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Details
St John's Smith Square
Smith Square
City of Westminster
London
SW1P 3HA
England
Programme
Doreen Carwithen – Bishop Rock Overture
Arnold Bax – Symphony no.1
Frank Bridge – An Irish Melody 'The Londonderry Air', H.86
William Alwyn – Odd Man Out: Nemesis (film score)
Hamilton Harty – Ode to a Nightingale
Michael Hurd – Dance Diversions
Performers
John Gibbons – Conductor
Helena Dix – soprano
Ealing Symphony Orchestra
Programme Note
The British Music Society has been at the forefront in the regeneration of interest in British composers whose music fell from fashion in the post-war era of Modernism. To celebrate the society’s 40th Birthday, a number of these are represented in a unique programme at a concert to be given in St John’s Smith Square by the Ealing Symphony Orchestra under conductor John Gibbons, on Saturday 22nd June 2019.
The concert includes a rare performance of Hamilton Harty's romantic setting of Keats's great poem Ode to a Nightingale featuring the Australian soprano, Helena Dix. British film music is represented by an excerpt from William Alwyn’s powerful score, Odd Man Out, which features James Mason as a wounded fugitive on the run in Belfast. Alwyn’s wife, Doreen Carwithen was a composer in her own right and her overture Bishop Rock provides an evocative sea picture. In lighter vein, the upbeat Dance Diversions is a work supported by the Michael Hurd Bequest, established to further the appreciation of the composers output.
Ireland’s ancient landscape provided rich inspiration for composers from all corners of the British Isles; Frank Bridge and Arnold Bax, included. The programme concludes with Bax's dramatic and atmospheric Symphony No.1; a work written in response to the 1916 Easter Rising and already demonstrating many of the composer’s hallmark traits including a prominent role for harp.
The concert will be performed by Ealing Symphony Orchestra. The ensemble has a formidable reputation for performing neglected masterpieces and became the first orchestra to perform the complete symphonies by Malcolm Arnold and recently embarked on the first cycle of George Lloyd's symphonies. Conductor John Gibbons, who is also Vice-Chairman of the Society, is one of the foremost champions of British music with recordings on the Dutton, Toccata and Danacord labels.
Since the British Music Society was founded in 1979 by a group of musical enthusiasts, both amateur and professional, there has been significant cultural change due in part to the Society's pioneering efforts, and a wealth of British music not heard for decades has been rediscovered and recorded on the Society’s own label.
“It is now forty years since the British Music Society was founded and we have good reason to celebrate its achievements”, said Chairman, Wendy Hiscocks. “In that time, over eighty recordings have been produced with more than fifty of these commercially released. Journals, books, lectures, masterclasses and competitions have all been in our remit with emphasis on composers from the 19th and 20th century which have no society or trust to represent them after death.”
“We are grateful for all the support given by exceptional individuals over the years, especially our long standing Treasurer Stephen Trowell, she went on, and we are pleased to launch the first stage of our new website designed by Revolution Arts at our Fortieth Anniversary Concert as part of our vision for the future promoting British music around the world.”
The BMS website www.britishmusicsociety.com provides a useful source of research, news, sound-bites, and an international concert diary. To join the Society, go to: www.britishmusicsociety.com/join-the-society
