Composer of the Fortnight : Roberto Gerhard
Mon, Apr 25 2011, 9:03AM
On a five hour bus journey recently, I passed most of the time listeing to three CDs from Chandos´ Gerhard Symphonies series, and most enjoyable it was too. I´ve known these works for a fair while, but have been meaning to really get into them for ages.
His development over the years is incredible, from his Spanish influenced stuff in the early years to the utterly unique and personal series of works he composed in his last decade.
I think it would be very interesting to play his Violin Concerto to someone who hadn´t heard it before, and ask them who do they think the composer was. This work could equally serve as an introduction to Gerhard, but for me it doesn´t do justice to his greatness which for me is best found in his Third Symphony, Concerto for Orchestra and Epithalamion. Gerhard was a master in the use of percussion and this, I think, played a big part in the original and compelling soundworld of his last works. I find it difficult to give pointers, I can hear Varese, Schoenberg, Carter in there, but he´s his own man.
There are big holes in my acquaintance with Gerhard. I have a CD of some of his chamber pieces, which I will get round to this week, but I have never heard his Fourth Symphony or his String Quartets. Opinions as always would be very welcome.
Sun, May 1 2011, 7:55PM
#2
RE: Composer of the Fortnight : Roberto Gerhard
A word too for the three late "zodiac" pieces, Gemini, Libra and Leo. Still just about Spanish (you feel that none of it would have been possible without Falla), and very strange, refined and compelling.
DF
Sun, May 1 2011, 9:57PM
#3
RE: Composer of the Fortnight : Roberto Gerhard
Gerhard captured my imagination as a teenager - I came across the Dorati LP of the Symphony No.1 and Don Quixote suite in my local library, and his music has stayed with me ever since. Symphonies 1 & 3 seemed as close to science-fiction as classical music got - especially the roaring close of the 3rd which I think was inspired by Gerhard seeing the sun above the clouds on a jet plane.
My recommendation for an entry point into the world of Gerhard would have to be the slow movement of the Piano Concerto though - the opening few minutes feature some of the most powerful, brooding and cosmic music I can recall. All three of the concertos are worth investigating, with the Harpsichord Concerto also a very focussed and powerfull work. The Nonet for winds is worth a spin too, showing a more humorous side to the composer.
Sun, May 1 2011, 11:21PM
#4
RE: Composer of the Fortnight : Roberto Gerhard
I haven´t heard Germini or Libra, but I have been listening repeatedly to Leo this week on a Strdivarius CD. I think it is Gerhard´s last completed work and I find it deeply rewarding.
Wed, May 4 2011, 4:41PM
#5
RE: Composer of the Fortnight : Roberto Gerhard
I’ve yet to encounter second-rate Gerhard. Agreed!
What I do find absolutely first-rate are the chamber pieces Libra and Leo, Symphonies 1 and 4 and the Concerto for Orchestra.
I came to Gerhard in the mid-1960s after hearing a fair bit of Stockhausen, which had convinced me how difficult it must be to make effective choices when your means offer you such an overwhelming variety but so little by way of conventions and expectations to compose against.
What I appreciate in mature Gerhard is his extremely sensitive ear and the lucid textures of his music, where he somehow manages to set up convincing expectations and surprises.
I don't know the harpsichord concerto, but the violin and piano concerti are fine works, and the early Don Quixote suite is very approachable.
Wed, May 4 2011, 9:38PM
#6
RE: Composer of the Fortnight : Roberto Gerhard
I finally got to hear the Fourth Symphony today, and it´s even better than I had hoped. A masterful demonstration of glitteringly transparent orchestraion and seamless fluid extended structure. If anyone is fond of the current crop of English composers alla Ades and Anderson I would urge them to get to know Gerhard, presuming of course they haven´t already done so, my estimation of him has increased daily over the last three weeks.
I also listened to The Plague, his work for narrator, chorus and orchestra based on Camus´ La Peste. Probably not a work you can listen to too often as its foreboding, chilling atmosphere is quite disturbing, but it is no less absorbing and affecting for all that.
Now we’re talking.
Gerhard has been a favourite of mine since I came across a Seraphim lp of his First Symphony coupled with the Don Quixote Suite in the deletes bin of a record shop in Toronto eons ago. Antal Dorati conducted the BBCSO in superb performances. Probably because it was my first exposure to the composer it remains my recommended entry point to his world. Symphony 1 is at the front end of his serialist period, though whether Gerhard was ever a strict serialist I’ll leave to others to debate. Don Quixote belongs to his early, ‘conservative’, period, contemporary with his Symphony Homenaje a Pedrell.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Gerhard’s music is that through his various phases, including experimentation with electronic music in Symphony 3, he maintained a distinct voice. Spanish melody and rhythm permeates for sure, and there is a love of sound for its own sake. He uses the orchestra, often a large one, superbly. I recall a phrase used by one reviewer or liner-note writer, can’t recall which: “Gerhard throws the orchestra against the wall”. Not that there is any sense of randomness. His music is carefully structured and all those glorious sonorities fulfill a purpose. As dubrob mentioned, there is widespread and imaginative use of percussion. Gerhard’s scores glitter, excite and caress by turns, which encourages you to give repeat listenings while you’re trying to work out his more complex arguments.
He lived much of his life in England and enjoyed the enthusiastic support many of its prominent musicians. Colin Davis recorded Symphony 4 and the Violin Concerto for Argo, Norman del Mar gave us the Concerto for Orchestra on the same label. It was during his self-imposed exile that he got to know and love Sibelius. There is a delicious moment in Homenaje de Pedrell when we’re basking in all that sultry Catalan atmosphere and her comes Tapiola.
As they say in marketing circles, if you like the Concerto for Orchestra, dubrob, you’ll love the Fourth Symphony. Much of Gerhard’s orchestral music is available on Chandos with the BBCSO conducted by Matthias Bamert in fine performances, though for me they don’t displace my vinyl recordings. My personal preferences amongst his works are probably influenced by familiarity – Symphonies 1 and 4 and the Concerto for Orchestra. At the other end of the scale the three instrumental concertos (harpsichord, violin and piano) don’t quite grab me the same way though that’s probably due to my relative coolness towards the form in general. They’re still excellent works. In fact I’ve yet to encounter second-rate Gerhard. Don’t discount the early works – Don Quixote if you can find it, Pedrell and the Pandora Suite. There’s nothing of the apprentice about them and they’re very approachable if you find the all-out Gerhard of, say, the Third Symphony, too much.