Page 390 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2017. Glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti - Musical Migrations: Crossroads of European Musical Diversity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 1
P. 390
glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti
harmonic elements. In the Concerto for piano and string orchestra of 1951,
Gerhard extends the techniques found in the Three Impromptus, with his
imaginative mixture of Spanish idioms and serial techniques.
This development reached its climax in the outstanding Sympho-
ny No.1, composed in the years 1952–53 and first performed at the influ-
ential ISCM Festival in Baden-Baden in 1955 directed by the leading con-
temporary music conductor Hans Rosbaud. It received its British premiere
on 14 February 1962 in a performance in London by the BBC Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Rudolf Schwarz. The delay in achieving a perfor-
mance of Gerhard’s symphony in his adopted country shows the extent to
which conservatism dominated the British musical establishment.
The symphony is normally discussed as a transformation and imple-
mentation in abstract form of all the techniques that we have investigat-
ed earlier: the serial technique and the Spanish rhythms, though the latter
were very greatly underplayed. This was the idea presented by Colin Ma-
son in his pioneering article of 1962,27 which prepared audiences for the first
British performance. Mason’s thoughts were also to be found in the docu-
mentation with the first recording of the work in 1965, where he wrote, “the
greater part of his output consists of absolute music, such as the First Sym-
phony recorded here.”28 This view was strengthened, in the same context,
by the verbal introduction to the symphony written by the composer him-
self, in which he discouraged any comment on the music or any decoding
of the symphony, and also discouraged the listener from seeking tradition-
al formal landmarks in the work: “I was concerned with the possibility of
evolving a large-scale work as a continuous train of musical invention that
would progress – much as a poem progresses – by the strength and direc-
tion of its inherent potentialities alone, growing and branching out freely,
without being forced into predetermined channels.” This was reinforced by
a schematic analysis of the work which included extensive musical quota-
tions.29 Just as in the solo flute Capriccio, Gerhard divided his twelve-note
27 Colin Mason, “Roberto Gerhard’s First Symphony,” The Musical Times (February
1962): 99–100
28 On ASD 613 and ALP 2063 (London: EMI, 1965), BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted
by Antal Doráti. This was the first commercial recording of any of Gerhard’s music.
It was recorded under the auspices of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation as the
first in an important series called “Music Today” of new or recent works that were
considered worthy of recording, but otherwise would not be recorded.
29 It appears from discussions between Julian White and the editor of this recording,
David Drew, that the composer himself was ultimately responsible for this section.
See Julian White, “Symphony of Hope,” The Musical Times (March 1998): 21–22.
388
harmonic elements. In the Concerto for piano and string orchestra of 1951,
Gerhard extends the techniques found in the Three Impromptus, with his
imaginative mixture of Spanish idioms and serial techniques.
This development reached its climax in the outstanding Sympho-
ny No.1, composed in the years 1952–53 and first performed at the influ-
ential ISCM Festival in Baden-Baden in 1955 directed by the leading con-
temporary music conductor Hans Rosbaud. It received its British premiere
on 14 February 1962 in a performance in London by the BBC Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Rudolf Schwarz. The delay in achieving a perfor-
mance of Gerhard’s symphony in his adopted country shows the extent to
which conservatism dominated the British musical establishment.
The symphony is normally discussed as a transformation and imple-
mentation in abstract form of all the techniques that we have investigat-
ed earlier: the serial technique and the Spanish rhythms, though the latter
were very greatly underplayed. This was the idea presented by Colin Ma-
son in his pioneering article of 1962,27 which prepared audiences for the first
British performance. Mason’s thoughts were also to be found in the docu-
mentation with the first recording of the work in 1965, where he wrote, “the
greater part of his output consists of absolute music, such as the First Sym-
phony recorded here.”28 This view was strengthened, in the same context,
by the verbal introduction to the symphony written by the composer him-
self, in which he discouraged any comment on the music or any decoding
of the symphony, and also discouraged the listener from seeking tradition-
al formal landmarks in the work: “I was concerned with the possibility of
evolving a large-scale work as a continuous train of musical invention that
would progress – much as a poem progresses – by the strength and direc-
tion of its inherent potentialities alone, growing and branching out freely,
without being forced into predetermined channels.” This was reinforced by
a schematic analysis of the work which included extensive musical quota-
tions.29 Just as in the solo flute Capriccio, Gerhard divided his twelve-note
27 Colin Mason, “Roberto Gerhard’s First Symphony,” The Musical Times (February
1962): 99–100
28 On ASD 613 and ALP 2063 (London: EMI, 1965), BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted
by Antal Doráti. This was the first commercial recording of any of Gerhard’s music.
It was recorded under the auspices of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation as the
first in an important series called “Music Today” of new or recent works that were
considered worthy of recording, but otherwise would not be recorded.
29 It appears from discussions between Julian White and the editor of this recording,
David Drew, that the composer himself was ultimately responsible for this section.
See Julian White, “Symphony of Hope,” The Musical Times (March 1998): 21–22.
388
