Over the years, it
has been quite noticeable, from published
material and from audience comment at
music society meetings, that the recording
of John Foulds’ music has been considered
one of the most urgent tasks. To date
comparatively little has appeared on
disc notably a valuable Foulds album
released by Lyrita which incidentally
included The Mantras. This new
recording has therefore created considerable
interest. My review comes a little late
after the splendid background article
by John Talbot which can be read on
this site.
The extraordinary artwork
on the cover of this album’s booklet
hints at the equally extraordinary music.
This artwork, untitled, is by John Patrick
Foulds, the composer’s son who contributes
an insightful ‘Foreword’ detailing the
colourful Foulds household.: "my
sense of smell was early stimulated
by roses, oil paint, batik wax
smoking and joss sticks burning on ‘The
shrine’". He goes on to relate
that his mother (Maud McCarthy) and
Foulds had ‘reached Theosophy’ from
quite opposite family backgrounds: she
from being an Irish Catholic, and he
Plymouth Brethren. ‘She moved via Plato,
Ruskin and Morris to a studious eclecticism;
he in search of ever deeper meaning
through his interpretative, then creative
and innovative music.’
Like Gustav Holst,
Foulds was fascinated by the music of
the Indian subcontinent and like Holst,
whose chamber opera Savitri,
was set in India, Foulds worked on a
mysterious Sanskrit opera, Avatara
which he eventually abandoned. From
this work he developed his Three
Mantras, blending a little eastern
with conventional western musical forms.
Foulds’ orchestral palate is vividly
coloured. The first Mantra, ‘Of Action
and Vision ... of Terrestrial Avataras’
(The Hindu term ‘Avatara’ means the
incarnation or earthly manifestation
of a god such as Rama or Krishna) is
wild and fast-moving, hedonistic and
sensual with heroic fanfares. The second
Mantra, ‘Of Bliss and Vision ... of
Celestial Avataras’, with its celesta
figures and wordless women’s chorus,
is reminiscent of the unearthly beauty
of Holst’s ‘Venus’ and ‘Neptune’ from
The Planets. Determination, conflict
and violence pervade the Third Mantra
‘Of Will and Vision ... of Cosmic Avataras’
that kindles furious orchestral energy..
Under Oramo’s direction, the City of
Birmingham Symphony Orchestra delivers
awesomely powerful readings of the outer
movements and a vision of sylvan ethereal
beauty for the lovely central Mantra
that also nods towards Debussy.
Foulds’ musical experimentation
led him to write the Lyra Celtica,
a concerto for Voice and Orchestra (a
most unusual nomenclature). It was apparently
written for Maud McCarthy who could
sing in the 22-tone micro-tonal scale
of Indian music. Such scales are used
in this wordless Lyra Celtica.
Susan Bickley sings the ‘Ah, Ahs’ of
this music that unite the worlds of
India and the Hebrides. It is a strange,
exotic mix that in the main works surprisingly
well. The ear is captivated; but, occasionally,
well hmm… its Foulds’ insistence on
those scales!
Apotheosis treads
a more conventional path. It begins
with a funeral march beneath plangent
violin tones. The music broadens out
with touches of Mendelssohn, Brahms
and Saint-Saëns apparent in Andante
lento section, the contra-bassoon
reinstating the funereal mood that introduces
the darker more melancholic fourth final
section. Daniel Hope is sensitive to
the work’s overriding mood of grief
and regret.
Foulds’ grandiose 1910,
Mirage, was developed from the
composer’s Vision of Dante cantata.
It might be viewed as a sort of Richard
Strauss-like tone poem because of its
large-scale outlook and orchestration
but its influences are many and varied
- as are its moods. The movements’ subtitles
provide clues to their spiritual and
philosophical nature: beginning with
‘Immutable nature’ – that has a still
and mysterious opening leading ultimately
to fanfares over a foreboding bass line
and agitated string figures; then ‘Man’s
ever-ambition’ is restless, questing
music screwing up into increasingly
hysterical intensity until a mighty
climax is reached before the ‘Man’s
ever-unattainment’ music that is, at
first, quieter but punctuated by sour
slides (using those 22 tone microtonal
scales again), then defiantly thrusting.
A quicksilver, somewhat voluptuous presto
section, ‘Mirage’, follows with quivering
strings and jeering brass that nicely
introduces the quiet prayer-like ‘Man
humbled’ and finally to the majesty
and mysticism of the final ‘Man self-triumphant’.
At last the extraordinary
sound-world of John Foulds is captured
on disc in first class performances
and sound. Required listening for every
British music enthusiast.
Ian Lace
see also reviews
by John Talbot and Rob
Barnett a September RECORDING
OF THE MONTH
also of interest
John
FOULDS (1880-1939)
Le Cabaret, Op. 72a (1921) [3’31].
April – England, Op. 48 No. 1.
Hellas, A Suite of Ancient Greece, Op.
45 (1932) [18’03]. Three Mantras,
Op. 61b (1919-1930) [25’49]. London
Philharmonic Orchestra/Barry Wordsworth.
No rec. information given. DDD LYRITA
SRCD212 [61’07] [CC]
A
remarkable disc, and an essential introduction
to a composer whose music cries out
for greater recognition … For the
Mantras alone, this disc deserves the
highest recommendation possible.
Ralph
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
Piano Concerto in C (1926-33 with revised
1946 ending) [27’45]. John FOULDS
(1880-1939) Dynamic Triptych, Op. 88
(1929) [29’16]. Howard Shelley
(piano); Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Vernon
Handley. No rec. info. DDD LYRITA RECORDED
EDITION SRCD211 [57’05]
If
you are buying this for the Vaughan
Williams, you will not be disappointed.
And you may just find your mouth agape
at the marvels of the Foulds.
JOHN FOULDS
(1880-1939) Works for string
quartet Quartetto Intimo (1935)
32.32 Quartetto Geniale
(1935) 7.33 Aquarelles (1921)
12.51
Endellion Quartet rec St Peter's, Notting
Hill Gate, 25/26 July 1981
PEARL SHE CD 9564 [53.39] [RB]
Do
not forget this simply superb Foulds
disc. Foulds captured in all his dangerous
and tumultuously inventive lyricism.
JOHN
FOULDS by Malcolm Macdonald - a
pre-concert talk
Concert
review Foulds, Prokofiev, Stravinsky;
Akiko Suwanai (violin) Leon McCawley
(piano), City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra, Sakari Oramo, Symphony Hall,
Birmingham, 10th February 2004 (CT)
Concert
Review Richard Strauss and John
Foulds, CBSO/Sakari Oramo, Symphony
Hall, Birmingham, Wednesday 25 February
2004 (RB)
