1 . Prelude:Moderato
2. Scherzo - Energico ma non troppo presto
3. Largo ma con moto
4. Finale
There must always be a reason for writing a Symphony. The discipline involved
in following the accepted 'classical' form would usually indicate a psychological
'raison d'etre'. The few British Symphonists of the earlier half of this
century more often than not expressed in symphonic terms of one kind or another
essentially tone-poetical ideas.
The analytical note which the Scottish born (1915) composer Robert Bruce
provides with his (to date) only Symphony - written between 1953/7 - reveals
a markedly classical approach and an organic coherence in this four movement
work. Only for the final movement is a programmatic origin given and it will
be seen to have deep psychological implications and is in no real way
tone-poetical. The overall tonal scheme involves a strong architectonic pattern
- moving from B flat, through G minor, D major, G flat minor (as F sharp
minor in context - 'a key of fear and disquiet for me' he confesses,) and
returning via D major to "the quiet peace of B flat the first and third movements
are contemplative: the 2nd and 4th are active"
The mere outlining of this scheme of things gives little indication of the
richness of this fine score, or of the power of the writing, at once classical
in impulse yet wholly original - the principal reason for both being the
conveying of symphonic thought without recourse to the more colourful devices
of orchestral atmospherics so often (in Julius Harrison's words) "superimposed
on the music after true invention in the act of composition has ceased".
The thematic material is memorable (and eminently singable) and is expounded
in instrumental terms that recall, in the quality of the scoring and the
orchestral sound, Beethoven, Brahms and Sibelius - even Nielsen - a lineage
that few British composers of this century (except perhaps Rubbra) might
have said of them.
The work opens in the composer's words 'with a question' (EX1 ) entrusted
to horns and lower strings - a very personal thematic idea which contains
three distinct phrases whose contrapuntal development, inversion and
augmentation, provide all the material for the first tightly constructed
movement. Especially prominent is the drop of a fifth (EX1b) which falls,
in a kind of doubting anguish, to the Enatural below. Fragments of the theme,
in insistent repetitive patterns drive the music forward, with some highly
individual scoring, Urgent contrapuntal development, with the theme and its
inversion combined, lead to the exploration, on solo oboe, of the more lyrical
aspects before an abrupt cadence forcibly ends the argument.
A strong rhythmic impulse of three hammer-like blows drives the Scherzo in
which further insistently repetitive figures force the pace. A lyrical interlude
on clarinet, as lovely as anything in Brahms (EX2 ) appears, the accompanying
bass line acquiring a melodic identity of its own. This fuels much of the
ensuing development before, after a moment of Silence, the movement ends
with an impatient gesture. The Largo third movement , though in a bright
D major, has a nobly tragic brass theme in which the falling third has especial
significance (EX 3) Strings reflect on this under a clarinet obbligato -
and this material occupies the whole movement, rising in impassioned intensity
as the interval of the third is broadened to the fifth in strings. A throbbing
pulse underpins the resumption of the theme with its benediction-like cadence
appearing. in the composer's words "as punctual and unsentimental as in a
Baroque ritornello movement from which this springs".
The final movement has its psychological origins in the composer's wartime
experience as navigator in night sorties over enemy airfields. The particular
event which was the motivating force for this movement was the destruction
of a ME110 on the ground. The climax of the movement, with its harsh stuttering
evocation of the 'four 20mm cannon .... firing under one's feet' is the only
moment that might be considered programmatic. Infinitely more subtle is the
heightened nervous tension of the undertaking, (EX4a) expressed in Sibelian
string and woodwind figuration (in F sharp minor) and in the brilliantly
conceived correlation with Schubert's setting of Mayerhofer's "Schiffers
Nachtlied".(EX4b):
Dioscuri, twin stars,shining on my boat,
your mildness and your wakefulness calm me on the sea.
The man, who, full of confidence,
meets the storm without fear feels doubly strong and blessed when you shine
upon him.
This melody tentatively enters the music at the outset, its drop of a third
perhaps reflecting the earlier Largo theme. The climax with the
destruction of the German plane, is followed by triumphal shouts in brass
- and, as the Schubert melody now in B flat appears more fully, it seems
to suggest that a landmark has been found to guide the voyagers home. How
apposite is the relationship between the fisher seeking direction and blessing
in the twin stars, and the navigator in the aeroplane - both voyagers in
the two elements least hospitable to man.
The recording is given a powerful reading by the Poles - a disc that should
not on any account be missed.
Recorded at the Czestochowa Philharmonic Concert Hall, May 1999 produced
by Robert Bruce in association with Classical Recordings & Concerts ul.
Szpitalna 8/33, 00-031 Warsaw e-mail musicprod@supermedia.pl
Reviewer
Colin Scott-Sutherland
Czestochowa Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Jerzy Swoboda
