Ruth Gipps (1921-1999)
Orchestral Works Volume 3
Coronation Procession, Op 41 (1953)
Ambarvalia. A Dance Op 70 (1988)
Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, Op 58 (1968)
Cringlemire Garden. An impression for string orchestra, Op 39 (1952)
Symphony No 1 in F minor, Op 22 (1942)
Martin Owen (horn), BBC Philharmonic / Rumon Gamba
rec. 2022, MediaCityUK, Salford, Manchester, UK
Chandos CHAN20284 [75]
Back in 2022 Volume 2 of Chandos’ survey of the orchestral music of Ruth Gipps was one of my choices as a Recording of the Year and indeed became MWI’s overall choice too. As the citation said there; “rare but valuable repertoire performed with skill and insight by the finest artists superbly recorded and produced”. So has the wait of just over two years been worth it given the high bar set by the earlier releases? The answer is an easy and celebratory yes. Indeed exactly the same comment above could be applied here with complete accuracy. The reasons are easy to divine; Chandos have repeated the formula of the same artists, superbly recorded performing a well-chosen selection of Gipps’ works ranging across 46 years of her composing career. For the listener, as this series develops, so Gipps’ style and musical personality comes into sharper focus. Two of the five works are receiving their premiere recordings while the other three; The Horn Concerto Op.58, Ambarvalia – A Dance Op.70 and Cringlemire Garden Op.39 just their second. The cover suggests that Ambarvalia is also a premiere however it appeared on a SOMM disc I reviewed in 2019.
For me the undoubted highlight of this new disc is the Symphony No.1 in F minor Op.22 written in 1942 when Gipps was just 21 years old. Lewis Foreman in his typically astute liner note points out that this is not a work that belies its Wartime origins instead the confidence and certainty of the writing is striking – there is little doubt either technical or emotional here. Gipps’ composition teachers at the Royal College of Music were Vaughan Williams and Gordon Jacob. If the latter influenced the skill in the handling of the orchestra then the former seems to be an inspirational presence – his Symphony No.4 was written in the relatively unusual key of F minor too. Worth reminding readers at this point that the youthful Gipps was a genuinely remarkable musical polymath. Quite aside from her composing skill she was a fine enough student pianist to play Brahms’ Piano Concerto No.2, and during the War she was one of the oboe/cor anglais players in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Indeed, when her first symphony finally received its first performance in 1945 by that orchestra under its dedicatee George Weldon, Gipps not only played the cor anglais part in the performance but also was the soloist in Glazunov’s Piano Concerto in F minor in the same concert.
The symphony is cast in a traditional four movements with the longer outer movements framing a slow Adagio second and faster Allegro third. The longest movement is the opening Allegro moderato which runs to 12:32. The mood is essentially good naturedly energetic without being aggressive. Gipps builds passages over ostinati figures which appear across the whole orchestra building to a powerful final climax over heavy timpani. A notable characteristic is the very well judged orchestration – no excessively thick writing that can often plague an overly enthusiastic young composer. This is surely where Gordon Jacob’s discriminating hand is most evident. Occasionally modal melodic lines – but no direct folk influence – suggest Vaughan Williams but never in a clumsy manner. Not by accident the oboe and cor anglais are given several key solos in this work – as ever beautifully played here by the BBC PO principals. The opening of the slow movement is a lovely example of this with clarity and poise in the pastoral writing suggesting a more mature hand than just a twenty one year old. This is a genuinely lovely movement – Rumon Gamba seems to have the exact measure of letting the music have a gentle rapture without wallowing in any forced sentiment.
Foreman suggests that the scherzo might almost be a standalone piece of light music. In the sense that it has no great emotional axe to grind and with scoring that is again a model of well-judged brilliance and the attractive central meno mosso (which again features the cor anglais) I understand what he means. However, it also fits perfectly the scale and emotional landscape of the symphony as a whole. This aptness of scale and mood again suggests a composer instinctively mature beyond their years. No-one, least of all Gipps, is suggesting that this is ‘big’ or ‘great’ music but goodness me it is beautifully crafted and a genuine delight. The opening pages of the closing movement are the most sombre and reflective in the work with the double reed instruments again featuring prominently. The range of moods and changes in tempo are considerable and I did wonder if this slightly undermined the inexorable progress of the music. There are still many passages of real interest and beauty but without quite the absolute certainty shown elsewhere. After a brief cymbal-capped climax Gipps opts for an ending where the music recedes into the distance over a steadily trudging bass line and one final cadential horn figure. Whatever doubts there may be about this ending, the work as a whole is a genuinely enjoyable discovery and one that does not deserve the eighty years of neglect it has suffered until this recording.
The other undoubtedly fine work on this disc is the Concerto for Horn and Orchestra Op.58 which dates from 1968. But collectors already knew about the calibre of this work from the superb recording on Lyrita played by David Pyatt with Nicholas Braithwaite conducting the LPO. Something of a shock to realise Pyatt recorded this as long ago as 1996 (released 2007). So there is certainly room for another recording of this impressive and very characterful work. Martin Owen is the new soloist and he matches Pyatt for easy virtuosity and insouciant skill. Given the very different couplings I can imagine collectors wanting to have both performances. In terms of style and execution they are quite similar. The main difference is the tone of the soloist; Pyatt is lighter and leaner compared to Owen’s fuller more rounded sound. The Lyrita production/engineering is superb with Pyatt placed slightly further back into the orchestral picture. If I had to choose just one performance it would be Pyatt’s for his leaner sound which to my ear seems a fraction more suited to the music. But make no mistake this new version is top drawer. I am no horn player but this sounds like a very demanding piece to play. Gipps wrote the work for her son Lance Baker when he was just 21 (Baker became co-principal horn at English National Opera) so clearly she was willing to challenge a young player at the start of their career as she had been. The qualities of the work are evident and clear; clarity of form and instrumentation, a skilled handling of scale and content, and an ability to write music that is instantly appealing and attractive. Surely a work that deserves the attention of all budding horn soloists.
A feature of nearly all Gipps’ scores is evident here – a resolute determination not to write music that is subject to anything except her own tastes and musical preferences. So there is little aesthetic difference between the 1942 Symphony and the 1968 Concerto. Whether listeners perceive this immutability a strength or a weakness is up to them – when the result is as impressive as it is here I find the dates of composition irrelevant. The remaining three works are consciously smaller-scaled. The disc opens with the Coronation Procession Op.41 of 1953. This work was not an official commission for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II – Foreman notes that the work was completed some six months before the June 2nd coronation. This is another work that skirts the definition of “serious” or “light” music. Gipps’ skill at handling the orchestra ensures that this is an easily attractive work but at the same time it does feel slightly formulaic with heraldic brass fanfares and an attempt at a “big” tune in the march-trio section. As would be expected Rumon Gamba and the BBC PO play this to the absolute hilt and make the best possible case for an occasional piece. In passing – although nothing in the liner suggests this – I did wonder if Gipps deliberately wrote this as a vehicle to generate performances and attention at a time when her more serious works were not receiving the exposure they deserved.
Cringlemire Garden Op.39 dates from the year before the coronation work and it appeared on Volume 3 of CPO’s survey of British Music for Strings with Douglas Bostock conducting the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim. The two performances are very similar but Gamba’s big advantage is the use of a proper full symphonic string section with all the tonal weight and dynamic range that can deploy. Bostock’s German chamber orchestra is very good indeed but at just fourteen players lacking body despite the best endeavours of the engineers. Gamba is better too with the subtle ebbs and flows implicit in the music. Gipps’ debt to the pastoral idiom of Vaughan Williams is very clear here – almost to the point of pastiche. As such, this is the work that impacts me least – Gipps as Gipps is an impressive composer who does not rely on “sounding like” anyone else. The last work on this disc is also the latest. Written in 1988, Ambarvalia (A Dance) Op.70 is a Delian gem. Written for a small orchestra – double wind and strings plus a very effective celesta part – this is a pensive, gently lilting dance in compound time reminiscent of Walton’s Siesta. It was dedicated to composer Adrian Cruft who was an exact contemporary of Gipps and had also been a pupil of Jacob. As much as anything you can hear in this touching tribute an acknowledgement from one composer to another of a kindred spirit in an age of modernity. Apparently the title relates to a Roman agricultural fertility rite although you would be hard put to glean a relationship from the music alone. Perhaps there is an echo of John Foulds’ archaic string writing but even that is something of a stretch. Again the performance here is wholly empathetic and engaging.
As this series continues, the real value is the way the listener can start to build a fuller picture of Gipps’ range and consistent style. So it is interesting to hear Symphony No.1 alongside the early/contemporaneous Knight in Armour from Volume 1 and Oboe Concerto Op.20 and Death on a Pale Horse from Volume 2 as just one example of this. Foreman lists a group of British composers who did write symphonies with a more explicit reaction to War including Bate, Benjamin, Alan Bush, Arnell, Clifford and Rubbra. Of course to that list can be added many more composers – not least Malcolm Arnold another exact contemporary of Gipps – whose work has already been recorded and acknowledged as having real merit.
In my own personal pantheon I am not sure that I would place Gipps above all of those but she was certainly their equal and the neglect of this attractive, intelligent and well-crafted music seems inexplicable. The comment by a member of the BBC’s reading panel that; “Dr Gipps… you are simply not a composer at all” was as intentionally cruel as it is patently fatuous. In the hands of this series of discs, history will prove that commentator spectacularly wrong.
Nick Barnard
Previous reviews: John Quinn (January 2025) ~ Philip Harrison (January 2025)
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