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Guildhall Strings - Armstrong Gibbs: 'Dale and Fell' & Other Music for Strings (1999)

Posted By: Designol

Date: 27 Sep 2022 18:27:27

Everything on this CD is receiving its first commercial recording. Armstrong Gibbs's most famous piece is the once very popular little orchestral movement called 'Dusk', which was recorded on our first 'British Light Music Classics' CD. Looking for suitable repertoire to introduce Guildhall Strings into the Hyperion catalogue we asked their programmer, Ben Buckton, to investigate Gibbs's other music. The composer's granddaughter, Anne Rust, told Ben that, for safekeeping, she had sent some scores many years ago to the Britten-Pears Music Library in Aldeburgh where they have remained untouched ever since. Ben's request for 'anything for strings' by Gibbs resulted in the production of a stack of dusty folders containing the handwritten manuscripts. The work on the top of the pile was the Threnody for Walter de la Mare, and it immediately became clear that the journey to Suffolk was going to lead to more than anyone had expected. This is attractive, well-written music in a lighter vein, dating from the first half of the century.

Classical singers and choristers who were paying attention through high school and college know at least some of the music of 20th-century English composer C. Armstrong Gibbs. Fewer listeners and performers are likely to be familiar with the well-crafted, engaging, and occasionally masterly works for string orchestra included on this excellent program. Cambridge-educated and steeped in the mannerly, cultured musical styles exemplified by pre-World War I icons Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gibbs, whose teachers were traditionalists Charles Wood and Edward Dent, found his own musical voice in this same traditional context. So, as we listen we find ourselves reminded not only of Holst and Vaughan Williams, but also of Stanford, Finzi, and Elgar.

A personal tragedy (the death of his son) in 1943 and dramatic, irreversible changes in the musical landscape dampened Gibbs’ creative fires and relegated his compositional style to homeless status in the years following World War II. Yet, along the way, he wrote some very attractive works that show a profound understanding of string idiom, an endearing lightheartedness, and a knack for evoking impressions of time (“Rest at noon”) or place (“Over the high fells”) or mood (“A song of sleep”). Most of the works here are multi-movement pieces–three of them suites–and nearly all project the personality of one who is comfortable with life and harbors no personal agenda. The one exception is the Threnody for Walter de la Mare, a poignant and beautiful lament for the poet whose works inspired many of Gibbs’ finest songs and choral pieces, a children’s play, and even a few instrumental works.

The Guildhall Strings are marvelous in this repertoire, maintaining an enthusiastic and energetic style that allows this rarely performed music to really awake and be heard. Director Robert Salter must be commended for exploring and uncovering “a substantial archive” of Gibbs’ unpublished string music–including the Threnody–stored for many years at the Britten-Pears Music Library in Aldeburgh. Perhaps we’ll be hearing more from Gibbs and Guildhall before long?

Review by David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Review by Ian Lace, MusicWeb-International.com

Introduction - The Guildhall Strings

Those who have admired the fine ensemble playing of the Guildhall Strings over the years, especially in the various music festivals up and down the country, will welcome this their first (but hopefully not last) appearance on the Hyperion label. The Guildhall Strings play standing up (except for the three cellists) in a semi-circle creating a freedom of communication impossible in traditional orchestral seating. Since there is no conductor, all the players contribute to the overall shape of the music, as members of a string quartet do. As a Daily Telegraph critic has written, "They are as much a pleasure to watch as to listen to."

Armstrong Gibbs string works on this album

The collection commences with the Prelude, Andante and Finale. This work was originally written by the composer for string orchestra but this version was lost (the only surviving copy is for piano, four hands.) The version on this CD is Lawrence Ashmore's version for Gibbs's original forces in which he underlines the grandeur and scale of Gibbs's music with his rich scoring. Having just returned from leading a Holiday Fellowship (walkers) special interest holiday on Music Appreciation, I very much appreciated Gibbs's music of the Prelude with its marching music. You can hear the pattern of the walkers' feet: the leader striding along purposely and the varied patterns of the other (perhaps not quite so committed) walkers tread. Included on an earlier Marco Polo album of Armstrong Gibbs's music, was the composer's Westmoreland Symphony (1944), a highly personal musical outpouring of personal grief. That mood is sustained through the Andante - a coming to terms with wartime trauma and personal loss culminating, here, in a tormented final climax. The Finale returns us to the bracing outdoors with music marked by constantly changing accents that reminds one of Holst.

Dale and Fell is a short evocative suite. The opening Prelude: The Beck Climb, is appropriately evocative and has a memorable long-breathed tune; the central movement Rest at Noon is a lullaby as the walkers doze under the hot mid-day sun; and the final Over the High Fells is a sturdy descending marching bass with a no-nonsense marching tune.

In 1919, Gibbs was working as a teacher at his old preparatory school in Brighton when he grasped a chance to switch to a full time music career. He was asked to organise a celebration for the retiring headmaster. He hit on the idea of a play with music composed by himself. For the text he turned to Walter de la Mare. De la Mare agreed to write the play and two months later a script called Crossings arrived. Clearly then, Walter de la Mare figured prominently in Gibbs' creative life. When the poet died in June 1956, Gibbs immediately responded with his Thenody for Walter de la Mare - a deeply felt paean that looks back to the sound world of Vaughan Williams's Tallis Fantasia but also to Herbert Howells in similar mood.

A Spring Garland (1937) is a collection of five, two-minute miniatures recalling Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite in style. Each movement is named after country flowers: Kingcup, Dog Violet, Daffodil, Windflower and Tulip. Almayne, the earliest Gibbs work in the programme is a similar work written in an older style. In fact the tune comes from Elizabeth Rogers' Virginal Book of 1656.

The album concludes with the most substantial work in this collection - Suite for Strings completed just one year before Gibbs's death. Containing some of his most sonorous and rich string textures, it is notably lacking in angst. The opening music is strongly reminiscent of Gerald Finzi. His middle movement, A Song of Sleep allows untroubled slumber and his finale, The Promise of Spring, is all ebullience and celebration.

A collection to treasure, proving (if any were necessary) the worth of this unjustly neglected British composer. The Guildhall players deliver performances full of vigour and sensitivity. More Armstrong Gibbs, please, Hyperion.

Review by Ian Lace, MusicWeb-International.com

Armstrong Gibbs at Allmusic
Armstrong Gibbs at Wiki

Guildhall Strings
Robert Salter, director

Tracklist:

Prelude, Andante and Finale Op.112
01. I. Prelude. Alla marcia (05:07)
02. II. Andante. Andante rubato (07:32)
03. III. Finale. Allegro marcato (05:12)

Dale and Fell
04. I. Prelude: The Beck Climb (02:54)
05. II. Rest at Noon (03:24)
06. III. Over the High Fells (03:07)

07. Threnody for Walter de la Mare (07:48)

A Spring Garland, Op.84
08. I. Kingcup (Ben ritmico) (02:02)
09. II. Dog Violet (Con grazia) (02:17)
10. III. Daffodil (Tempo di Menuetto) (02:20)
11. IV. Windflower (Alla Gavotta) (02:31)
12. V. Tulip (Con anima) (02:07)

13. Almayne (English 17th-Century Air), Op.71 (04:20)

Suite for Strings
14. I. Prelude (Con moto moderato) (04:16)
15. II. A Song of Sleep (Molto lento) (05:45)
16. III. Promise of Spring (Con brio) (04:13)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 24. August 2016, 21:32

Guildhall Strings, Robert Salter / Gibbs - Dale and Fell

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DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-10-07 15:31:26

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Guildhall Strings, Robert Salter / Gibbs - Dale and Fell
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR13 -2.34 dB -21.82 dB 5:08 01-Prelude, Andante and Finale Op.112 - I. Prelude. Alla marcia
DR14 -4.35 dB -25.60 dB 7:33 02-Prelude, Andante and Finale Op.112 - II. Andante. Andante rubato
DR13 -2.71 dB -21.77 dB 5:13 03-Prelude, Andante and Finale Op.112 - III. Finale. Allegro marcato
DR13 -6.45 dB -24.23 dB 2:55 04-Dale and Fell - I. Prelude: The Beck Climb
DR12 -7.32 dB -30.73 dB 3:24 05-Dale and Fell - II. Rest at Noon
DR14 -4.81 dB -24.38 dB 3:07 06-Dale and Fell - III. Over the High Fells
DR13 -7.18 dB -26.29 dB 7:48 07-Threnody for Walter de la Mare
DR14 -3.24 dB -21.65 dB 2:02 08-A Spring Garland, Op.84 - I. Kingcup (Ben ritmico)
DR14 -6.14 dB -26.77 dB 2:18 09-A Spring Garland, Op.84 - II. Dog Violet (Con grazia)
DR13 -6.95 dB -24.81 dB 2:21 10-A Spring Garland, Op.84 - III. Daffodil (Tempo di Menuetto)
DR12 -4.92 dB -24.90 dB 2:32 11-A Spring Garland, Op.84 - IV. Windflower (Alla Gavotta)
DR13 -2.57 dB -24.09 dB 2:08 12-A Spring Garland, Op.84 - V. Tulip (Con anima)
DR13 -3.07 dB -22.21 dB 4:20 13-Almayne (English 17th-Century Air), Op.71
DR12 -4.08 dB -22.21 dB 4:16 14-Suite for Strings - I. Prelude (Con moto moderato)
DR15 -5.43 dB -26.58 dB 5:45 15-Suite for Strings - II. A Song of Sleep (Molto lento)
DR14 -2.93 dB -22.04 dB 4:14 16-Suite for Strings - III. Promise of Spring (Con brio)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 16
Official DR value: DR13

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 555 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

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