The long-unsung music of Ruth Gipps (1921–1999) really does seem to be undergoing a serious and sustained revival. In the past few years, her works have featured in a glorious proliferation of concerts and recordings, of which several have been premières, along with YouTube clips, magazine features and blog articles. It has all been thoroughly heartening for those who love her music, which has hopefully been brought to many new ears. I imagine that a great number of those discovering her tuneful and deftly-crafted music will wonder in disbelief (as I did) how they could never have heard of her before.
Even in the past fortnight, two exciting developments have swelled the revival. The first piece of news is that, on the 25th January 2020, Gipps’ Fourth Symphony is to receive its United States première. It will be played by the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Adam Stern, the orchestra’s director of music, who was kind enough to write into this blog with the news. The symphony will be the finale of a concert starting at 2 p.m. (U.S. Pacific Time) in the Benaroya Hall in the orchestra’s home city in Washington State. One première was evidently not enough, as the programme also includes the first performance of a piece by Mel Bonis, a name I have not heard before: ‘Le songe de Cléopâtre’. (Further details here: http://seattlephil.org/concerts-and-tickets/legendary-women).
The name of the Seattle Philharmonic might sound familiar because it already has the U.S. premiere of Gipps’ Second Symphony under its belt (a recording of this performance, given in 2017, also under Adam Stern, was generously made available on YouTube). That this enterprising orchestra is programming Gipps for a second time is, I feel, a further triumph and serious vindication of Ruth Gipps as a composer. It is a clear proclamation that her name is worth knowing in its own right, and not only by one or two of her pieces. It also shows the strength of support for Ruth Gipps that exists across the Atlantic. (Most of the YouTube clips of her music I have found to date have been of American performances). Many thanks to the Seattle Philharmonic for their determined promotion of her music, and I hope this première scores as great a success as the last!
The Fourth Symphony makes for very rewarding listening, though it is perhaps a little less immediately accessible than the Second and its four movements plumb moodier, more chromatic depths. But don’t be afraid! There are still Gipps’ characteristic memorable melodies, variations of textures and of light and shadow, cadences ‘swaying’ to and fro, tenderness complemented by a certain spikiness, and atmospheric interludes comprising imaginative pairings of instruments in duets, such as the cello and harp towards the end of the last movement. My own favourite movement, the second, is a moonlit grove of wonders.
Dawn breaks at the beginning of the final movement of Gipps’ fourth symphony.
The other piece of news is yesterday’s release of a new recording of Gipps’ piano concerto and a small piece for orchestra, ‘Ambervalia’. The piano concerto is a passionately melodious piece of music, and was one of the works that first drew me to find out about Ruth Gipps (the recording I first found was a 1972 radio broadcast with the BBC Northern Symphony orchestra, Eileen Broster as soloist, and the composer conducting). Now it has been given its second commercial recording, with the pianist Murray McLachlan and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Charles Peebles. The disc (released by SOMM records) is shared with two other works for piano and orchestra by Dora Bright (1862–1951) — another name that is new to me! The recording samples sound tremendously rich and exciting.
Update: I have also just found out that Ruth Gipps’ Clarinet Concerto (Op. 9 1940) is in the programme for the London Repertoire Orchestra’s Autumn Concert in St. James’ Church, Piccadilly, London, on the 2nd November 2019, with Peter Cigleris as soloist. It is described as the ‘first performance’ of a ‘new edition’. Fantastic news!
