Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concerto
Queen’s Hall, 24/10/24
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Anthony Marwood director/violin
In the first of three matinee concerts this season, Anthony Marwood directs and plays three lesser-known works for violin and orchestra, which are given committed and lively performances. Anthony Marwood directs the first part of the programme from an angled music-stand. The orchestra, of strings and woodwind for Dvorak’s 1877 ‘Romance Op11’ is led by guest leader, Dutch violinist Michael Gurevitch, with another regular guest, Hew Daniel, next to him. It begins with a high hushed melody in violins and clarinet, gradually including the other instruments before the solo violin enters with the same theme accompanied by pizzicato strings. The serene legato is interrupted by a choppier middle section in which the violin becomes more agitated over louder wind accompaniment. Although it doesn’t have a narrative, there are similarities to ‘The Lark Ascending’ as the violin elaborates on, weaves around and sometimes breaks free of the music played by the strings and woodwind.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s 1912 ‘Violin Concerto Op 80’ was commissioned, on his third visit to the eastern United States in 1910, by the remarkable US violinist, Maud Powell. Brought up in Chicago, she was taken by her mother to study in Europe after showing prodigious talent in the violin – her parents selling the family home to finance this. Thereafter she performed both in the States and Europe, establishing her place as a professional woman musician, while encouraging and playing new works by women and black composers. She also performed the US premieres of the Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Sibelius Violin Concertos. Maud Powell premiered the work in Connecticut in June 1912, and in the recent ‘composer of the Week’ series, Donald Macleod movingly recounts how Coleridge-Taylor and his wife, Jessie, were preparing for the first London performance by correcting orchestral parts together the day before he died on 1st September 1912.
Four horns, two trumpets, three trombones and a full set of timpani join the orchestra for the concerto, and all are involved in the full-blooded rhythmical opening which sets out the work’s main theme. The solo violin explores the melody more poignantly against softer strings and woodwind, before a swifter woodland-whispers theme enters, later developed into a lovely section for violin and flute. Occasional brass and timpani interruptions finally converge in a return to the main theme before an extended violin cadenza, accompanied by rolling timpani.
Strings alone begin the second movement, marked andante semplice, before introducing the swooning solo violin, a beautiful passage of playing by Anthony Marwood, sometimes accompanied by small groups of woodwinds, and at others competing against powerful upsurges from the rest of the orchestra, before he finishes on a pianissimo high note. The allegro molto third movement starts with an off-beat dance, taken up vigorously by the full orchestra before a reflective solo with double-stopped notes leads, perhaps unexpectedly, to three recapitulations, the vigorous opening bars of the first movement, this movement’s off-beat dance tune and then a brief reminder of the second movement’s bitter-sweet melody. Finally an elaborated version of the rhythmic opening brings the work to an end, in a blaze of brass and drums.
There’s an enthusiastic reception for the ‘Violin Concerto’ - probably its first live hearing for most of the audience - for the orchestra and for Anthony Marwood, whose brilliant playing and forceful direction has given the work its best-possible airing. Although we now hear far more of Coleridge -Taylor’s compositions than was the case till recently, most of these are on a smaller scale than this. Despite the early success and many performances of his ‘Hiawatha’, the composer missed out on repeat fees by accepting a one off payment (15guineas) and, to make a living, had to take whatever commissions he was offered. He was a gifted musician and many of these short pieces have merit, but as a fan of his large-scale choral and orchestral writing in ‘Hiawatha,’ I was struck today by the renewed sense of freedom in this late concerto which, like the cantatas, is unafraid of pounding rhythms while able to capture a mood with a simple melody.
After the interval, Anthony Marwood takes his place as leader of the orchestra to direct Schubert’s ‘Symphony No 2 in B Major’. Written in 1815 when Schubert was 18, it’s a cheerful work, in which the young composer’s keenness to experiment is as obvious as his reliance on his immediate predecessors, Haydn and Beethoven. The slightly smaller orchestra, minus two horns and the trombones, reflects this duality in their performance. Their instruments are modern but they all (apart from the cellists) stand to play in baroque style. It’s a technique which seems to enhance communication between the musicians, and today, with a seat at the front, I can see how, quite unselfconsciously they move in time with the music. Anthony Marwood sets the beat for each movement by counting them in and tapping his foot. After an introductory largo section, and busy allegro vivace, both featuring lovely flute duets by Marta Gómez and Carolina Patricia, the whole orchestra bursts forth enthusiastically. The movement’s restless energy is tempered by interesting experiments in harmonising with smaller groups of woodwinds. This experimentation is continued in the otherwise conventional theme and variations which make up the andante second movement. Oboe and flute take up the first variation, the lower-pitched second variation is in the cellos and basses, while horns and oboes feature in the third. The allegro vivace minuet is strenuous and is contrasted with the delightful trio for solo violin and oboe. The presto finale is a joy from beginning to end with the seemingly perpetual motion of the rushing theme moving inexorably towards a thrilling close.
Despite the lowish turn-out for the matinee, the applause for the orchestra and Anthony Marwood is loud and prolonged. The SCO this season are putting online a playlist of the works being played in each concert, useful (not just for critics!) before and after the concerts.
Next Thursday’s concert ‘Borealis’ is conducted by Andrew Manze, with violist Lawrence Power in the Scottish premiere of Anders Hillborg’s 2021 ‘Viola Concerto’. With table-seating in the stalls, this is the first of three ‘New Dimensions’ concerts, which you can read about at NEW DIMENSIONS | Scottish Chamber Orchestra. David Kettle’s programme notes with more information on today’s pieces can found at Programme Notes | Scottish Chamber Orchestra
