![]() I (1951) for Julian Bream, and the Themeand variationsop. It sums up his relationshipwith this intimateinstrument w h i c h s e e m s t o b e s o c h a r a c t e r i s t i co f Berkeley's own fastidiousrestraint,althoughthe finale sportssomeflamencoeffects.Fortunately the Guitar concerto was precededby the solo Sonatina op. It was in this final period that Berkeley wrote the last of his sevenconcertos- the Guitar concerto op.88 (I914) - for Julian Bream. By now he was independent of his earlier influences and had created an impressive synthesiscapable of extension into a modified serial techniquein the 1960s. 41, the one-act comedy A dinner engagementop. In the 1950s Berkelev moved into the theatre Teresaof Avila op.27 (so memorably sung by Kathleen Ferrier) and the Stabat mater op. 20, the concertos for solo piano and for two pianos,and vocal works such as the deeply moving Four poems of St. I op.16, andthe Divertimento in Bb op.18.By the later 1940shis now very personal style was brilliantly expressedin works like the Piano sonata op. Berkeley reachedhis maturitytowardsthe end of the 1930s.under the shadow of the second world war, with outstandingorchestral works such as the Serenadefor strings op.12, the Symphonyn. Berkeley's most influential British connection was with Benjamin Britten.They first met when they were both having works performed in the Internati onalfe stival of contempo r ary musi c at Barcelona, Spain (1936)and their approachto composition was so similar that they immediatelycollaboratedon an orchestralsuite (Mont Juic), based on Spanish popular tunes. ![]() He becamea Roman Catholic in 1928and some of his most profound works are on religious subjects.Berkeley admired Ravel and Poulenc, who were both personal friends, but above all he revered Mozart, Chopin and neo-classicalStravinsky. After graduating from Oxford university in 1926, he starteda long apprenticeshipwith Nadia Boulangerandwas her most distinguishedBritish pupil. He came from the same generation of British composersas Sir William Walton and Sir Michael Tippettbut his ancestrywas partly French. ![]() LENNOX BERKELEY (1903-1989) English composerSir Lennox Randall The I Francis Berkeley was born on May lz'n, 1903,just outsidethe ancientuniversity-town of Oxford. Edited by Angelo Gilardino and Luigi BiscaWi ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2023
Categories |