SEPTURA BRASS - THE TOWN HALL
Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 2 PM 

The Special Relationship Programme Notes

The contrasting sounds of Britain and America

The Twentieth Century saw the development of a deep political partnership between the United Kingdom and the United States. But whilst our two nations share much common ground – not least an affinity for brass instruments – they also each possess very different cultural background, played out in their unique musical styles. Septura explore this contrast through the works of four early twentieth-century composers who defined Britain and America in music: Finzi, Elgar, Copland and Gershwin, all brought to life through transcriptions for brass septet.

We begin with the characteristically “English” sound of Gerald Finzi, and a genre that particularly flourished in the early Twentieth Century: English choral music. Finzi wrote a number of sacred choral works, despite being an agnostic of Jewish descent, and one of his most popular is the rousing anthem God is Gone Up with a Triumphant Shout. This elated celebration of the Ascension is ripe for brass transcription: Finzi’s fanfare-like organ opening clearly reflects the “sounding trumpet melodies” of Edward Taylor’s text. The septet plays both organ and choir roles – in the gentler and more transparent middle section (“Methinks I see Heaven’s sparkling courtiers fly”) this distinction is made clear, with the melodic voices of the choir accompanied by trickling cup-muted organ lines. The full might of the brass septet then returns for the emphatic reprise of the opening material.

Elgar began his musical career as a professional violinist, and so it is no surprise that his works for strings – the violin and cello concertos, the Introduction and Allegro, and of course the Serenade – form such a central part of his output. However, in his mid-forties he also took up the trombone. This came a little less naturally to him, as recalled by his close friend Dora Penny (the subject of Variation X of the Enigma Variations): “He didn't do very well and often played a note higher or lower than the one he wanted, and he swore every time that happened”. Even so, perhaps this insider knowledge of brass instruments (and the difficulties they sometimes present) contributed to Elgar’s very idiomatic writing, demonstrated so clearly in the symphonies, Enigma, and the Severn Suite (written for the National Brass Band Championship in 1930). And given his affection for brass, he might have approved of our appropriation for brass septet of his favourite work, the Serenade, despite describing it as “really stringy in effect”. Composed in 1892 as a gift for his wife to mark their third wedding anniversary, the Serenade was one of Elgar’s earliest successful works – predating Enigma, the piece that really established him as the foremost British composer since Purcell, by six years. Nevertheless, it contains all the hallmarks of Elgar’s mature style, particularly in the elegiac slow movement, with its rising and falling lines giving way to an archetypal Elgarian tune of great emotional intensity. The outer movements are, by contrast, imbued with a youthful charm. The gently lilting first movement develops from uncertain shyness to youthful confidence, with the E minor key signature adding a hint of darkness and nostalgia. Reminders of the first movement’s theme return in the finale, but any shadows are banished by the movement’s cheerful nature, in a carefree E major.

Of course one of the principal bonds between Britain and America is a shared language, and Pete Walton’s 2020 piece Time Out of Joint is inspired by the greatest British wordsmith, Shakespeare. Walton writes:

My main focus in Time Out Of Joint, Sketches From Hamlet, was to give a feeling of the edginess that for me, is woven into the fabric of Shakespeare’s extraordinary play. Written in 2020 during the global pandemic, the work is imbued with the uneasy feelings from that strange time. The first movement is mainly concerned with Hamlet (a four note ascending whole tone scale), his relationship with Claudius (usually a slyly scheming trill or a descending fifth), and how that relates to Polonius, Gertrude and Ophelia (a three quaver major third motif). The second movement brings to the fore Ophelia's theme, a sometimes gentle, sometimes nervous addition or juxtaposition to Hamlet's theme. The third movement has plenty of bold, aggressive posturing but ultimately ends in desolation, the final trumpet note fading away to nothing.

In the second half of our programme we turn to the music of America, starting with George Gershwin’s Piano Preludes. Gershwin was already extremely well-known (thanks to the success two years previously of Rhapsody in Blue) when he wrote the Preludes in 1926. Like Debussy, he intended to write 24 preludes, but in the end only three were published. Unlike Debussy’s these are not overtly programmatic, and they are in a very different style: the synergy of classical forms with the harmonic and rhythmic hallmarks of jazz results in Gershwin’s particularly unique musical voice. The first prelude opens with a bluesy call-and-response, which is then elaborated in an energetic movement in ternary form, dominated by feisty Brazilian baião rhythms. The second is more sedate – Gershwin called it “a sort of blues lullaby”. Its trudging ostinato gives way to a more upbeat middle section – in our version a tuba solo – before the opening material returns. The agitato finale comes as a bit of a shock, with its dramatic E-flat minor introduction. Gershwin referred to this prelude as “Spanish”, perhaps again because of the the rhythmic drive. The main theme adopts call-and-response pairs of phrases, battling between minor and major harmonies, with major only triumphing in the piece’s last gasp flourish.

When, in 1943, Aaron Copland agreed to write the music for a new ballet choreographed by Martha Graham, his only instruction was: “This is a legend of American living”. The music for Appalachian Spring was largely composed (under the working title of “Ballet for Martha”) before the scenario was written; and yet audiences so often commented that it vividly conjured the Appalachians that Copland himself remarked, “I have even begun to see the Appalachians myself a bit.” The music – with its triadic harmonies and open melodies so suited to the nature of brass instruments – does seem to evoke a quintessentially American sound that perfectly fits the ballet’s Pennsylvania setting. The ballet premiered in 1944 and the following year it was arranged as a suite for 13 instruments; ours is an arrangement of this version.

The piece is divided into eight sections, with programmatic indications from the composer. The timeless “Introduction of the characters, one by one, in a suffused light” calls for a soft warm sound, with the whole septet using a combination of straight and cup mutes, and berets covering the bells. The ensuing Allegro (“A sentiment both elated and religious gives the keynote to this scene”) is an abrupt burst of bright, constant rhythmic movement that gives way to a broad and hopeful American theme. The “Duo for the Bride and her Intended – scene of tenderness and passion” requires a range of different colours for a raft of emotions ranging from nervousness to passionate intensity. Playful and sometimes boisterous, the folk-influenced “Revivalist and his flock” comes next, with “suggestions of square dances and country fiddlers”. The “Solo dance of the Bride” is frenetic and angular, with a huge span from the lowest tuba to the highest trumpet conveying the “extremes of joy and fear and wonder”. As the bride tires the music relaxes and the still, calm sounds of the opening return. The “Scenes of daily activity for the Bride and her Farmer husband” are made up of five variations on a Shaker theme called “Simple Gifts”: starting in a solo trumpet, the theme soon cascades through the group alongside a bustling accompaniment, before appearing in ever more vigorous and emphatic versions. Finally in the prayerful Coda “The Bride takes her place among her neighbors” – warm cup-muted trombones intone a solemn chorale before the music of the opening brings the piece to tranquil close; the couple are "quiet and strong in their new house”.