Rawsthorne, Alan (1905 - 71)

[ardcarp]

Hearing Berkeley's Serenade for Strings (great piece...somewhat Brittenesque) on Breakfast this morning reminded me...for some reason... that we don't hear much of Alan Rawsthorne's music these days. It's not exactly Hear & Now stuff, but I seem to remember back in the 60s he was quite a well-regarded composer. (I sang in a recording of his 4 Seasonal Songs around that time.) Has his light faded somewhat? And should it be re-kindled?

[Serial_Apologist]

Hearing Berkeley's Serenade for Strings (great piece...somewhat Brittenesque) on Breakfast this morning reminded me...for some reason... that we don't hear much of Alan Rawsthorne's music these days. It's not exactly Hear & Now stuff, but I seem to remember back in the 60s he was quite a well-regarded composer. (I sang in a recording of his 4 Seasonal Songs around that time.) Has his light faded somewhat? And should it be re-kindled?

He was joint COTW with Constant Lambert a few years ago - an unlikely pairing at first sight, but it seems they were good friends. Whereas Lambert was close in style to the Les Six group of French composers, Rawsthorne's slightly later language was closer to Walton's - the kind of thing you associate with British war epics of the 1950s: worthy no-nonsense craftsmanlike music. He wrote the music for "The Cruel Sea" I believe.

[EdgeleyRob]

Marvelous composer,I have a fair few cds of his music.
His light shines brightly here.
Naxos have served him well,symphonies,concertos and string quartets.
Of course he wrote the 2nd best Pastoral Symphony too,just behind RVW and just ahead of LvB

[Tony Halstead]

just ahead of LvB

[EdgeleyRob]

I know,strange,but only IMVHO

[pastoralguy]

He wrote the music for "The Cruel Sea" I believe.

Yes, he did and it was very effective too. I can't read passages of the book without hearing bits of it.

I don't know Rawsthorne's 'Pastoral' symphony. I must investigate further. Maybe it'll dislodge Beethoven's in my affections.

[EdgeleyRob]

Yes, he did and it was very effective too. I can't read passages of the book without hearing bits of it.

I don't know Rawsthorne's 'Pastoral' symphony. I must investigate further. Maybe it'll dislodge Beethoven's in my affections.

now that would be something

[antongould]

Marvelous composer,I have a fair few cds of his music.
His light shines brightly here.
Naxos have served him well,symphonies,concertos and string quartets.
Of course he wrote the 2nd best Pastoral Symphony too,just behind RVW and just ahead of LvB

... mostly agree ER but I feel LVB just shades it ..

[Barbirollians]

... mostly agree ER but I feel LVB just shades it ..

I have not heard the Rawsthorne but for all its qualities Beethoven's Pastoral canters all over that by VW .

[Richard Tarleton]

Rawsthorne's last piece, unfinished at his death, was the Elegy gor guitar, written for and completed by Julian Bream. He also wrote the music for the 1948 film Saraband for Dead Lovers, about the first wife of George, Elector of Hanover (later George 1 of England) and her doomed romance with a Swedish officer. This was an Ealing film produced by Michael Balcon, and features an offscreen 14-year old Julian Bream playing La Folia

[ahinton]

Yes, Rawsthorne is quite sadly overlooked today; his best work at times embraces the kind of febrility that may be found in the fiest works of Bridge's later years, although I'd not push that comparison any farther than it deserves to go. Bush is another English Alan whose work has not fared as well as it should until recently and, even now, with more recordings, his music still features in concert programmes all too rarely. Incidentally, at around the outbreak of WWII, the two Alans were commissioned to collaborate on a work entitled The Prison Cycle (see http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/musi...asp?room=Music).

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes, Rawsthorne is quite sadly overlooked today; his best work at times embraces the kind of febrility that may be found in the fiest works of Bridge's later years, although I'd not push that comparison any farther than it deserves to go. Bush is another English Alan whose work has not fared as well as it should until recently and, even now, with more recordings, his music still features in concert programmes all too rarely. Incidentally, at around the outbreak of WWII, the two Alans were commissioned to collaborate on a work entitled The Prison Cycle (see http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/musi...asp?room=Music).

The fact too that Alans Bush and Rawsthorne were both Communists were factors in their marginalisation by the BBC and other promoters cannot also be overlooked, which is ironic, given their favoured state's strictures on artistic expression at the time, and should no longer be a bar to hearing the music of quality both men wrote. What of course has happened is that capitalist realism, or what procures the most profitable turnover quickest, has taken over from Stalinist realism, or a notion of appealing to the masses by preaching down to them - both amounting to much the same thing, in the end - with only a brief window of about 20 years' worth of enlightened thinking and programming allowed to intrude upon thinking within the hallowed portals of Broadcasting House and elsewhere.

[ardcarp]

I'm still struggling with Pastoral Symphonies and Pecking Orders.

However, with reference to Alan Bush:

In 1936 he was co-founder of the Workers' Music Association, becoming President in 1938 [.....] continuing to be President until his death in 1995. During this time Topic Records was formed as a mail order label to provide recordings to the members of the WMA.

[richardfinegold]

... mostly agree ER but I feel LVB just shades it ..

[richardfinegold]

The fact too that Alans Bush and Rawsthorne were both Communists were factors in their marginalisation by the BBC and other promoters cannot also be overlooked, which is ironic, given their favoured state's strictures on artistic expression at the time, and should no longer be a bar to hearing the music of quality both men wrote. What of course has happened is that capitalist realism, or what procures the most profitable turnover quickest, has taken over from Stalinist realism, or a notion of appealing to the masses by preaching down to them - both amounting to much the same thing, in the end - with only a brief window of about 20 years' worth of enlightened thinking and programming allowed to intrude upon thinking within the hallowed portals of Broadcasting House and elsewhere.

I like the phrase "capitalist realism"