Walter Rabl: Clarinet Quartet in E flat major, op. 1, 1st movement
Walter Rabi was born in Vienna in 1873 and studied there as well as in Salzburg and Prague. While working on a doctorate at the last of these, he composed his Quartet in E-Flat Major for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano which won first prize in a competition for young composers sponsored by the Vienna Tonkünstlerverein. One of the judges was Johannes Brahms, no less, and he recommended the piece to his publishers. Unsurprisingly, the work, and particularly the writing for clarinet, reflects Brahms’ style. Rabi subsequently turned his hand to Wagner-like opera but this was not a success and, disillusioned, he gave up composing.
The first movement is in sonata form, the clarinet introducing the two main lyrical themes. The contrasting development section is more vibrant with some interesting rhythmic devices and key changes; and the movement is brought to a close with a return to the two main themes.
Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time, movements 4 and 5
Written for the same instrumental group as Rabi’s composition, the Quartet for the End of Time has become one of the most frequently played of Messiaen’s works and indeed a pinnacle of contemporary chamber music. Early in the Second World War, the composer was captured by the German army and held in a prison camp near the Polish border. Conditions there were far from good, but in Messiaen’s own words “I clung fiercely to a little bag of miniature scores that served as consolation when I suffered. The Germans … loved music, not only did they allow me to keep my scores, but an officer also gave me pencils, erasers, and some music paper.” And so he composed the Quartet.
Like most of his works, it was an expression of his deep Christian faith, in this case inspired by the Book of Revelation. It contains eight movements loosely linked by musical themes and ideas, including that of releasing the content from structures of time, hence the title to the work. The short fourth movement Intermède is relatively light in character, ending with two playful, cello pizzicati, while the fifth entitled Praise to the eternity of Jesus is appropriately slow and intense. The cello’s unending melody set above repeated chords in the piano, conveys the idea of limitless love.
The sixth and seventh movements, extracts from which end this concert, are more dramatic and extrovert. The Sixth is labelled Dance of fury, for the seven trumpets referring to the Apocalypse, six trumpets indicating various catastrophes, while the seventh belongs to an angel who announces the consummation of the mystery of God; all of which is musically represented by the four instruments in unison. With jagged rhythms, the intensity is increased leading to a wild climax, until the fever subsides with a return to the opening themes. The Seventh, Cluster of rainbows, for the angel who announces the end of Time, is pictorially rich. A combination of colourful melodies and chords transcends terrestrial limits to express Messiaen’s reaching out to the divine presence beyond.
Gerald Finzi: Five Bagatelles, op. 23 - 3 of the 5
Finzi’s Bagatelles, for clarinet and piano, were completed in 1942 before he was drafted to work in the Ministry of War Transport but they drew on works and sketches which he had penned over a number of years prior to that. Three of the bagatelles he described as “twenty-year old bits and pieces”. They were given their first performance at one of the famous London National Gallery wartime lunch concerts. When later published, they soon became Finzi’s most popular work, selling out the initial print run. Ironically, this irritated the composer who was reported to have said that “they are only trifles” and “not worth much, but got better notices than my decent stuff.”
The pieces display Finzi’s skill in exploiting the sonority, as well as the range, of the clarinet. The Prelude marked Allegro deciso was surely inspired by Bach, while the Romance (Andante tranquillo), with its central lyrical section, conveys peace and well-being. The charming, tender Carol (Andante semplice) was originally written as a Christmas piece for Herbert Howell’s daughter. The sprightly final Fughetta (allegro vivace) returns us to the spirit of J.S.Bach
Rebecca Clarke: Piano Trio, 1st movement
Rebcca Clarke (1886-1979) was the daughter of an American and spent most of her life in the USA, but she was born in England and trained at the Royal Academy of Music where she was the first female pupil of Charles Villiers Stanford. Although her output as a composer has been largely neglected, she was remarkably prolific, particularly in her younger days. The Piano Trio, dating from 1921 is widely regarded as her most impressive work. It won a prize at the Berkshire Festival of Music and must have caused some consternation when it emerged that although originally submitted as written by one “Alexander Trent” the composer was in fact female.
The influences to be heard in the Trio are predominantly French, with the impressionism of Debussy and Ravel, rather than Stanford’s absorption of the German tradition. The first movement has a striking opening section with forceful chords on the piano and a dissonant theme which recurs throughout the piece. This evolves into a contrasting, more lyrical melody, and the two musical ideas compete with one another to gain ascendancy.
Interval
Piers Hellawell: The Rising of Sirius
Piers Hellawell, born in 1956, is a British composer and former Professor of Composition at Queens University Belfast. He studied music with, among others, Nicholas Maw at Oxford. He has made a major contribution to contemporary orchestral music; for example, Inside Story which was premiered at the Proms in 1999 and Degrees of Separation, composed for the opening of the Sage Gateshead in 1996.
The music critic of the Scotsman has described his style as “in one sense mainstream late 20th century, yet there is a visceral energy that gives it a sense of the here and now.”
The Rising of Sirius was written for the Gould Ensemble and given by them its first performance in St Andrew’s Church Corbridge earlier this year. Its subject-matter is the life of St Wilfrid and the composition draws on this building as a structural inspiration. Another unusual feature is the reliance on audience participation. The composer explains both features. “The ‘geography’ of my quartet is … shaped by it (St Andrew's Church): we progress, along a ‘nave’ and, in parallel, aisles – places of greater activity, I imagine – before meeting at the Crossing, the cruciform central point… I feel that early bishops and their works were not remote figures, and nor should works of music be remote, as too often they are, from listeners. Therefore at this point, in some performances, the audience can be invited to intone short phrases, led by the performers”.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio in E flat major, op. 70, no. 2, allegretto
In the hands of Haydn and Mozart, the piano trio had of course been a familiar musical form, but Beethoven elevated it into a more creative and more serious mode of expression than his predecessors. He added a fourth movement, thus imitating the string quartet and symphony, and also distributed the weight of exposition more equitably between the performers rather than allowing the violin to hog too much of the limelight.
Beethoven established friendships with a number of socially prominent women. One of them was a Hungarian countess, Anna Marie Niczky, who had married one of Beethoven’s earliest patrons. Subsequently separated from him, in 1808 she invited the composer to lodge in her house and while there he wrote the two opus 70 Piano Trios and dedicated them to her. The first of these, unsurprisingly given its nickname, the Ghost, is highly dramatic. Its partner, in E flat major, is more subdued but full of invention.
The second allegretto movement comprises two contrasting themes, stated consecutively, one in a light gavotte rhythm, the other more assertive. The themes are followed by four variations, two on each theme, played alternatively, a structure which Beethoven used in the second movement of his Fifth Symphony which he composed in the same period.
Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time, excerpts from movements 6 and 7
See note to movements 4 and 5, above.
© Anthony Ogus