BBC Philharmonic
Rumon Gamba conductor
CHANDOS 20319
This important issue completes the cycle of Gipps 5 symphonies, and also offers two rarities, the more important one being the early violin concerto, which dates from 1943.
This concerto was written for Gipps’ elder brother Bryan, who championed the work which nonetheless, and alas, failed to enter the repertoire. Admittedly, most of the piece is a little bit spiky, especially as her other music at this stage of her career was less ‘advanced’. However, there is an emotional kick in the tail in the third movement, where the busy energy of the invention suddenly halts and the music relaxes into what is, in effect, a lengthy coda.
It is as though the composer remembers that she was writing in a time of war. A steady procession, propelled by an insistent bass line, supports music full of the emotional nostalgia at which Gipps was so good. The ending is a brief peremptory dismissal as the composer flees the room with a whimper and then a bang.
The brief Leviathan is a curiosity written at the request of Valentine Kennedy, bassoonist of the LPO. (Gipps actually designated the instrument as ‘double bassoon’) and appropriately enough the instrument plays the role of a lugubrious clown. It certainly does this very well, and this disc is worth the money alone for the final bottom (your actual bottom!) B flat, a truly wonderful moment.
The fifth symphony was first performed in 1986 by Gipps’ own London Repertoire Orchestra, having been rejected for broadcasting by the BBC junta, which was a source of great disappointment and distress to the composer. The orchestra is the largest she ever wrote for – quadruple woodwind, six horns, two harps and a lavishly endowed kitchen sink department, all of which thus requires a large string section (the booklet has a picture of them all).
The idiom here is slightly less hard -going than some of the other middle period works – there is a Baxian heft in the weight of the music to which is thrilling to listen. However, the 13-minute finale is a distinct oddity in that it is designated ‘Missa Brevis for Orchestra’. Lewis Foreman in his notes says that the short sections of the score are labelled, and ‘it becomes possible to identify the unsung words or phrases…’ Well, possibly. Gipps tried this trick in her Threnody op.54 and I failed to be convinced by it there. However, the various sections are identified by track numbers to help you solve the puzzle, should you wish.
So, many thanks to Chandos for promoting a repertoire which one is unlikely to hear live anywhere in the UK (let alone the boondocks of the AB postcode from where this is being written).
Review by Geoffrey Atkinson