Tippett's Tearoom

[lordlance]

Not sure why Tippett's seriousness is being remarked on. I think the dissonance or harshness is part-and-parcel of most modern composers... Rihm, Julian Anderson, Sallinen....

[foxandpeng]

Not sure why Tippett's seriousness is being remarked on. I think the dissonance or harshness is part-and-parcel of most modern composers... Rihm, Julian Anderson, Sallinen....

Merely in the same vein that we do with other composers, I guess; a reflection on how his music feels. I am a big fan of Tippett, as with PMD and Robert Simpson, but it is worth noting that their beauty and worth is unlike that of Vasks or Silvestrov. My stamina for Penderecki is different to my back to back patience with Thomas de Hartmann. Both are wonderful, but not equal in their emotional or technical challenges 🙂

[Symphonic Addict]

Forthcoming from LPO:

[calyptorhynchus]

Not sure why Tippett's seriousness is being remarked on. I think the dissonance or harshness is part-and-parcel of most modern composers... Rihm, Julian Anderson, Sallinen....

The question for me is whether the dissonance and harshness is a necessary part of the structure. For Tippett and Robert Simpson, yes.

For some earlier music I often wish for a little more dissonance and harshness.

[Iota]

Come to think of it my friend was gardening for Tippett's mother (Mrs Kemp I think) who lived locally. My friend was probably a teenager (I'll ask him when I next see him). I think that Mrs Kemp told my friend that he could have a rest whenever he wanted to. It was unfortunate that one of his 'wheelbarrow naps' coincided with a visit from Tippett to see his mother.

This wheelbarrow story interests me, because I remember, when I was growing up, a family friend who, working at Dartington one year, had found Harrison Birtwistle slumbering in a wheelbarrow in exactly the same way.

   Nice to see the wheelbarrow getting its moment in the spotlight. Such an iconic and true friend to mankind.  It prompts the memory of Vivian Stanshall's little ditty from Sir Henry at Rawlinson End.

"How nice to be in England,
Now that England's here.
I stand upright in my wheelbarrow
And pretend I'm Boadicea"

[Kalevala]

Merely in the same vein that we do with other composers, I guess; a reflection on how his music feels. I am a big fan of Tippett, as with PMD and Robert Simpson, but it is worth noting that their beauty and worth is unlike that of Vasks or Silvestrov. My stamina for Penderecki is different to my back to back patience with Thomas de Hartmann. Both are wonderful, but not equal in their emotional or technical challenges 🙂

I should revisit his music.  I don't have a lot of it, but try and keep an open mind.  I know that I at least have a CD of his music with the Lindsay's.  Remember enjoying a string quartet from it.  The rest of it didn't resonate with me.  If I'm recalling correctly, I remember hearing good things about (I believe that it's called?) A Child of Our Time.  Any thoughts here?

K

[vandermolen]

  Nice to see the wheelbarrow getting its moment in the spotlight. Such an iconic and true friend to mankind.  It prompts the memory of Vivian Stanshall's little ditty from Sir Henry at Rawlinson End.

"How nice to be in England,
Now that England's here.
I stand upright in my wheelbarrow
And pretend I'm Boadicea"

Very nice! 

[Roasted Swan]

I should revisit his music.  I don't have a lot of it, but try and keep an open mind.  I know that I at least have a CD of his music with the Lindsay's.  Remember enjoying a string quartet from it.  The rest of it didn't resonate with me.  If I'm recalling correctly, I remember hearing good things about (I believe that it's called?) A Child of Our Time.  Any thoughts here?

K

Tippett is something of a blank spot for me too.  I find the music to be unecessarily complex too much of the time both in terms of the sheer amount of musical events happening at any given moment and also the knottiness of the language used.  I keep trying because clearly many other very fine artists and performers do believe in the music - so I feel the failing is mine!

[The new erato]

The question for me is whether the dissonance and harshness is a necessary part of the structure. For Tippett and Robert Simpson, yes.

For some earlier music I often wish for a little more dissonance and harshness.

Lots of dissonance in Guillaume de Machaut.

[DaveF]

I should revisit his music.  I don't have a lot of it, but try and keep an open mind.  I know that I at least have a CD of his music with the Lindsay's.  Remember enjoying a string quartet from it.  The rest of it didn't resonate with me.  If I'm recalling correctly, I remember hearing good things about (I believe that it's called?) A Child of Our Time.  Any thoughts here?

K

I would say Tippett has something for everyone, since, like Beethoven or Stravinsky, he had 3 "periods": the early lyrical one (Concerto for double string orchestra, first 2 quartets, Corelli Fantasia*, culminating in The Midsummer Marriage), the middle "knotty" one (2nd symphony*, King Priam, Concerto for orchestra, Vision of St Augustine) and the late flowering (4th symphony*, Mask of Time, Byzantium, The Rose Lake).  A Child of Our Time is an important work, no doubt, but, as he admitted later, the musical language is a bit unvaried ("Oh, terribly four-square, darling, terribly four-square").  But you can't argue with the endings of the 1st and 3rd parts - the settings of the 2 spirituals (Steal away, Deep river) typically don't leave a dry eye in the house.

(Asterisks above are IMHO the ones to start with to get a flavour of each period.)

Keep going, K, and you'll soon be ready for The Vision of St Augustine 

[Luke]

The four wonderful concertos (Strings; Piano; Orchestra; Triple) give a pretty well rounded idea of him at his best in the various periods of his life. One of my very favourite composers, as my posts earlier in this thread no doubt attests endlessly (cant remember what i wrote exactly, it was long ago).

[Iota]

I should revisit his music.  I don't have a lot of it, but try and keep an open mind.  I know that I at least have a CD of his music with the Lindsay's.  Remember enjoying a string quartet from it.  The rest of it didn't resonate with me.  If I'm recalling correctly, I remember hearing good things about (I believe that it's called?) A Child of Our Time.  Any thoughts here?

K

Perhaps try the second movement of the Second Symphony, where the music starts and seems to spread out mesmerically like a drop of ink in a glass of water, or the magical Ritual Dances from The Midsummer Marriage. Tippett wrote some of the most ravishing orchestral sounds ever to spill off a composer's pen imo. Rose Lake, the PC, Corelli Fantasia and others suggested above all seem starting points with potential too.

[Luke]

Most ravishing of all is the central movement of the Triple Concerto, plus the Interlude that precedes it. Who could resist such music? 

[Kalevala]

Thank you for the suggestions gents.  I'll jot them down.

K

[foxandpeng]

Yes! What they said ⬆️⬆️

Triple Concerto and Symphony 2 to begin, perhaps.

NP:

Symphony 2 with Hickox and the Bournemouth SO.... nice...

[Irons]

Perhaps try the second movement of the Second Symphony, where the music starts and seems to spread out mesmerically like a drop of ink in a glass of water, or the magical Ritual Dances from The Midsummer Marriage. Tippett wrote some of the most ravishing orchestral sounds ever to spill off a composer's pen imo. Rose Lake, the PC, Corelli Fantasia and others suggested above all seem starting points with potential too.

Discovered Ritual Dances by accident. A BBCMM CD featuring Elgar and RVW closed with Tippett. After the proceeding works which are very well known the Ritual Dances were a bolt from the blue. I thought them tremendous with echoes of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring".