Posted: 14 December 2000
The Trust's major project for the composer's centenary year, the Alan Bush Centenary Concert, took place on 1st November 2000 at the Wigmore Hall, London.
The concert was preceded by a very entertaining talk on Bush's life and work by John Amis, incorporating tape recorded conversations between Amis and Bush. Rosemary Forbes-Butler (soprano) sang Mary's Song from The Winter Journey Op 29 (1946) accompanied by John Amis at the piano. The talk was very well received by a packed audience in the Bechstein Room at the Wigmore Hall and made a delightful start to the evening's entertainment.
The concert was widely reviewed including a review by Geoff Brown in The Times (6th November 2000) and Paul Conway published in the Independent (11th November 2000). In their reviews both critics extol the quality of the music and the individual artists' performances at this concert. Both men refer also to the neglect suffered by the composer during his lifetime in this country and express the view that further exploration of his prodigious musical output is long overdue.
See also the review by Simon Jenner published on this site and a review by David Wordsworth on the Classical Source website.
Click here to view photographs of the concert.
The programme opened with Three African Sketches, beautifully performed by Carola Nielinger (flute), accompanied by David Carhart at the piano. The three African sketches evoke the countries of Southern Rhodesia, Zululand and the Congo.
Next Dialectic, described by Ronald Stevenson as "Bush's Masterpiece" was performed by the Bochmann String Quartet, who have recorded this work on CD. In his review Paul Conway said of the work that it is "worthy of a place in the repertoire of every international string quartet. Its strength and originality remain undimmed".
This was followed by Voices of the Prophets performed by members of the Artsong Collective, Wills Morgan (tenor) and Richard Black (piano). Wills Morgan has sung this piece many times and his interpretation always passionate, has grown in stature. Every word of the settings of the texts from Isaiah, Milton, Blake and Peter Blackman could be clearly heard "perfectly caught in this poetic and heartfelt reading", without a score, ably accompanied by Richard Black at the piano of "this most passionate and compassionate of Alan Bush's vocal works" (Conway).
After the interval came Peter Jacobs' "authorative account" (Conway) of Bush's 24 preludes, a work that systematically explores the 7 modes, commonly used in English folk song. The work had its premiere with the composer at the piano, in the same concert hall in 1977. Peter Jacobs, who studied the preludes with the composer, has described them as "a compendium of Bush's harmonic and contrapuntal styles.....a magnificent set of pieces, vast in scope and pianistic resourcefulness". Jacobs has recorded the Preludes on a CD of piano music by Bush. Paul Conway wrote that Jacobs "presented very prelude as a mini tone poem, investing each one with its own distinctive character....." and commented that he "took risks with the music, providing a grippingly cogent performance (which) was the high point of a well-rounded portrait of Alan Bush, given by musicians who understand his music and realise that sincerity and passion are the crucial keynotes to its realisation".
The evening was rounded off by members of Double Image who performed a rondo, Voices from Four Continents and "sent us away dancing with another spirited folk melange" (Brown).
The full programme:
Three African Sketches for Flute and Piano, Op 55 (1960)
Performed by:
Double Image:
Carola Nielinger (flute), David Carhart (piano)
Dialectic for String Quartet, Op 15 (1929)
Performed by:
Bochmann String Quartet:
Michael Bochmann (violin), Mark Messenger (violin), Helen Roberts (viola), Peter Adams (cello)
Voices of the Prophets, Op 41 (1953)
Performed by:
Artsong Collective:
Wills Morgan (tenor), Richard Black (piano)
Interval (20 minutes)
24 Preludes for Piano, Op 84 (1977)
Performed by:
Peter Jacobs (piano)
Voices from Four Continents, Op 91 (1980)
Performed by:
Double Image:
Miriam Lowbury (cello), Andrew Sparling (clarinet), David Carhart (piano)
The Alan Bush Music Trust is grateful to the following for their financial support for this concert: The Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust, the Britten-Pears Foundation, the Holst Foundation, the Strauss Charitable Trust, the Unity Theatre Trust and the Workers' Music Association.
