Conductors :
Sir DAN GODFREY
RUTLAND BOUGHTON
GORDON BRYAN (Pianoforte)
From The Pavilion, Bournemouth
(Conducted by THE COMPOSER)
(From Bournemouth)
Rutland Boughton's Deirdre Symphony is in three symphonic movements, an Allegro, a Slow Movement and a Finale, but is not entirely orthodox in its construction. Rather it is governed by the dramatic idea which informs the work. The story of Deirdre is the most familiar of the ' Three Sorrows of Story-telling' which, dating from about the boginning of the Christian era, are known as the Ulster Cycle in the catalogue of Irish legendary tales. Boughton's symphony is a musical conception of Deirdre herself in relation to her experiences. The first movement pictures Deirdre the young girl, virginal, wild as the mountains in which she lives, destined to be King Conochar's queen. But she has seen the young Naisi, son of Usnar, and her heart is lost to him. The young lovers run away together, and the second movement is the music of their consummated joy.
In the third movement the King tyrannously prevails; but in vain, for Deirdre chooses death with her lover rather than life with King Conochar. The composer, however, desires that listeners should, having read it, put all this aside and regard the symphony as having affinity with the lyrical, rather than the realistic, uses of music in music-drama.