MUSIC
ON December 15th the Workers' Music Association gave a concert of the music of Alan Bush in honour of his fiftieth birthday. There were examples of much of his more recent music—political songs, miniature cantatas on Lidice and Toulon, passages from the children's operetta The Press Gang and from the as yet unperformed Wat Tyler. Owing to the illness of Max Rostal it was impossible to perform the violin concerto, and a Lyrical Interlude for violin and piano was played in its place by John Glickman. In a speech of congratulation the political note, already in evidence in the text of the songs and cantatas, was emphasised, the speaker referring to- Bush as a "musician of the people." The composer himself in his answering speech merely stated his belief that contemporary music should have a " meaning " to its listeners as had music of the past. Only the profusion of red poppies on the platform and beards in the audience would have suggested to the casual visitor that a certain self-complacent unction in the speeches and a note of communal puritanism in the music and the performers' tenue were those of a political, rather than a religious, nonconformist minority.
I could not help wondering what constitutes a "musician of the people." Is it predestination (social origin) or free-will (political
allegiance)? Is it retrospective ' • was Haydn at Esterhaz a "musician of the people " ? And Beethoven's unpopular late quartets—are they forgiven him for his refusal to take off his hat to a Grand Duke ? Or does the phrase simply apply to contemporary com- posers who artificially keep their idiom within the range of appre- ciation of a working-class audience and, in vocal music, treat texts of a certain political complexion ? If so, I could not feel that the Lyrical Interlude which I heard at this concert would have been appreciated in the Old Kent Road. and presumably Alan Bush's admirable Dialectic was written before conversion. It was difficult to judge of Wat Tyler by a few extracts, particularly as a delay in the arrival of Wat himself prevented me hearing more than two pieces. (I was particularly sorry to miss a chorus entitled "Away with wantoning lords.") The Queen Mother's lament for feudalism, finely sung by Anna Pollak, had a broad dramatic sweep, but the appeal of two troubadour songs was scholarly and archaistic rather than immediate.
There will always be musical cliques, and England has a long tradition of sectarianism ; but it does not yet appear that Com- munism in this country is to prove the artistic seed-bed that Jansenism proved in seventeenth-century France. Both Communist and Jansenist would no doubt consider this a trivial consideration one way or the other ; but it concerns the rest of us who are anxious to see musicians as gifted as Alan Bush rise to the height of their potentialities unhampered by creeds which diminish rather than enhance their artistic personalities.
• *
At Covent Garden, Erich Kleiber had already dealt drastically with the orchestra when he first appeared at a performance of Rosenkavalier. Those who think the role of the conductor greatly exaggerated would be hard put to it to find an explanation of the vastly improved finish, resonance, balance and vitality ; and if they heard the same orchestra playing Manon and Lohen grin under their accustomed conductors, they could hardly doubt that Kleiber has already effected a regeneration. Victoria de los Angeles, who sang in both the latter operas, sang Manon's and Elsa's music with great charm and distinction, and in the second and third acts of Lohen grin she showed signs of developing into a fine Wagnerian singer. But she cannot be said to have interpreted either roles, for she did no more than go through the minimum of conventional gestures, and seemed to have her mind wholly on her singing. This is a very pleasant change after so many singers whose minds have been on anything save just that, but it can be carried to extremes.
MARTIN COOPER:
Previous page
