Lennox Berkeley - Works for Piano and Chamber Ensamble

Lennox BERKELEY (1903-1989)

Works for Piano and Chamber Ensamble

Sonatina for Violin and Piano, Op. 17

5 Short Pieces for Piano, Op. 4

Andantino for Cello and Piano, Op. 21, No. 2a

3 Pieces for Solo Clarinet

Mazurka for Piano, Op. 101, No. 2

Duo for Cello and Piano, Op. 81, No. 1

6 Preludes for Piano, Op. 23

Concertino for Flute, Violin, Cello and Piano, Op. 49

Schirmer Ensemble

Berkeley's Sonatina for Violin and Piano, Op. 17, was written in 1943 and published two years later, with a dedication to his friend Gladys Bryans, with whom he and Britten had stayed during a short working holiday in Gloucestershire in 1937. As the composer later pointed out, the work is in what was then considered a modern idiom but made no excessive demands on either performers or listeners. The structure is straightforward, with a first movement that has a forthright first subject and secondary contrasting material, returning in modified recapitulation. The movement ends in hushed serenity, its final violin A major chord modified by the piano's addition of an inversion of the chord of F sharp minor. The slow movement is in the form of a sombre melody that rises to a climax, before subsiding, its final D minor chord again modified by the piano. The third movement, in 5/4, is in the form of a theme and variations, the first of the latter slightly faster, the second capricious in its mood, the third rubato, the fourth a satirical waltz, and the fifth marked Andante, followed by the return of the original theme and metre.The Five Short Pieces for Piano, Op. 4, were written in 1937 and dedicated to Berkeley's friend, the Corsican Jose Raffalli, with whom he had shared a flat in Paris and who was killed during the war, when he was in the French Resistance. The graceful first piece opens in 7/8, with following changes of time signature that give it a certain flexibility. The Poulenc of the Promenades is not far away in the following Allegro moderato, and the third piece has a particular melodic charm. The fourth piece has accompanying figuration at first in the right hand and the melody in the left, before rôles are reversed, with the accompanying figuration then placed in a middle part. The set ends with an Allegro that starts in 11/8 and has the now expected shifts of metre.Berkeley's Andantino for Cello and Piano, Op. 21/2a, is a transcription by the composer of a soprano solo from his Festive Anthem, settings of George Herbert and Henry Vaughan commissioned by Walter Hussey, Vicar of St Matthew's, Northampton, who had earlier commissioned Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb. The anthem was first heard at St Matthew's in 1945.The Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo were seemingly written in 1939 and published in 1983 with a dedication to the clarinettist Thea King. The first piece is dominated by the descending minor and major thirds of the opening figure, as the Lento second piece is by the returning dotted figuration. The group ends with a lively Allegro that explores the full range of the instrument.The piano Mazurka was commissioned by the BBC among works designed to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Haydn in 1732, and was first performed in a broadcast by John McCabe in 1982, to be published by Berkeley's publishers Chesters in the following year as a tribute to his eightieth birthday. It is among the composer's last completed works, a composition of simple clarity, before the illness that clouded his final years.Berkeley's Duo for Cello and Piano, Op. 81, No. 1, was written in 1971 and dedicated to the publisher George Rizza. Improbably enough Op. 81, No. 2, is the Palm Court Waltz, arranged by the composer for piano duet from an earlier piece of entertainment music. The Duo, commissioned by the Park Lane Group for their Young Artists and Twentieth Century Music Series, is in a weightier vein, the first part dominated by the rhythmic figuration with which it opens, a triple-metre cello melody over stark piano chords, to which secondary material of contrapuntal suggestion provides a strong contrast. A strongly melodic passage marked Meno vivo leads to a development of these elements and a structural climax. The opening returns in a concluding passage, before the final Presto con fuoco.

The Six Preludes, Op. 23, were written in 1945 and first performed in that year by Colin Horsley. These pieces are further testimony to Berkeley's interest in and idiomatic handling of the piano. There is an inevitable feeling of France in the rippling accompanying figuration of the first piece and in its characteristic final notes. The following Andante presents two poignant melodies, later heard in conjunction. The third of the set makes greater technical demands, while the fourth, with its nostalgic melody set off, as it continues, by the upper notes added above by the left hand. The tuneful fifth Prelude is introduced by a jaunty melody in 7/8, which later returns in recapitulation, after a middle section of syncopated rhythms. The set ends with an Andante of Gallic autumnal charm.Berkeley's Concertino for Recorder or Flute, Violin, Cello and Harpsichord or Piano, Op. 49, here using the alternative instrumentation, was written in 1955. The first movement, in sonata form, has a secondary theme based on the descending scale, a contrast with the more angular earlier material. Aria I, for flute and cello and marked Lento, is based on a ground derived from the twelve-note series, a contrast with the shorter Andantino Aria II, for violin and piano, a dramatic movement with harmonies not far from Aldeburgh. The last movement is a rondo, as finely crafted as the rest of the work.