Editor’s Note: I wish to thank John Longstaff and Rob Barnett for permission to post their report and review on the Bax site.  The concert was indeed a memorable occasion and a thrill to hear Bax, Finzi and Moeran all in one concert.  We have John Longstaff and his fine orchestra to thank for that.  

THE MOERAN SYMPHONY IN SHEFFIELD

By John Longstaff  

This concert ( 23 April 2005 , St Mark's Church, Sheffield ) had a rather curious

genesis: From time to time we canvas the views of the membership as to what we should play - the Moeran Symphony was suggested six or seven years ago, but the idea has lain dormant until recently. Three years ago we played Walton's 1st Symphony, and I intended to open the concert with Tintagel, but fought shy of it when I realised we would have to get a harp in for the one work, and in any case I thought it quite difficult with the Walton as well in the same programme.

In October 2003 we gave another all English programme: Elgar 'Froissart'; Arthur Butterworth 'Ragnarök'; Edward Longstaff Clarinet Concerto (my brother is Assistant Director of Music at the Purcell School , and an accomplished composer), and RVW's 4th Symphony. The soloist on that occasion was Sarah Williamson, who had recently been the Woodwind Finalist in the Young Musician of the Year Competition. After the performance of Edward's Concerto she immediately expressed a desire to come and play with the SSO again, and she decided she'd like to play the Finzi Concerto, which suited me fine as we had played the same composer's Dies Natalis two years previously.  

So we had a concerto, and I needed to complete the programme. I thought of Tintagel again, and because we had been successful with our performances of Walton 1 and Vaughan Williams 4 it seemed appropriate to investigate the Moeran Symphony, particularly in view of its proximity in time to the Walton and VW, and also with a soloist who was likely to be something of an attraction for the audience we could afford to take the risk of programming something markedly less familiar.  

It also happened that a year or two previously, while visiting the distinguishedconductor David Lloyd-Jones in London he had just received the first edit of this Naxos recording of the Moeran Symphony and hearing that recording was my introduction to the sound world of this remarkable piece, conscious though I had been of its existence some years previously - I'm pleased to say I managed to deduce the identity of the composition simply from listening to it - I wasn't told in advance what it was!  

You ask me what recordings I have heard - well I've now heard the Lloyd-Jones recording twice in its entirety, once following the score, and once just listening. I doubt very much that I shall listen to it again before our performance, as I don't like experiencing music I am about to conduct through someone else's ears - occasionally I might get a recording out to check a tempo or a piece of phrasing, but other than that I don't use recordings as an aid to learning scores. I spend quite a lot of time reading them, and the advantage of weekly rehearsals is that you have seven days to assimilate what you were trying to achieve before it becomes necessary to try again. I hope that when we give our performance the work will sound as vibrant and exciting as it must have done in 1938.  

A footnote - last week rehearsing the 2nd movement for the first time one of our players said it reminded him of the Britten 'Four Sea Interludes' - I was delighted to tell him he'd got the right coastline, only Moeran was thinking 40 or 50 miles further north in Norfolk! The work is making a very strong impression on the orchestra who find it very rewarding - some of Moeran's string figuration is cruelly unidiomatic, but we hope that we are overcoming the difficulties!

Sheffield Symphony Orchestra/John Longstaff, St Marks, Broomfield Road , Sheffield . 23 April 2005 . BAX: Tintagel, FINZI: Clarinet Concerto, MOERAN: Symphony in G Minor  

Review by Rob Barnett  

Programmes like this arrive once every decade ... if that. Our journey over the Pennines was well worthwhile. The works were apt to St George's Day although Bax and Moeran are dipped deep in Irishry. The Finzi positively sings English landscape and the Moeran is said to have been inspired by the Norfolk coastline though Sibelius is never that far away. Tintagel commingles crashing Atlantic waves, the Tristan legend and the passion of the young Bax and Harriet Cohen.  

I was able to attend the afternoon rehearsal sessions for all but the Finzi so became accustomed to the typically boomy resonance of this church auditorium. It was first built in the 1860s but was destroyed by enemy action in 1941. The present rebuild was completed in 1963. Rehearsals involved a play-through of each work, Moeran first then Bax, with stops from time to time to adjust dynamic balance and phrasing.  

Tintagel uses a massive orchestra and Longstaff and the SSO cut no corners - though I did wonder if there should have been two harps. The performance was strong and engaging with the Atlantic combers smashing spectacularly against Tintagel's cliffs. This was taken as quickly as Goossens' famous acoustic 78s - now on Symposium. Then came the Finzi - a more gently ecstatic work, soft on melodrama, strong on tender and poignant poetry. The soloist found depths in the quiet music that I had not heard before - she made something very special of the cadenza-like moments. The strings however found Finzi's writing cruelly demanding.  

Longstaff is a vigorous and extremely active conductor. His Moeran bristled with eager energy and the rapidity of the stomped-out rhythmic activity at the end of the first movement was phenomenal; producing a very high wow factor. I have never heard it played that fast before nor had I heard the underpinning signature ostinato at the start of the first movement played at such a rapid pulse. Longstaff took the bright-eyed third movement scherzo as briskly as Boult on the old Lyrita LP, taking risks with his orchestra. The intricate pizzicatos over tested the strings in rehearsal but came off triumphantly on the evening. The effect 'in the round' was great. The downside in this uproariously triumphant work is that the wilder ffff climaxes turned into a din in this acoustic. The final tricksy thudding hammer-blows were spot-on in rehearsal but on the night, while losing none of the visceral excitement, things were blurred when the player of the snare-drum dropped one of his sticks during the violent thwacks required (Oh to hear Longstaff and his orchestra in William Schuman's Third Symphony!).  

This was Moeran done with devilish panache and great courage. If the jewelledscherzo is as quick as 1974 vintage Boult, the first movement and the finale are taken at the sort of speed Boult found for his 1950s recordings of the Sibelius tone poems. Bold and risktaking, Longstaff seems prepared to reinvent music from its accustomed patterns. I count myself very fortunate to have heard his life-enhancing Moeran symphony. If he returns to this work - which I hope he will - do make the journey. It will be well worth it.  

It was a pleasure to meet old friends all from the BMS and I am especially grateful to Chris Webber for alerting me to this concert.  

Longstaff has a good orchestra at his disposal. Its special strengths lie with a superb string department (particularly the luxuriantly-toned violins, here split left and right - Boult and Handley style), outstanding woodwind and a boisterous brass cadre. The clarinet and oboe principals shone with great skill and feeling through their solos in the Moeran. It was a very special evening.