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MUSIC
voice which he found when writing for the Those interested in exploring the wider
Church evaded him too often outside it. ranges of Stanford’s music may like to listen
His great contemporary, Sir Hubert Parry, to the performances recently reissued
was also strongly influenced by the music from Lyrita, particularly the recordings
SYMPHONIES NOS. 2 AND 5 coming from Germany, but he managed conducted by Nicholas Braithwaite and
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford to absorb the influence into a recogniz- Sir Adrian Boult on Lyrita SRCD.219. This
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, ably English and personal idiom in a way disk contains the attractive Piano Concerto
David Lloyd-Jones which Stanford often did No. 2, the fine Irish Rhapsody No. 4, and
Naxos 8.570289, £4.99 not. It is when Stanford, in the solemn Funeral March which Stanford
his orchestral works, looks composed for Tennyson’s play Becket, and
Stanford in B flat, Stan- away from Europe and turns which was played at his own funeral in
ford in G, Justorum Animae, for inspiration to the music Westminster Abbey in 1924.
Beatae Quorum Via... the of his native Ireland that the
Barry A. Orford
pieces which Stanford con- results are almost invariably
tributed to the liturgy of happy. I once heard the fine
the Anglican Church are clarinettist, Jack Brymer,
distinguished and justly cel- describe Stanford’s Clarinet
ebrated. But Stanford the orchestral com- Sonata as ‘easy Brahms’, which it is except ART
poser? This is largely unfamiliar territory for the slow movement, a haunting Irish
for most of us. By the end of his life, his lament. His orchestral
concert works were declining in popular- Irish Rhapsodies are fine THE HOLINESS
ity, though his reputation as a teacher was music which deserves to OF BEAUTY
unassailable. Indeed, he is still reckoned to be far better known. G.F. Bodley (1827–1907)
be one of the most distinguished teachers What, then, are we to and His Circle
of composition which England has seen, make of the two sym- Victoria and Albert
and the list of his pupils is breathtaking. phonies recorded here? Museum
Vaughan Williams, Arthur Bliss, Gustav They are part of a plan 1 November 2007
Holst, Herbert Howells, John Ireland, to record all the sym- to 17 February 2008
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Frank Bridge phonies by Stanford, of Admission free
are only some of the famous names who which we have already
studied with him. They discovered that he had numbers 4 and 7. George Frederick
was a stern taskmaster, but they came to Naxos deserves praise Bodley was one of the
revere the quick-tempered, kind-hearted, indeed for undertak- foremost of Victorian
sharp-tongued, generous, thin-skinned ing this task. The only architects whose name
Irishman. Their early efforts in composi- other complete cycle of often comes first in any
tion were usually met with a dismissive, the symphonies, recorded by Chandos, is litany of those great men: and that is not
‘All rot, me boy’, but if they had the cour- excellent (under the baton of Vernon Han- merely the accord of alphabetical primacy.
age to stand up to him they learned les- dley it could hardly be otherwise) but full The centenary of his death is marked at
sons about the craft of composition which price. This Naxos recording is at budget the V & A with a small but representa-
remained with them ever after. Above price, with the Bournemouth Symphony tive and excellently presented exhibition,
all, they imbibed his own high standards Orchestra demonstrating again that it is which can be found on level 4 in room
where music was concerned. one of our best, and David Lloyd-Jones dis- 128a. It has been supported by Watts & Co
John Ireland recalled that one of his first playing his mastery as a conductor of the of Westminster: a company co-founded by
offerings to Stanford drew the response, music. With excellent recording and crisp Bodley and still employing his techniques
‘All Brahms and water, me boy, and more playing, these symphonies are shown in and his aesthetic and liturgical principles
water than Brahms.’ This is ironic, because the most favourable light. True, the figures in their current work to the adornment of
it is the reproach which might be levelled at of Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms many churches and to the glory of God.
Stanford himself, at least where his works hover a little too obviously over Symphony That they survive and prosper is a testi-
for the concert hall are concerned. He had 2, but in the Fifth, composed in 1894 and mony to enduring values and tradition,
studied in Germany, and his admiration apparently inspired by Milton’s poems and a rebuke to the vulgarity of the age
for the German masters was too great for L’A l l e g r o and Il Penseroso, Stanford forges and culture.
his own good. Somehow the individual something far more personal, imaginative Bodley was born in 1827 in Hull and he
and forward-looking. This symphony is became a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott.
truly impressive and uplifting music which He worked with Scott until 1850 and then
will reward repeated listening, and the for some fifty years he pursued a success-
players, especially the brass, clearly relish ful and highly influential career engaged
the opportunities to shine which Stanford’s on over one hundred buildings. He was
skilful orchestration gives them in plenty. awarded the Royal Institute of British
To have music and performance of this Architects Gold Medal in 1899 and was
quality at this price is almost a gift. made a Royal Academician, the honour
24
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newdirections
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December 2007
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