a style on the example of the consecrated masters. In Elgar's music the influence of Brahms, Wagner, Strauss, and Franck ia very naturally felt: they were his most illustrious contemporaries. But in their school he acquired .an astonishing mastery of composition, enabling, a certain expression of his appealing personality. . I: must confess that I had to come to London,truly to appreciate that personality, and: it was, perhaps, in his famous "Enigma? Variations, though a comparatively > early work, that it principally -came home to me. There I feltVinore than elsewhere in his music the freshness and the serenity, the tenderness, the intimate charm, the humour, too, of a pure soul,. . . After Edward Elgar, Di\ Vaughan Williams appears to me one of the best inspired of the representatives of the contemporary English school. His new Symphony in F minor is a very fine ■work. Conceived somewhat in the "maniere dure" introduced by Stravinsky, this composition reveals a frame of mind and range of feeling truly belonging to its author and to an Englishman—a deep earnestness, concentration of thought, sincerity, frankness, and a kind of artistic loyalty. Vaughan Williams wastes no words, and when he speaks it is to say something. This symphony should be heard in France; it deserves to be be known among the most significant productions of the present day. Arnold Bax's new Symphony in C minor, No. 6, captivated me less. I know more attractive works by this composer, notably his charming quintet for string quartet and harp, which I heard last summer at Vichy. Let me add that at one time or another I have had opportunity of appreciating, as they deserve, the ironic wit of Lord Berners's music, Eugene Goossens's poetic sentiment, and Arthur Bliss's subtle delicacy. Nor do I forget Hoist's inventive originality. To sum up, I have the distinct feeling that the modern English school has begun and is most promisingly pursuing an upward course. After my visit to London and the impressions I gained there in close contact with British artists and their works, I have no doubt that school, already so brilliant, will attain the summits that are not now far off.