The Philharmonic Ensemble:
John Francis (flute)
David Martin (violin)
Frederick Riddle (viola)
James Whitehead (violoncello)
Marie Korchinska (harp) with Pauline Juler (clarinet) and Berkeley Mason (pianoforte)
JOHN FRANCIS , DAVID MARTIN ,
JAMES WHITEHEAD , and MARIE KORCHINSKA
JOHN FRANCIS , PAULINE JULER ,
DAVID MARTIN , JAMES WHITEHEAD , and BERKELEY MASON (First broadcast performance)
Lennox Berkeley was born in 1903 at Boar's Hill, near Oxford. He left Oxford in 1926 with a B.A. degree, and did not begin studying music seriously until then. From 1926 until 1932 he studied music in Paris with Nadia Boulanger , and in 1936 he returned to England. His published works include three sets of piano pieces, a string quartet, a violin sonata, songs, an oratorio, Jonah .
Berkeley's Concertino, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, to be heard this evening, was composed in 1937. Of the three movements, the first and third are notable for their highly accented and percussive style, while the slow movement is by contrast contrapuntal and rather severe. The piano is used, in turn, as part of the general texture, as accompaniment, and as a solo instrument.