GORDON DALE 1935-2001
Gordon Dale was born in Wrexham on July 13th 1935. His
musical life began at the age of seven when he joined a church choir
and started taking piano lessons. Several of his piano pieces were broadcast
on BBC ‘Children’s Hour’ in 1946 and 1947. Also at this time, he became
the solo tenor horn in an adult band. In the early 1950s, he played
violin in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, before achieving the
distinction of being the first man accepted for National Service in
the Royal Artillery Band. Having trained as a music teacher, he continued
his studies privately with Sylvia Cleaver (violin), Michael Krein (woodwind)
and Douglas Guest (conducting). He was a composition Fellow of the London
College of Music, a member of the Composers’ Guild of Great Britain
and held diplomas in violin playing and education.
His posts in education included Head of Department in
a comprehensive school, college lecturer and County Music Adviser for
Dorset – at the age of 33, he became the youngest music advisor in the
county. As a professional musician he appeared as violinist with the
National Youth Orchestra of Wales and the Baroque Soloists of London,
saxophonist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, violinist and clarinettist
with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He also conducted several
concerts with The Jacques Orchestra and was music director of The Handel
Orchestra.
When he left professional music after the 1969 Proms,
an orchestral colleague defined his eccentric career by describing him
as "the finest composer/conductor who no one has ever heard of".
In 1974, Gordon Dale’s heavy workload brought on what he later described
as a nervous breakdown, and he gave up his job as music advisor in Dorset,
moving to Hereford where he took on some violin teaching and continued
to compose. His professional performing career had ended because he
had developed arthritis but he continued to conduct his own music occasionally
and played chamber music with his friends.
Very little of Dale’s music had been published until,
in the late 1970s, he approached Piper Publications – a newly established
company specialising in educational music. Since then more than 50 of
his hundred plus pieces have been published including works for good
amateur and professional musicians. Gordon Dale continued to compose
and conduct during the 1980s, directing the world premieres of several
of his own works with the Staffordshire Chamber Orchestra. Increasing
problems with his arthritis forced him to give up performing and he
turned to writing children’s stories instead, including ‘Under the Oak
tree’, a charming collection of short stories about Plod the kindly
Shirehorse and his friends. Even here however, as in his deceptively
simple-sounding music, there is a serious undercurrent to the plot as
several stories deal with the issue of hunting from the point of view
of the hunted. In 1999 he suffered a serious stroke and his last years
were spent in a nursing home in Hereford. Gordon Dale died at the early
age of 66 in November 2001.
At his funeral in Holy Trinity Church, the idea was mooted
of a memorial concert to be held at the same venue on what would have
been his 67th birthday. This idea bore fruit in a moving
and joyful occasion on Saturday July 13th 2002 when friends,
colleagues and former pupils gathered to play a wide range of Gordon
Dale’s compositions and also pieces by some of his favourite composers.
A special exhibition consisting of scores, letters and press cuttings
complimented the music making, celebrating the many achievements of
this most modest of composers.
Songs of Summer op23 no 3 (1965) is a setting of three
poems of W H Davies, originally written for soprano and full orchestra,
but given on this occasion in the composer’s revised version for string
orchestral accompaniment. The soloist was Pamela White, who first met
Gordon Dale when they both taught at Weobley high School and later played
chamber music with him. She brought an interpretative sensitivity to
both text and music of these rapturous, Delian songs, basking in the
shimmering string writing realised by the Hereford String Orchestra
under the authoritative direction of their former conductor, Julie Hollingworth.
Piano teacher, colleague and friend of the composer, Christine
Williams played his op85, ‘My First Piano Sonata’ (1983), a cleverly
constructed work, intended to be a first ‘grown-up’ piece for young
pianists. Its four brief movements contain fugue and counterpoint (favourite
devices of Gordon Dale) and its solid craftsmanship meant that it stood
up perfectly well in the company of more sophisticated works.
Susan Humphrey performed a moving 1981 setting of ‘Tom
Bowling’ for viola and piano, a welcome reminder of Gordon Dale’s gifts
as an arranger (the interval included a tape of the composer playing
his own transcriptions for saxophone of Bizet and Tchaikovsky).
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was the Prelude
and Fugue for Organ op43, played magnificently by the dedicatee, John
Lock. This is a dark piece, written in 1972 at a time when the composer
was going through his own personal crisis and some of the torment of
this period is reflected in the work’s unusually high degree of dissonance.
Far from diminishing its worth, however, its emotional intensity made
it the most substantial and powerful of Gordon Dale’s compositions played
at the concert.
In complete contrast, the Hereford String Orchestra gave
the last movement of the Hymn Symphony, a work virtually unclouded by
the kind of tormented self-doubt exploited in the organ work. The hymns
were skilfully woven into a delightfully rich string texture, with several
original hymn-like tunes thrown in for good measure. The audience thoroughly
enjoyed this work, smiling at the popular hymn tunes’ appearances. A
pity the whole symphony could not have been played, though the following
performance of Elgar’s String Serenade (one of Gordon Dale’s favourite
pieces) was distinguished by committed and heart-felt playing.
The last of the composer’s works to be performed was his
‘Mirror Images’op99 (1987) for unaccompanied violin – Bach-like in its
nobility and purity, and clearly written for the instrument by a violin
player. The soloist was Suzanne Casey, a former pupil of the composer
and now a member of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She brought
great style and warmth to the four movements: Prelude, Canons, Minuet,
Air and Finale. The work was written as a series of studies in double
stopping to improve intonation and dexterity in more advanced players,
but also intended for concert performance. This suite made a perfect
conclusion to an intelligent and effective selection of the composer’s
works.
It was very moving to hear this melodic and tuneful music
written at a time when tonal expression was anathema to the musical
establishment. As the composer himself put it in a letter to me written
on April 1st 1998: "I am one of many composers in two
generations who were all but lost to the public because of the attitudes
of the BBC and the Arts Council. We loved Elgar, RVW, Rachmaninov, Bliss,
Shostakovich etc and were treated much as a fine water-colourist would
be when half a dead cow of a pile of bricks were on offer."
The compositional legacy of Gordon Dale includes three
symphonies, six concertos and seven string quartets. The first symphony
(op41), written in 1971, is entitled ‘A Fellowship Symphony’ and is
dedicated "to my friends, the Dorset County Youth Orchestra",
who gave the symphony’s first performance under the composer’s baton
on December 23rd 1972. It was composed to celebrate the award
of a Composition Fellowship by the London College of Music – the title,
therefore, has an academic meaning as well as referring to a gesture
of friendship. The first movement begins with a brief ‘overture’ characterised
by contrapuntal string writing marked Moderato e Maestoso, in which
fragments of themes from all subsequent movements interplay. This leads
directly into an Allegro Giocoso, reflecting the high spirits and good
humour of the orchestra. The second subject provides contrast with its
unusual 7/4 rhythm. The central slow movement is an Adagio Affetuoso,
a big ‘Romantic’ Tchaikovskian statement, making virtuoso demands on
many members of the orchestra, such as solo violin and principal trumpet.
The Allegro Moderato Finale is a fugue with canonic episodes in related
keys. The closing pages are a contrapuntal tour de force, as all the
themes come together. This hugely enjoyable piece is a ‘Young Person’s
Guide to the Orchestra’ for children to play as well as listen to, yet
it never patronises its players or audience and makes a good introduction
to Gordon Dale’s soundworld with its memorable, simple melodies toughened
by rigorous fugal and contrapuntal structures.
His Second Symphony in D (op55), entitled ‘Sinfonia 40’
has never been performed. This is a great pity as the composer has described
it as his most serious and substantial symphony. It was composed in
the summer of 1975 which was Gordon Dale’s 40th birthday
year and is greatly influenced by the death of his friends Arthur Bliss
and his hero Dimitri Shostakovich. A copy of the score is held by the
British Music Information Centre.
His third and last contribution to the genre is entitled
‘Hymn Symphony’ (op66), a classical style serenade for string orchestra
in which all themes are or purport to be well-known hymn tunes. The
work is easily understood since it makes use of the basic language of
sonata form, canon and fugue and is written in a tonal idiom. The symphony
is dedicated to the composer’s mother. It was completed in the summer
of 1977 and they listened to a recording of it together in the County
Hospital, happily singing the well-known tunes as they appeared. There
is humour as well as craftsmanship in the piece: the hymn tune ‘Immortal,
invisible’ takes the form of a sprightly minuet and the sheer tunefulness
of the symphony is quite disarming, almost defiantly sounding against
the prevailing musical tide. Popular hymns such as ‘Now thank we all
our God’ and ‘The day Thou gavest’ weave naturally into the composer’s
own inventions, often appearing as a counterpoint to one of Gordon Dale’s
original themes. It is published by Piper Publications and has been
widely played.
Amongst his other orchestral compositions, there are many
titles of interest, along with his Second Symphony. Woodland Ride op16
(1963) is a poem for string orchestra, which received performances conducted
by Ruth Gipps in London and Peterborough, whilst Three Songs op19 (1964)
for soprano and orchestra enjoyed two London performances, including
at the Royal Academy. Midland Overture op36 (1969), a concert overture
written for the CBSO was performed by then in London and Weymouth, and
a Trumpet Concerto op39 (1970), written for Alan Whitehead of the CBSO,
with string orchestra was performed by him in Sherborne Abbey and the
Wigmore Hall. ‘Killed in Action’, for large orchestra, was inspired
by W H Davies’ poem and received its world premiere a Chester.
Other works of his which have received performances include
a large-scale cantata dedicated to his father, and his first piano concerto,
‘A Miniature Concerto’ written for children, dedicated to Shostakovich
with the great Soviet composer’s consent. There are also many pieces
for professional musicians such as the string quartets for the Amici
Quartet, and A Midland Concerto composed for the CBSO brass section.
The Kingdom of God (1969), for five–part choir and strings, was written
for Stevenage Choral Society.
Unperformed compositions which merit investigation include
the following pieces for full symphony orchestra: A Night Piece op29
(1967), The English Crown Overture op45 (1973), A Hereford Suite for
strings op91 (1984) and ‘The Sands of Time’ op95 (1985), a valedictory
Ode.
His chamber music is dominated by seven string quartets.
The composer’s own favourite of all his works was the third string quartet
op34 in G. It was written whilst he was in his twenties and his personal
life was in turmoil. Some of this upheaval is reflected in the music,
which contains a higher quota of dissonance than his other works, with
the exception of the Prelude and Fugue for organ. It was written for
Lionel Bentley’s Amici Quartet, who wanted to play it at the Edinburgh
Festival. However, the festival committee turned down the score without
even looking at it. This did a great disservice to a deeply felt work
that shows Gordon Dale’s writing at its best. The slow movement, in
particular, is passionate and emotionally involving. The familiar fingerprints
of fugue and canon are here but the usual good-natured tunefulness is
frequently challenged and occasionally thwarted by darker elements.
As Peter Ustinov once remarked, "We are seldom at our best when
we are on our best behaviour", and this composer’s generally ingratiating
music certainly benefits from some grit, as in this string quartet where
his tunes are constantly put under self-imposed pressure.
A substantial amount of Gordon Dale’s creative output
is available for hire or purchase from Piper Publications, Dochroyle
Farm, Barrhill, Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland KA26 0QG (01465) 821377 e-mail:
orders@piperpublications.co.uk.
The website http://www.piperpublications.co.uk
provides details of many of his compositions, alongside works by Thomas
Pitfield and David Gow. It is to be hoped that Gordon Dale’s memorial
service and further publication of his scores will lead to more of this
sensitive and gregarious man’s work being heard in the future.
©Paul Conway 2002
Piper
Publications (includes complete list of publications)
