S2.E82. Nostalgic Music with Butterworth, Mahler, Tallis, and Vaughan Williams.

Classical Music by Butterworth, Mahler, Tallis, Vaughan Williams

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Transcript

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Welcome back to Perfect Pitch with Nick Healy Hutchinson and his fresh approach to the world of classical music. Whether you're an expert or a beginner, old or young, Perfect Pitch has something for everyone.

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Today's music has a nostalgic feel to it. Certainly not dark or sad. Let's just say wistful. I'm not here to preach, but whether you live in a city or the countryside, whether the trees where you are are bare or in full leaf, there's always something to fix your gaze upon and marvel at its simple beauty. It's there, right in front of us, but all too easy to overlook. I'm very fortunate to live a place in the south of England where I can get up every morning and enjoy complete silence. And I mean seriously, absolutely nothing for several minutes before I embark on the day ahead. Sometimes I actually have to tear myself away to get on. These are precious moments in a world of pace and instant gratification. But if your environment makes that hard, popping on your headphones and escaping with this sort of music is not a bad substitute. And specifically English music of the early twentieth century, whose roots in the pastoral settings of folk song is imbued with yearning and nostalgia. There were several composers who could be said to contribute to this style, and although not a formal ensemble, were nevertheless known as the pastoral group, or by some, rather less charitably, as the Cowpat Group. One of the things they were known for was setting music to the words of poets like A. E. Houseman or Thomas Hardy. And perhaps the loveliest of all is George Butterworth's orchestral rhapsody on Housman's collection of poems A Shropshire Lad. They tell of the fleeting nature of youth, an all too prescient theme just twenty years away from the First World War, when untold numbers of young men died needlessly, among them the composer of the piece himself, the victim of a sniper's bullet at the Battle of the Somme. So if the work wasn't poignant enough, Butterworth's death adds an extra layer of pathos. But it's far from miserable. Indeed, as you will hear, it has moments of luscious optimism. Butterworth's Shropshire Lad Rhapsody is played here by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Neville Mariner. His orchestration had immediate appeal, as did his office Love of the Countryside, which is so apparent in several of his symphonies. Mahler's song cycle, Lieder eines Fahrenheit Gesellen, Songs of the Wayfarer, is a group of four songs, for which Mahler wrote both the words and the music, which also explore the transits of youth, love, and longing. The second of the four, titled This Morning I Went Over the Field, is the happiest of the group, externing the beauty of nature with its skipping rhythm, which Marler later incorporated into the first movement of his first symphony. There's a bit of a sting in its reminder that such things are by definition ephemeral. It's sung here by one of the great mezzosopranos of the last century, Christa Ludwig, who resists the temptation to take it too quickly, no doubt at the behest of the conductor, Adrian Bolt, who, as it happens, was one of Butterworth's greatest champions. They're accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra. But another source of inspiration for the group was much further back in time, the Tudor period of William Byrd and Thomas Talus. Here is the original theme by Talus on which Vaughn Williams would base one of his most famous orchestral works. It comes from Talus's 1567 hymn, Why Fumeth in Sight, sung by the Theatre of Voices, directed by Paul Hillier. His much loved Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis. I'm not sure there's much I can add to what I've already said about the music of Butterworth, beyond observing that the theme is clearly discernible throughout, and its spirituality results in quarter of an hour of some of the most meditative, most honaric music you could ask for. It's played here by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Brighton Thomson.

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That's it for this week. Nick will be back again soon. Please rate and comment on any of the previous episodes, and if you like what you hear, take a moment to press the follow button, as it helps to spread the word.