Winifred BROWNE (Pianoforte)
NORRIS PARKER (Bass)
The AUGMENTED STATION ORCHESTRA
Conducted by T. H. MORRISON
THERE used to be a story attached to the suite of pieces called ' The Water Music.' It told how Handel, when out of favour with King George II, specially composed this music as a peace-offering.
When the King made a procession on the Thames from Limehouse to Whitehall, Handel had the pieces played by musicians in a barge that followed behind the Royal vessel.
The King was delighted with the music, took Handel into favour again, and gave him a pension of £200 a year.
Alas, the story turns out to be, like many pleasant legends, very dubious!
However that may be, the Suite we are going to hear is a delightful packet of light, short pieces, well worth hearing, without the make-weight of a story.
There were originally twenty-one pieces in the Suite. Sir Hamilton Harty has arranged half-a-dozen for the modern orchestra. They are well varied Movements, including one or two sprightly dance tunes, and a couple of expressive airs full of Handel's melodic sweetness and grace.
AS this work was written when Beethoven was about thirty, it naturally shows more of his earlier grace and geniality than of his later force and fire.
It is in three Movements.
In the FIRST MOVEMENT the First Main Tune is heard in the opening passage (it begins in Strings alone, and is then at once taken up by Wind alone, so it is easy to identify).
The Second Main Tune is more flowing: it is a gentle, pleasant little tune, first played by the Violins and Clarinets, with accompanying parts by the other instruments. By and by the Orchestra works up excitedly and comes to a full stop, upon which, with some rushing scales, the Pianist wakes to life and, on his part, enters on the First Subject and then the Second-with occasional orchestral trimmings.
Having now heard the main material out of which the Movement is made, one can readily follow its course.
The SECOND MOVEMENT is a more deeply-felt kind of thing. It is not very long, and does not need explanation.
The THIRD MOVEMENT is a Rondo, the several statements of its Main Tune (that begins on the Pianoforte alone, and by its recurrences becomes a familiar friend) being varied by intervening contrasting themes.
NORRIS PARKER '
Three Shakespeare Songs Roger Quilter
Come Away, Death; 0, Mistress Mine; Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind.
ORCHESTRA
Overture to ' Anacreon '... .Cherubini
ANACREON, or Fugitive Love, is one of the many Operas that have been ruined by poor libretti. Cherubim's music had plenty of life in it, but the plot never had any, and so the work was a failure when it was brought out at the Paris Opera in 1803. Yet the Overture is one of the best things Cherubini ever did. It begins with a dignified slow Introduction, in which the Woodwind instruments have some charming imitative passages.
This goes straight into a quick Movement, full of energy and of brilliant writing, especially for the Violins.
The one Main Tune on which the Movement is largely built begins with several quiet but insistent repetitions of one note, in the bass, and goes on to a busy Violin Theme chiefly in arpeggio style.
This is repeated and dealt with so vivaciously and with so much variety that the Overture sparkles along in the liveliest way imaginable, putting one in just the right mood for some operatic happy-go-lucky tale of love-making and humorous intrigue.
Symphony in G (Military) (By Request)
Haydn
HAYDN'S Military Symphony, one of the set he composed for J. P. Salomon, the organizer of London Concerts, gets its name from the fact that the Composer included an extra battery of percussion instruments (the Bass Drum, Cymbals and Triangle) in two of its Movements. We do not know why for just one Symphony he added to his Orchestra in this way. Anyhow, his extra instruments are very effectively used. The Symphony is in four pellucidly clear Movements. A slow Introduction precedes the First, which epitomizes Haydn's light-heartedness and love of fun.
The Second MOVEMENT is a free form- of at Air with Variations.
The THIRD is a straightforward Minuet and Trio.
The FOURTH is in sportive mood.