Classical Works Spotlight #618--Peggy Glanville-Hicks

[erik]

The female Australian composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight with an exotic piano concerto inspired by a visit she made to an ancient part of central Italy in the 1950's.

Peggy Glanville-Hicks: ETRUSCAN CONCERTO (FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA)

Australian composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks had the distinction of being one of the first female composers in 20th century classical music to attain prominence not only in her home country, but also in England and in the United States, both places where she lived during her seventy-seven and a half years of life. During the early-to-mid 1930’s, she studied at the Royal College of Music, studying piano with Arthur Benjamin, conducting with Sir Malcolm Sargent, and composition with Ralph Vaughan Williams (and, later, Nadia Boulanger). During the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, she even served as a music critic at the New York Times, working alongside fellow music critic and American composer Virgil Thomson. Of her many works, particularly in terms of orchestral works, arguably her most popular one for audiences, or at least the one that managed to attain popularity in her lifetime, was her 1956 Etruscan Concerto, for piano and orchestra. The work’s title was inspired by her visit to the Etruria region of central Italy, an area that now contains the provinces of Tuscany, Lazio, and Umbria. The ancient people of the Etruria region were known as Etruscans, hence the name of the work. Using some fairly modernistic tones (but never atonal in nature) and Mediterranean rhythms, the Etruscan Concerto utilizes Classical era-size orchestral forces, adding on a tam-tam and a xylophone, and a fairly structured solo piano part. The work is in a standard three-movement concerto form: (1) Promenade; (2) Meditation; and (3) Scherzo. Since its 1956 premiere, it has become a favorite of enterprising pianists interested in exotic forms. Ms. Glanville-Hicks passed away in June 1990 in her home country.



Piano: KEITH JARRETT

Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra/DENNIS RUSSELL DAVIES (Musical Heritage Society)

Included:
Lou Harrison: SEVEN PASTORALES
Terry Riley: JUNE BUDDHAS (FROM “MEXICO CITY BLUES”) (Voices Saint Paulia)

[egoodstein]

Yes, a nice work, and the others here are also of equal interest (and variety!) for their 'exotic' qualities-- an interesting melding of traditional classical and 'world' tones and pieces. Of the works of hers I've heard, they are an interesting chapter standing between other Australian composers, like the more 'traditional' Percy Grainger, and more atonal/modernistic Peter Sculthorpe and others. And there's certainly the influence of Vaughn Williams and to some extent Elgar too. I had forgotten she also worked as a
music critic. Thanks for mentioning-- I have this record someplace but haven't listened in a long time, nice reminder.

[erik]

The Etruscan Concerto is one of those works that might have remained obscure, but Keith Jarrett, during the time he moved between Classical and Jazz, certainly saw something in it. In my opinion, this is the particular recording to have of Ms. Glanville-Hicks' single most popular work.