Ruth Gipps (1921-1999)
Piper of Dreams
Juliana Koch (oboe, cor anglais)
Michael McHale (piano)
Julian Bliss (clarinet)
rec. 2023, Potton Hall, Suffolk, UK
All first recordings
Chandos CHAN20290 [69]
Age 18 and age 68-that is the chronological range for the works on this disc. What binds together these works by Ruth Gipps is the oboe, which was one of her two instruments (although we should add the cor anglais), the other being the piano. Gipps played the oboe and cor anglais in the City of Birmingham Orchestra (sic) in the 1940’s as well as pursuing a solo piano career until the early 50’s. On this disc we have another eminent oboist, Juliana Koch, with the composer’s oboe chamber music. Readers may remember her excellent performance of Gipps’ Oboe Concerto [review].
Unlike some composers, Gipps’ music was published from very early in her career, while she was still studying at the Royal College of Music. All but two of the works here were written at this point in her life, several for her friend the oboist Marion Brough. The Kensington Gardens Suite dates from Gipps’ 17th year and the Sea Shore Suite from the year after. While there are traces here of Gipps’ teachers, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gordon Jacob, she is already starting to go her own way. I especially liked the “Stormy Beach” section of the Sea Shore Suite, with its dark undercurrent, if I may, perhaps an influence of contemporary events.
As Lewis Foreman points out in his, as always, excellent notes, one of the composer’s prime concerns during WWII was to support friends and colleagues in the Society of Women Composers. One of these efforts was the Sonata No. 1 for Oboe and Piano. This work is unusual in that the first movement is longer than the second and third combined. That first movement has a pastoral feeling perhaps derived from Gordon Jacob, while the slow movement is brief, but very enjoyable, and the last is a tempo di bolero, although a solemn one.
With the 1940 Trio Op. 10, for oboe, clarinet, and piano, Gipps moves further into maturity. This is another piece for Marion Brough, who played in the premiere with Gipps and a young clarinetist named Robert Baker. Not long after that Gipps and Baker would marry and she would write several pieces for him. [review ~ review]. The Trio is notable for its clever blending of the wind parts, especially in the opening movement, with fine development of the themes and careful organization in all three movements. The second movement is dominated by the clarinet in a forlorn mood, with further examples of Gipps’ expanding developmental technique. With the final allegro ritmico we have a tempo of “quasi rumba,” quite unlike the bolero of the Sonata No. 1. From the same year (1940) there is Sea-Weed Song for cor anglais and piano, and The Piper of Dreams for unaccompanied oboe. Both are fine examples of Gipps’ pastoral music.
Forty-six years after the first, Gipps wrote her Oboe Sonata No. 2. The latter is in an evolving one-movement format, with material marked doloroso linking the three sections.The second section is very beautiful and a trifle wistful and the final allegro moderato skillfully sums up the whole piece. Five years later the composer returned to the cor anglais with the Threnody. She distills all her knowledge of the instrument’s unique tones into this semi-programmatic work that evokes a mourner’s “… consolation upon hearing Psalm 121: I will lift up mine eyes to the hills”. The Threnody organically develops the mood of the quotation into a profoundly moving experience.
We have already mentioned Juliana Koch’s playing in the Gipps Oboe Concerto, and this new disc gives her a chance to show her equal facility with the composer’s chamber music. These performances illuminate many aspects of the composer’s musical personality, but the highpoint is the Threnody, in which her playing is well-nigh perfect. Michael McHale is a frequent recital partner of Ms. Koch and this is evident here, but one must also mention the range of colors he brings to his accompaniments. They are ably joined by clarinetist extraordinaire Julian Bliss in the Trio. Wonderful playing in an essential addition to the Gipps discography.
William Kreindler
Previous review: Steve Arloff (September 2024)
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Contents
Sonata No.2 Op.66 (1985) for oboe and piano (for Catherine Pluygers)
Kensington Gardens Suite Op.2 (1938) for oboe and piano (dedicated to Marion Brough)
Sea-weed Song Op.12c (1940) for cor anglais and piano
Sea-shore Suite Op.3b (1939) for oboe and piano (dedicated to Marion Brough)
Sonata No.1 Op.5a (1939) for oboe and piano (dedicated to Marion Brough)
The Piper of Dreams Op.12b (1940) for unaccompanied oboe (dedicated to Marion Brough)
Trio Op.10 (1940) for oboe, clarinet and piano
Threnody Op.74 (1990) for cor anglais and piano or organ (for Marcia Ferran)
