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A fine baritone
Much as I appreciated the space you gave to Amanda Holloway’s Five dismayed relation Mystical to by the review the Songs late description Stephen of (Building recordings Roberts. ‘unimpressive a Library, of Vaughan This February), seemed baritone’ Williams’s to I was me in dismissive and unfair. Last summer in Salisbury, I gave an illustrated talk exploring VW’S settings of George Herbert’s poems. The audience was enchanted by Roberts’s singing with the Northern Sinfonia under Richard Hickox. They agreed that his rendition of this fine and moving work brought out every nuance not only of the poetry but the composer’s sensitive scoring, his voice in turn dolce or animato, a warm, tender and even rapturous response to the words. I would urge readers not to discount this recording; moreover, I would recommend listening to him in the Nocturne in VW’S Sea Symphony, also under Hickox. Both baritone and conductor excelled in championing British music – the world is a lesser place without them.
Michael Holyoake, Salisbury
Why no Zazzo?
I was delighted to see your feature on the brilliant countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński (March issue). I am a countertenor ‘nut’, and am old enough to have seen – live – every one of the singers you mention in the ‘Upwardly Mobile’ column. But, oh dear, how did you miss the wonderful American Lawrence Zazzo from your list? In my opinion, he is the leading dramatic countertenor of the 21st century. Also famous as a Handel scholar, he performs all over the world, has numerous recordings to his name, and is currently doing excellent work with students in the music department of Newcastle University.
Nell Gregory, Broadmayne
A Finzi appeal
Gerald Finzi came tantalisingly close to giving us a concerto for piano and strings. In the 1920s, he composed two movements of an intended three. By the 1950s – the decade of his untimely death – he was working towards a four-movement work and drafting outer movements to frame the existing two. Faced with a terminal diagnosis, he possibly despaired of completing the concerto. At any event, he elaborated one of the inner movements, the Grand Fantasia, and turned it into a free-standing work – the Grand Fantasia and Toccata which we know today. After his death, the other inner movement was published as the much-admired Eclogue. Some 40 years later, in 1994, an Oxford music undergraduate, Jonathan Cook, accessed Finzi’s manuscripts in the Bodleian Library and constructed his intended Rondo finale. Finding it mentioned in Stephen Banfield’s Gerald Finzi, An English Composer (1997) I set about trying to trace its author – the guardian of the only copy.
It was well worth the 25 years it took. We were able to muster the musical text for the whole concerto in its three-movement version: the original Grand Fantasia in the British Library, the Eclogue in print and the Rondo in our inky hands. The idea of ‘inky hands’ sums up the challenge the project faces. It is one thing to have the Fantasia in Finzi’s scrawl or the Rondo in Jonathan Cook’s comparatively legible draft; it is quite another to digitise it and furnish performers with crystal-clear parts. There could also be copyright issues to settle. The fact remains that Finzi’s earlier, shorter concerto is ready and waiting!
The later, longer concerto is more problematic. Its added movement, placed first of the four, seems poorly represented in the Bodleian papers – there are 30 bars scored for two pianos, then a chaos of fragments – so while the longer
concerto may never exist in polished form, its shorter forerunner does so already, if not in performance then at least on paper. Information, suggestions or offers of help would all be welcome, as would contact with any Finzi enthusiast who would like to hear of progress towards a performance and possible print or recorded publication. Tony D Triggs, via email
Bach’s tragedy
In ‘The Personal Touch’ (The Listening Service, January) Tom Service contends that the ‘greatest tragedy’ of JS Bach’s personal life was the death of his first wife, Maria Barbara. Well, I don’t know. Bach left no personal diary. And given that he outlived 11 of his 20 children, identifying with certainty his greatest personal tragedy would be difficult. The infant mortality rate at the time was staggering, and no one loses even a single child without massive psychic injury. It is remarkable that Bach was even able to get out of bed in the morning, let alone maintain such a super-productive level of creative industry.
David English, Acton, MA, US
Eyes shut, ears open
I trust it’s not just me, but from first acquiring a stereo (Sansui amplifier, secondhand Philips record deck, with boxless – yes, boxless – 8x4’s on a shelf), detecting instrument placement in the sound stage (a great first example: Grieg Piano Concerto with Shura Cherkassky and Sir Adrian Boult on Chevron) and the ability to follow melody, counterpoint and whatnot required eyes closed. This remains so, decades later.
So, what to do at concerts?
Concentration requires eyes closed… but I’ve paid to see the artist perform, and I’m sitting in the front row. The musicians, or nearest and dearest, might think, ‘Perhaps he’s asleep!’ But then, to enjoy it, am I alone in wanting to get the toes a-tapping, or best, the head a-bobbing… but then I’m drawing attention to myself in a whole other way. Perhaps I should just stay home, refer to your radio listings and turn on my tuner! Talking of which, folks, you are BBC Music Magazine, so please, please can your Radio 3 listings pages include details of Lunchtime and Afternoon Concerts?
Reg Dodson, Bradford on Avon
Occasionally, exact details of concert broadcasts are not known until after BBC Music’s publication date. Whenever we can include them, however, we do. From our main news story (p12) and this month’s Radio and TV listings pages (p108), you will also notice there will be significant changes on Radio 3 from April onwards. We would love to hear your thoughts about the new programmes.
Broken resolution
‘New Year! New Music!’ How excited I was on 1 January to find Radio 3’s New Year’s Resolution (repeatedly trailed) to be evidenced by a wonderful Composer of the Week on Caroline Shaw. After all, though my favourite radio station is, they say, ‘The Home of Classical Music’, new classical music only usually appears once a week – also with Kate Molleson – at 10pm-12am on Saturdays with The New Music Show.
Of course, other kinds of new music are always there with Freeness, Music Planet,
J to Z and Unclassified, for instance, but now, we were told, new classical music was coming mainstream. My own resolutions often last a month or two, and I know people who sustain them until Easter at least. But Radio 3’s didn’t last one week. Monday 8 January, Composer of the Week was… Elgar! And no new music to be seen anywhere in the schedule. So much for the endless trailers. Please, Radio 3, you can do better than this. Nicholas Bayley,
Reading
The Dartington effect
Taking a look back at your Christmas 2023 issue, I noticed the announcement about the Dartington Festival. Can I offer a word of praise for the festival? I attended for the first time as an amateur musician returning to music after a career in industry and ministry. The Festival gave me so much encouragement to listen and participate. I also appreciated the comment by Jeremy Pound (15 Christmas Music Essentials) about 2023 being a good year to resume those oboe lessons. Yes, that’s me, after Dartington. And now, one request. Could there be more encouragement in the magazine for amateur musicians? Especially perhaps on how to take that step from (oboe) lessons to engaging in small groups, choirs and orchestras?
Ian Kemp, via email
Not just Christmas
Personally, I dislike carols and carol singing, but, while acknowledging that Britain is still nominally a Christian country and that Christmas is universally celebrated, I wonder if BBC Music Magazine should continue every year to concentrate a single CD on this one religious festival, when presumably readers come from other religions with a musical tradition, and the magazine is read in non-christian countries?
Why not a CD celebrating, for example, Jewish festival music at the appropriate point in the calendar?
Richard Pine,
Corfu, Greece
Though our Christmas cover disc always proves very popular, we are certainly not against the idea of celebrating other festivals or events, as you suggest. Ideas welcome!