Frank Bridge was born
into a musical family in Brighton. His
father, amongst other activities, conducted
one of the local variety orchestras,
so it was not, therefore, surprising
that he embarked on a musical career
which later involved studying at the
Royal College of Music under Stanford.
His main musical instrument at the RCM
was the violin although he was also
an extremely proficient pianist and
viola player, setting up the legendary
English String Quartet before the First
World War. He also had aspirations as
a conductor and stood in for Sir Henry
Wood at the Promenade concerts when
the latter was indisposed. He wrote
some wonderful orchestral music, including
the well-known tone-poem The Sea
(1913) written in the late-Romantic
tradition rather reminiscent at times
of his younger contemporary Arnold Bax.
He had also written some beguiling and
attractive chamber-music, much of it
commissioned by Cobbett. However, he
became increasingly dissatisfied with
his own musical development and began
to be influenced by contemporary composers
of the 2nd Viennese school,
particularly Berg. These feelings of
dissatisfaction were compounded by his
horror at the carnage during the war.
He was greatly affected by the loss
of many good friends including the composer
Ernest Farrar to whom he posthumously
dedicated his Piano Sonata (1924). It
was at this time that he was introduced
to Benjamin Britten by the latter’s
viola teacher and Britten thus became
his (only) composition pupil. He is,
sadly, all too often only remembered
as Britten’s teacher rather than as
a brilliant composer in his own right.
After the war his music was out of touch
with the developments of his British
contemporaries and followed the path
of 12-note serialism. Few other British
composers went through such an enormous
transition in musical styles as Bridge
and as a result of this, his music tended
to be discarded and then forgotten.
All the above is pertinent
to a consideration of Bridge’s piano
music, which is here played with great
elegance and understanding by Ashley
Wass. Interspersed on the disc is music
written at the height of his tonal period
when he was in great demand by the publishing
houses for producing what we now rather
disparagingly call salon pieces.
This includes the charming Three
pieces, a sequence written for children
and here given a disarming performance.
He wrote the Three Poems just
before the First World War, when he
was completing his last romantic-style
tone poems (Summer, etc). It
is perhaps surprising that the first
music on this disc, the enchanting suite,
A Fairy-tale (1917) must have
been written during the height of his
despair during the war. It has none
of the angst of some of the other works
of this period and is beautifully Debussy-esque.
The disc has been well-programmed in
that the unpretentious and effortless
pieces are interspersed with the later,
darker, more chromatic music which he
wrote immediately following the war.
In particular, the third movement of
The Hour Glass (1919-1920) -
the Midnight Tide - is an incredibly
awe-inspiring movement which develops
from huge sombre clashing chords into
a cataclysm of descending octaves. Although
not quite so intense, the same mood
prevails in In Autumn, written
in 1924 at the time of completion of
his most famous work for piano, the
Piano Sonata. He was able to complete
the latter work thanks to a very generous
allowance paid to him by Mrs Coolidge,
an American patroness. She also commissioned
works from other contemporary composers
such as Britten, Prokofiev and Poulenc.
He received this allowance for the rest
of his life; this enabled him to concentrate
on composition and to produce the great
works of his late period such as the
3rd String Quartet,
Oration for cello and orchestra
and Enter Spring.
Ashley Wass demonstrates
a tremendous feel for the whole range
of Bridge’s piano music. To appreciate
his delicacy on the one hand and power
on the other, one should listen on equipment
which is able to convey the full dynamic
range of this recording. This is a pianist
who has taken this music extremely seriously
and as a result has produced performances
of insight and sensitivity. Naxos has
done great service to British music
and one can only look forward to volume
2 of Bridge’s piano music, which includes
Wass playing the extraordinary powerful
Piano Sonata.
Em Marshall
see also review
by Christopher Howell who was less
impressed with this disc
Interview
with Ashley Wass
Frank
Bridge website
Ashley Wass (piano) 
