Alan Rawsthorne - The Music (2024)

(1968) © Oxford University Press

Alan Rawsthorne

The Music

Rawsthorne has been called master of the epigram. As a generalitythis term provides the listener with an expectation of the dimensions ofhis music, it does not signify that he is in any sense a miniaturist. Fromthe earliest published compositions his works are marked by clarity of expressionand form, seriousness of purpose, craftsmanship and conciseness. His personalityshows through in a degree of understatement, an integrity which refuses tocompromise or follow fashion and, on occasion, a light touch exposed in asharp wit.

Rawsthorne found his distinctive voice, and articulated it with conviction,from a very early stage in his career. Three works from this period are seminal.The Theme and Variations for Two Violins (1937), the Bagatellesfor Piano (1938) and the Symphonic Studies (1938) firmly establishedhis harmonic and melodic language, demonstrated his consummate craftsmanship,dramatic directness of utterance and established the bedrock of forms uponwhich he was to build thenceforth; first instrumental and chamber music,in which the piano was to feature prominently, and second a symphonic outputin a variety forms. These three early works, each a first essay in the chosenform, burst forth with massive assurance as if they were the culminationof years of experience and development.

His chamber works form one of the most substantial contributions toEnglish twentieth century music in this genre. The Three StringQuartets, of 1940, 1954 and 1965, map his musical development throughouthis professional life.. The First is recognisably a close relative of thethree seminal works cited above, the Second demonstrates a modification oflanguage, which is moving to a greater economy of utterance and the paringaway of anything which fails to contribute to the musical argument. Thesewere distinguishing features of the late pieces, of which the ThirdQuartet is highly characteristic. There are several works involving windinstruments in combination with strings and piano, of which the ClarinetQuartet of 1948 and the Quintet for Piano and Winds of 1963 areexamples of Rawsthorne's chamber output at its best.

Of the solo instrumental works for string instruments the romanticallyexpressive Sonata for Cello and Piano of 1949 and the Sonata forViolin and Piano of 1960 are important, both show intimate understandingof the string instruments and the rôle of the piano as a truepartner.

Rawsthorne was an admirer of Chopin and gained the insights of a performerfrom his own training as a pianist. These are reflected in the half dozensolo piano works, four of which are significant additions to the pianoliterature. These are the Bagatelles (1938), Sonatina (1949),Four Romantic Pieces (1953) and Ballade (1967). All exploitimaginatively the inherent characteristics of the instrument and reveal thecolours and textures of which it is capable.

The Symphonic Studies show Rawsthorne in full command of thesymphony orchestra, with which he paints a rich, imaginative and characteristicsound picture; the bravura writing makes it a veritable concerto for orchestra.To this he was to add three symphonies in 1950, 1959 and 1964. TheFirst received high praise from Hans Keller (no mean achievement)on its first performance. The Second is Rawsthorne's 'Pastoral', onenot given to the bucolic meandering of the English 'cowpat school', but areflective townsman's excursion which incorporates a solo soprano part intothe final movement. The Third is possibly the finest of all Rawsthorne'ssymphonic works, an early product of the final period of his writing. Itset the tone, perhaps rather valedictory, for what was to follow. It containsmelodic fragments which were to recur and be developed in many of the workswhich followed it. Notable is the slow 'alla sarabanda', which has Rawsthornecreating orchestral sonorities, of which there are none more refined anddelicate elsewhere in his output.

There are eight concertos and, as might be expected, the First andSecond Concertos for Piano (1942) and (1951) demonstrate both fine writingfor the solo instrument and skilled integration of soloist and orchestra.The Second was 'popular' and at one time widely performed due, inthe main, to the unbuttoned humour of its final movement, whilst ignoringthe forte of the previous three movements. Michael Kennedy said of the piece,"The tunes seep into the mind and stay there. One welcomes their insistenceon being remembered". The First Violin Concerto (1948) had been acasualty of the Bristol Blitz, necessitating its rewriting for the 1948Cheltenham Festival. This two movement work again shows the composer handlingthe solo instrument with great acumen and producing one of his most melodicallyrich and accessible works. As such it is unclear why it has not remainedin the repertoire. The Second Violin Concerto of 1956 is couched inthe language of the transitional phase of Rawsthorne's development, a workmore sophisticated than the First Concerto in its thematic content anddevelopment, but again displaying an understanding of the expressive anddramatic potential of the solo instrument. The trio of string concertos iscompleted by the 'Cello Concerto' of 1966.

Other orchestral pieces, fifteen in all, are characteristic of thecomposer, none more so than the energetic Street Corner Overture which,for all its surface élan, hides skilful compositional devices in itsdeeper levels. This is a mood piece and is a link to the many film scoreswhich were a major part of the composer's body of work. At one and the sametime they support the dramatic requirements whilst respecting the necessitythat the music should heighten yet not upstage the visual images. That onlyone set piece from the film music exists for concert performance is indicativeof the organic character of the composer's contribution. The film music isoften the first point of introduction to Rawsthorne's music; that film musicbuffs are more Familiar with his name than concert-goers gives pause forthought for those who would promote his music. Notable among the scores arethose for the "Cruel Sea", capturing so well the winter greyness of the NorthAtlantic, "The Captive Heart", providing tantalising snippets of improvisedpiano music so redolent of what was to come, and "Saraband for Dead Lovers"in which the composer explores with dignified gravity the byways of theubiquitous fragment we know as 'La folia'.

To characterise Rawsthorne as solely an instrumental composer is todo him an injustice. There is a small number of choral pieces, effectivelywritten, and a handful of published songs, some of which are excellent andsensitive settings of a wide range of poets. When asked why he had not setmore poems to music Rawsthorne, with characteristic and laconic directness,replied "....because I am very fond ofpoetry". He was clearly diffident and scrupulous about addingto, and thereby detracting from, that which was entire in itself.

His only stage work was music for a forty minute ballet,"MadameChrysanthème", performed by the Sadler's WellsBallet in 1955. An opera was being conceived at the time of his death: aftera search for a suitable libretto he came to favour John Arden's "SergeantMusgrave's Dance". His setting of a number of poems from Eliot's "PracticalCats" (1954) for speaker and orchestra, as an entertainment for children,shows the composer to be well acquainted with and a keen observer of felinesingle-minded behaviour; having once shared his cottage with as many as twentyseven cats at one time how could he be otherwise? This piece displays incombination his trenchant sense of humour and the application of cogentcompositional principles and construction to what might appear to be asuperficial illustrative accompaniment. That this, and other works, operateat a variety of levels and for a wide audience, shows the integrity, thecomplete and unpretentious mastery, and absorption of the composer's singularcharacter into his art. We should not be surprised, then, that his musicepitomises his view of himself as both artist and artisan.