Ed Zubrow:

>I'd say my favorites were the Concerto for Double Strings and the piano
>sonatas--each of which is quite distinctive.  I'm not sure how he fits
>in with other British (or American) composers of the twentieth century

Nor am I...  He studied at the RMC from 1923 to 1928 - composition with
Charles Wood, and conducting with Boult and Sargent - then later,
privately...

>since I haven't seen much about him. But I am very happy to have made
>his acquaintance and will be on the lookout for more by him.

Please try his third and fourth symphonies if you have not already done
so.

Coincidentally, or intentionally, I don't know, his compositions include
four quartets, four piano sonatas, four operas and four main works to
be sung.  These two symphonies are my favourites of the four.

The third (1970-72) is in two parts, each part consisting of two
movements played without interruption.  The first movement opposes
static and dynamic blocks of sound five times, before contrapuntally
leading into the second movement, which opens into a nocturnal Lento
I find...  poetical.  The second part - a scherzo and finale, I think,
dips symbolically both into Beethoven's Ninth, briefly, and, more
fundamentally, into the blues, sung in part.  Contrasting blocks of
fragmental instrumental whisperings and powerful swells from the strings
underscore this musical and philosophical duality.

The fourth (1976-7) is an allegory of life, from first to last
breath - never has a wind machine or an amplified vocalist been more
gripping...  It is in one movement divided into four symphonic sections
named exposition, slow movement, scherzo, and recapitulation with three
developing 'interludes', and it is scored for large orchestra with an
impressive brass section.  It is a symphony of great contrast, flourishing
once more on the opposition of light and dark, as one might suspect this
time.  Its vigorous energy and power seem divided between the force of
life, the struggle for survival, and tense strife, and, in parallel, its
more luminous and spatial grace between elemental stirrings, glintings,
kaleidoscopic gleams and dreams, and maybe despair.

They both belong to Tippet's third 'period' if I dare say so.
The first,tonally-orientated, often contrapuntal and and lyrically
'horizontal', would lead from the first piano sonata (1937) to the 1955
Piano Concerto, I guess; the second, not quite so tonally anchored, more
rhythmitically complex, kaleidoscopic, and vertically lit, would lead
to the Concerto for Orchestra (1963), perhaps further; the third, more
abstract, with a stronger accent and a tighter rein on form, combines
the 'lyrical' and the 'disjunct'; then from "The Mask of Time", maybe,
comes a fourth period of synthesis, one might say, though the boundaries
were never tight before - Tippett is Tippett.

One of my favourite pieces remains the earlier, magical, cleverly and
beautifully devised "Fantasia Concertante (2 vns,1 vc) on a Theme of
Corelli" for string orchestra (1953) which you might enjoy judging from
your taste for the Concerto for Double Strings.

Perhaps someone would care to tell us more about his operas and vocal
works for which he is internationally renowned and which, I am ashamed
to say, I know much less about.

Regards,

Christine Labroche