Review: From the East

Author(s): Peter J. Pirie

Review by: Peter J. Pirie
Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 112, No. 1544 (Oct., 1971), p. 999
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/955084
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at times; it is a conventional overture, of ten
minutes duration, and I must confess that I could
detect little originality or even personality in it.
Ranki's Aurora Tempestuosa is 32 pages of the
usual stormy orchestral music, almost the usual
storm music. Inscribed 'in memoriam octobris
MCMXVII' it is scored for triple winds, brass with
tuba, a battery of percussion including harps, and
strings, and is in (slightly) post-Bart6k harmonic
language. The scoring is vivid, and virtuoso playing
is demanded, with glissando chords for strings and
very chromatic brass. A vivid piece of orchestration,
and perhaps something more. There is also a good
deal of glissando in Szollosy's string concerto, and a
special effect in which one strikes the strings with
the palm of the left hand. It is in a single movement,
of increasing complexity, and in a mildly modern
idiom, of 13 minutes duration. Some skilful writing
for strings, but I have the impression that there is
not much more here than a slightly Hungarian-
inflected eclecticism.
Some unusual instruments are found in the score
of Zehm's Rhythmophonie; there is a part for electric
guitar, as well as a vibraphone (or marimbaphone)
in the body of the orchestra. Simplistic was the cult
word that occurred to me with reference to the
harmonic language and rhythmic structure of the
music: in the first and third movements the beat is
simple, although the slow movement is a passacaglia
of sorts. PETER J. PIRIE
From the east
ZSOLT DURKO Dartmouth Concerto. Editio Musica/Boosey
score 85p
WILFRED JOSEPHS Variations on a Theme of Beethoven.
Chester, score ?4.25
ISTVAN LANG Musica Funebre. Editio Musica /Boosey
score ?1.25
--Impulsioni. Editio Musica/Boosey, score ?2.10
WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI Little Suite for orchestra. PWM/
Universal, study score 871p
BOHUSLAV MARTINU Incantation (Fourth Piano Concerto).
Barenreiter, study score ?2
There can be few stranger or more fascinating sub-
jects for a 'concerto' than that of the Durko. It is
for mezzo and orchestra, and is a setting of some
lines by John Masefield (themselves pathetic and
haunting) about the death-march of the lemmings.
There is an opening 'Invocation', for orchestra,
and a two-page, turbulent 'Recitative', also for
orchestra. The setting is called 'Song', and there is
a final 'Double' for the band. I found the atmosphere
of the piece unusual and disquieting-archetypal,
Jung might have said-and the work as a whole
mighty impressive. A case of a most unusual idea
and an appropriate carrying out of that idea. The
very imaginative scoring is for large orchestra with
much extra percussion.
The theme of Beethoven on which Wilfred Josephs
bases his Variations is that of the Tempo di menuetto
from the 'Easy Sonata' op.49 no.2. The orchestra
used is a big one, with triple wind, full brass, large
percussion section and harp and celeste. An indi-
vidual touch creeps in right at the beginning in the
playing of the theme, in which one cello and one
viola play in E flat against the rest of the orchestra's
G major. The work is 'humbly offered' for the 200th
anniversary of Beethoven's birth, but one can't help
contrasting Beethoven's simple little sonatina with
some of the massive and portentous variations for
full modern orchestra that follow. There are nine
of these, and the power and solemnity of the orch-
estration and the material suggest a sense of occasion.
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It is conventional music, but skilful and impressive,
and the huge and beautifully printed full score
makes a sumptuous impression. The variations run
for 19 minutes and 79 pages.
The two works by Lang are strongly contrasted
in mood. Musica funebre is in six movements, some
of them very short, and with very emotional titles.
For instance, the first is of two pages of orchestral
score only, a line to a page, and is called 'Silenzio'.
No.2 is 'Epitaffio' (three lines of score), no.3 (oddly)
is called 'Double'; then come 'Inno', 'Esaltazione',
'Consolazione nel dolore grande'. It is dedicated 'to
the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for
us in the fight against fascism' (which kind of fas-
cism? The work was written in 1969). The music
generally is florid, emotional, late romantic, without
anything in the way of contemporary suggestions.
Impulsioni, on the other hand, is a concerto for solo
oboe and chamber group, including piano; like
Musica funebre it has six movements, otherwise its
light textures and gay moods are far removed. Each
movement seems to exploit a different facet of oboe
playing; for instance, the first one is cantabile, the
second consists mainly of repeated notes, the third
has a lot of shakes, etc. Simple music in the main,
with a few contemporary touches.
As might be expected from the title, Lutoslawski's
Little Suite is also simple music. It has four move-
ments, with Hungarian titles; 'Fujarka', 'Hurra
Polka', 'Piosenka', 'Taniec'. Traditional music then,
in the style of something like the Galanta Dances of
Koddly, deftly scored, pleasant, unpretentious and
skilful. For full orchestra, and the preface to the
score informs us by means of delightful international
symbols that it was first played in Warsaw in 1951,
broadcast by the Polskie Radio, and recorded by
Muza. A miniature score of Martinfi's Fourth
Piano Concerto, which was written in 1955-6;
the score is copyright 1970, so there have been
delays. It bears the evocative title 'Incantation', and
is in two sections; at least, the initial Poco allegro
comes to a cadence and double bars on p.38, and a
Poco moderato resumes on the next page with
different material. The sections are not numbered.
A lengthy prose introduction to the score refers to
the sections as movements, united by a cell motif
featuring a 2nd; it also adds the information that
Martinfi regards uncertainty, mechanization and
uniformity as worthy of protest, with which I agree.
Martinui refers to his score as all magic, and to a
degree it is. It is full of that evocative quasi-impres-
sionism he practised, a quasi-impressionism modified
by vigour, as in many martellato solo passages in
the music. A fine work. PETER J. PIRIE
Celestial
ANTONIO BIBALO Nocturne for Apollo. Hansen/Chester,
score ?4.65
- Sinfonia Notturna. Hansen/Chester, score ?2.80
PIERRE MAX DUBOIS Dix Pr6ludes pour orchestre A cordes.
Rideau Rouge/United, score ?1.13
ALUN HODDINOTT Sinfonietta 2, op.67. Oxford, score
?2.25
- Investiture Dances for orchestra. Oxford, score ?2
In this presentation Bibalo is determinedly nocturnal.
The Apollo of the first title is not, alas, the serene
deity of music, poise, and intellectual grace; it is
the spaceship, and the work is an elegy for those who
have died in space exploration. It is for the usual
large orchestra with the usual expansive percussion
section, and the obligatory celestial choir. It
consists of impressionistic noises long drawn out,
999