THE B.B.C. ORCHESTRA
(Section C)
(Led by LAURANCE TURNER )
Conductor, ADRIAN BOULT
JEAN POUGNET (violin)
Dr. William Boyce, in turn composer to the Chapel Royal, conductor of the Three Choirs Festival, and Master of the King's Musick, was born in London in 1710. In his day he was one of the foremost English composers, writing music for the Church, stage pieces, and masques. The eight symphonies which have come down to us have been recently edited by Constant Lambert .
In a crisp phrase the Editor of Grove's ' Dictionary of Music ' describes the Concerto Accademico as ' a thoroughly un-academic work for violin and orchestra '. What, therefore, is implied by the word accademico is probably the fact that violin and orchestra converse throughout on equal terms, and that neither is overbearingly a talker, nor meekly a listener. Like all such courteous conversations, it gives great pleasure in the hearing. It was first performed in November, 1925, and played by Jelly d'Aranyi.
It is very pleasant to hear a Schubert symphony that is very rarely played. This one dates 'from 1818, when Schubert was twenty-one. It was first performed as an act of commemoration, at a concert given a month after his death. There is a richness and freedom in the work that shows the composer's powers are ripening and his technical grasp is more assured than in the other five works he had written in this form. The Unfinished, of course, and the great C Major, were yet to come.
There are four movements, the first being preceded by a slow introduction. Note the very happy start given to both the main tunes of this movement by the woodwind.
The second movement is one of Schubert's lovely, heart-easing Andantes.
The third movement is not the old
Minuet, but a Scherzo, brilliant and piquant in its tiptoe delight.
The last movement sums up the rhythmical joys of the work, keeping up an exhilarating flow of light and power without flagging.