SCORE REVIEW
Eight Songs of Francis
George SCOTT
Transcribed for Piano
by Ronald STEVENSON
Goodmusic under the
Roberton imprint (9548)
1. Since all thy vows,
false maid (anon)
2. Wha is that at my
bower door (Burns)
3. O were my love yon
lilac fair (Burns)
4. Wee Willie Gray
(Burns)
5. Milkwort and Bog-Cotton
(MacDiarmid)
6. Crowdieknowe (MacDiarmid)
7. Ay waukin’ O (Burns)
8. There’s News, Lasses,
News (Burns)
The Transcendental
Tradition
"…..That’s what transcription
is, or rather should be – the transcendental
tradition – an art based on tradition
but going beyond it; an art both old
and new at the same time" (Ronald
Stevenson 21.4.76 programme note. –
the title suggested by Peter Pears.)
"…..notation is itself the transcription
of an abstract idea….." (Busoni
(trans Ley) ‘The Essence of Music",
Rockliffe 1957 p 87)
The art of transcription
is all too often misunderstood as being
synonymous with ‘arrangement’ – that
is, the reproduction of the music of
one medium in terms of another. The
purpose of ‘transcription’ may be simply
the making available in an accessible
medium of music whose realisation requires
expensive forces (1), or as a means
to convey the arranger/transcriber’s
enthusiasm for the music concerned,
and his insight into the spirit of the
music. In the latter case this generally
entails an element of re-creation, resulting
in what amounts to a new work. Busoni
points out, rather obviously, that transcription,
while it involves alteration to the
original yet does not destroy the original,
which remains physically as before.
Yet on the other hand ‘arrangement’,
however faithfully the notes are duplicated,
must really be ‘transcription’ since
to the original are inevitably added
altered values of timbre, and tone colour,
resulting in a new sound. The art of
transcription is neither new, nor is
it, as is often suggested "a form
of 19th century aberration
or sacrilege practised by one composer
on the music of another"(2). Neither
is it ‘variation’ form, though related,
as that involves a number of often unrelated
realisations of the ‘theme’ which do
not seek to recreate the ‘theme’ but
may fragment it, comment on the essence
of the ‘theme, or introduce architectonic
devices such as retrograde and inversion.
What then is ‘transcription’?
It is demonstrably a form – sans rules
or dogma – of creative expression in
which the creator – or re-creator –
essays, like the virtuoso, to present
his vision of a particular music. It
is in fact perhaps more pertinent to
re-create than to express one’s idea,
as the critic or commentator, in print.
How this is dealt with in the hands
of a master of the art, such as Ronald
Stevenson can be seen in these eight
transcriptions of songs by the Scottish
composer, Francis George Scott (1880
– 1958)(3).
Stevenson has made
many transcriptions, amongst them music
of Bach, Bull, Berg, Ysaye, Chopin,
Purcell – as well as several volumes
of ‘L’art du chant appliqué au
piano’ in Thalbergian garb favourites
such as ‘We’ll gather Lilacs’, ‘Eleanore’,
and ‘Go not happy day’. All of these
are born of his enthusiasm for melody
and the piano, his schoolmasterly delight
in sharing and desire to impart, not
only the melody, but the spirit of the
original and his insight – a kind of
nostalgia in which an aristocratic sensibility
colours the music. He is a born communicator
and equipped with a formidable technique.
He was able to use this keyboard virtuosity
to portray the originals in an entirely
personal way.
These eight songs,
rich in melodic character and humour,
fine works in their own right, are varied
in transcription – some faithful to
the letter of the original – some extravagant
exercises in extrovert virtuosity which
has no element of Lisztian bravura.
The poems, drawn only from Burns and
MacDiarmid are vivid with their depictions
of love, of false love, philandering,
the Last Trump yet, dispensing with
the words Stevenson contrives successfully
to imbue each transcription with the
character of the original verse as well
as the spirit of the original composer.
The score, which demands
the use of the third pedal, is scrupulously
edited for pedalling and for fingering;
in Stevenson’s hands part of the creative
process. At various points almost Graingeresque
directions bring out the character of
the music as F.G. Scott conceived it
– such as papagenesco, paganinesco,
nello stile Paderewskiana, as well
as comments ‘like pelting hail’ (as
‘assalire a colpi di grandine’!) helter-skelter,
like a signal, and ‘swippert’ (which
he feels obliged to explain as ‘hasty,
nimble, tart’) and ‘wi’ muckle smeddum’
which Scott would have relished,
and needs no translation!
He gives the opening
bars of ‘Since all thy vows’ to the
left hand, bringing out the reproach
of the jilted lover, voiced at ‘When
I’m a ghost I’ll visit thee’ in sepulchral
arpeggio. The last few bars he scores
in the manner of Schumann’s Romanza
II (Sauer) ‘with Wordsworthian plain
elegance’, an illumination born of his
love of that composer His talent for
musical illustration invests the pert
dialogue of ‘Wha is that at my bower
door’ with brilliant humour – the importunate
Findlay and his teasing would-be lover.
‘O were my love yon lilac fair’ (4)
is a fragrant aquatint albeit with sombre
colouring. In contrast ‘Wee Willie Gray’
twinkles with impertinent, elfin glee
with all the agility of a leprechaun.
One of MacDiarmid’s finest lyrics ‘Cwa
e’en like bogwort and milk-cotton hair’
is set with extreme simplicity, the
intensity of MacDiarmid’s vision, a
twilight vision of earth’s beauty, given
full expression Together with ‘Ay waukin
O’ these are moving musical expressions,
not beyond the capabilities of a competent
amateur pianist. ‘Crowdieknowe’ is however
a different matter! The importunate
summons of the last Trumpet rouses the
rough men of Crowdieknowe ‘wi ‘feck
o’ swearin’ and Stevenson’s colourful
picture of this Stanley-Spencerian scene
is appropriately embellished with echoes
of the Verdi Requiem and the Dies Irae!
‘Fegs! God’s no blate gin He sirs up
the men o’ Crowdieknowe! Equally boisterous
is the concluding ‘News, Lasses, News’
whose tramping rhythm and thunderous
bass ‘quasi gran casa’ provides a joyous
finale to the set. This is Scottish
music at its very best incorporating
the folk element within fine craftsmanship.
Colin Scott-Sutherland
This is Scottish music
at its very best incorporating the folk
element within fine craftsmanship. ...
see Full Review
- cf. Busoni: "The art of transcription
has made it possible for the piano
to take possession of the entire literature
of music." (ibid)
- Ronald Stevenson: "Western
Music" Kahn & Averill 1971,
p. 84
- Recorded by Murray McLachlan on
Olympia OCD 264
- There is a misprint in the title,
which should read ‘You’ not ‘Yon’.
