Ruth Gipps is Radio 3’s Composer of the Week

The ongoing revival of the music of Ruth Gipps (1921–1999) reached another new high-water mark recently, when she was made the subject of BBC Radio 3’s long-running programme Composer of the Week.  The ever-superb Donald Macleod presented the customary five hour-long broadcasts, interspersing the story of her life with records of her music.  The series can be listened to in full here until the 9th April, but thereafter an abridged, downloadable podcast version will still be available.

Not long ago I had more or less resigned myself to the impossibility of Ruth Gipps’ ever featuring on Composer of the Week, given the apparent paucity of decent recordings of her work: there simply did not seem to be enough musical material to fill the five slots.  Things have changed very rapidly in the past few years, however, and it has now been possible to draw on a much larger catalogue of commercial records.  Moreover, to my surprise and delight, some brand new recordings, some of them premières, also featured: listeners are treated both to foretastes of three forthcoming releases due later this year, and to some recordings made specially for the programme by BBC musicians.  All have been added to my ever-lengthening discography.  I was struck particularly by the first movement of the Clarinet Sonata, with that characteristic bright spikiness that I like to think is particularly reflective of the composer’s character.

Another noteworthy aspect of the programme was the contribution of Ruth Gipps’ daughter-in-law, Victoria Rowe, who joined Donald Macleod for a part of each programme.  Her insightful comments and memories, particularly of Gipps’ work as a conductor, conveyed a vivid impression of the fascinating and forceful character behind the music.

It was also an unexpected surprise to hear the voice of the composer herself, as a guest in BBC interviews during the 1970s and 1980s.  There is also, on the website, a splendid gallery of photographs, formal and informal, which have been generously shared by her family.

Radio 3 really has excelled itself here: I think this programme certainly did justice to this neglected composer.  It has been wonderful to get to know the this remarkable figure even better, and heartening to think that it will have made her music even better-known.  Thank you very much to the BBC and to everyone involved in the making of these programmes.

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Ruth Gipps’ centenary has been marked elsewhere as well: a Centennial Symposium was held online in early March and can be listened to on YouTube here.  Three recordings were made specially for this event, and are worth a listen in spite of having been recorded remotely:

• Op. 12d.  Suite for Two Violins: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a03D1yYsuyo>  (Helena Ruinard and Tony Hawkes)
• Op. 3b.  Sea-Shore Suite. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC8XnibEjdE> (Rachel Harwood-White (oboe) and Caroline Page (piano).
• Op. 45.  Clarinet Sonata (movements 2 and 3) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2DeuOSO-Ak> Performed by Jane Booth (clarinet) and Professor John Irving (piano).

Members of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra play Gipps’ Rhapsody in E flat for Clarinet and String Quartet.  The musicians are Oliver Janes (clarinet), Philip Brett (violin), Bryony Morrison (violin), Catherine Bower (viola) and Eduardo Vassallo (cello).