ARTHUR BUTTERWORTH: Symphonies No. 1 & No. 4; Viola Concerto; Composer talking about his life and work – Sarah-Jane Bradley, viola/ Royal Scottish National Orchestra/ Arthur Butterworth, conductor/ Halle Orchestra/ John Barbirolli, conductor – Dutton CDLX 7212 (2 CDs), 2:24:58 **** [Distr. by Harmonia mundi]:
This delicious set is selling for 2-for-1, so don’t let the number of discs detract from your buying decision. Dutton, in what is now becoming what can only be called a happy habit, continues to supply us with wonderful recordings of important British music. Here we get Arthur Butterworth (b. 1923)–not George, the perhaps more famous pastoralist–a man of considerable age who knew many of our favorite English composers of yesteryear, and is still actively making music in many realms. His 1986 Fourth Symphony (there are six total), considered by the composer to be a “looking back” to the large scale felicities of his First Symphony (1957), is a wondrously loving and somewhat sprawling account that demands intense listening, not because of its esoteric nature or hard to discern forms (neither of which are present), but because he simply takes a long time to state his argument. Like the Sibelius of the Fourth and Sixth Symphonies, Butterworth, in his romance and fascination with all things Nordic, and his own Scottish roots in the North, sees time a little differently than most other composers, and consequently employs a generously relaxed canvas in which to state his case. This is not English pastoralism–though there are hints of Bax, but in this case you leave the sauna relatively dry, Sibelius (though not overtly), and even Britten (and I wonder what the composer would think of that comparison)–and the musical arguments can be terse and even a little obscenely tense. But the line and conceived linear structure of the piece is remarkably supported by harmonic elements which have their own sense of polyphonic existence, much as in the Finnish composer as well. Lengthy, but worth it.
Even though I like No. 4 very much, to me the masterpiece here is the creatively cogent and structurally tight-knit Viola Concerto. Why this one (1988-92) hasn’t seen more performances is beyond me, as Butterworth, who learned the instrument years ago as part of his own compositional education, writes searingly lyrical passages for the instrument that melts into the overall orchestral lines with seamless beauty and effortless dexterity. Violist Sarah-Jane Bradley plays with authority and passion in a composer-led performance that must be considered definitive.
One of the real pleasures here is the performance of the First Symphony, aptly programmed because of the composer’s stated connection with it in his realization of the Fourth, performed in a smoking monophonic rendition given by Sir John Barbirolli on a radio check dating from 1958. This is a groundbreaking work that shows the composer at his very best, one interesting and alluring idea after the next, and the audience response at the end indicates the public agreed with that assessment. The mono sound is good, not great—even though lovingly restored, some things just can’t be made to sound better than they actually are—but there is clarity if not a lot of focus, and nothing gets in the way of Barbirolli’s manically brilliant run through the score.
This is a very underrated composer with good things to say, and we should be grateful for another addition to what is a small catalog on record.
— Steven Ritter
