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 