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DSJ 138 Autumn 2005.Indd The Delius Society Journal Autumn 2005, Number 138 The Delius Society (Registered Charity No. 298662) President Dr Lionel Carley BA PhD Vice Presidents Sir Andrew Davis CBE Mark Elder CBE Vernon Handley CBE, MA, FRCM Richard Hickox CBE, FRCO Lyndon Jenkins Richard Kitching Tasmin Little FGSM ARCM (Hons) Hon D.Litt DipGSM David Lloyd-Jones BA FGSM HonDMus Julian Lloyd Webber FRCM Sir Charles Mackerras CBE Robert Threlfall Website: http://www.delius.org.uk ISSN-0306-0373 1 Chairman Roger J. Buckley Treasurer and Membership Secretary Stewart Winstanley Windmill Ridge, 82 Highgate Road, Walsall, WS1 3JA Tel: 01922 633115 Email: [email protected] Secretary Ann Dixon 21 Woodlands Drive, Brooklands, Sale, Cheshire, M33 3PQ Tel: 0161 282 3654 Email: [email protected] Journal Editor Martin Lee-Browne Chester House, Fairford, Gloucestershire GL7 4AD Tel: 01285 711417 Email: [email protected] Front cover: Untitled painting by Jelka Delius (possibly c. 1906-1907) 2 Felix Aprahamian (1915-2005) 3 CONTENTS Chairman’s Notes ...………………………………………..…………………. 5 Editorial ..…………………………………………...…………………………. 7 OBITUARY Meredith Davies by Helen Faulkner……………………………..…………….. 10 Some Reminiscences of Meredith Davies by Roy Massey……...........…….... 13 ARTICLES The Song of the High Hills Delius and Norway, by Asbjørn Eriksen…………………………………… 19 Origins and First Performances, and some puzzles by Martin Lee-Browne …........................................................................… 28 An Analysis, by Paul Guinery ....................................................................... 56 Aspects, by Robert Matthew-Walker ............................................................. 68 On conducting The Song of the High Hills, by Bo Holten ........................... 75 The Recordings, by Lewis Foreman .............................................................. 85 From the Archives ........................................................................................ 92 When Delius was a repertory composer in England..., by Lyndon Jenkins ... 94 The Perfect Member’s Car Number, by Norman Jones..................................... 99 Delius on Mastermind, by Godfrey Newham ................................................... 100 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 2005............................................................ 104 DELIUS SOCIETY BRANCH MEETINGS London, 15 March 2005 – Ian Lace ................................................................ 106 West of England, 9 April 2005 – Tony Lindsey ................................................ 109 Midlands, 9 April 2005 – James Baker & Joanna O’Connor .......................... 110 London, 19 April 2005 – Lyndon Jenkins & Paul Guinery ............................ 111 RETROSPECTIVE BOOK REVIEW Delius As I Knew Him – Fenby, by Paul Chennel ............................................ 114 BOOK AND CD REVIEWS & NOTES Sir Thomas Beecham, Vol 4 .................................................................................. 116 Delius, Elgar & Holst Partsongs .......................................................................... 117 H. Balfour Gardiner ............................................................................................ 118 Some Delian “bitlets” ............................................................................................ 118 4 The Collected Letters of Philip Heseltine .............................................................. 120 Delius - A Guide to Research .............................................................................. 122 CONCERT & BROADCAST REVIEWS Sea Drift at Peterborough .................................................................................. 124 Chordiale String Quartet at the Midlands Branch ......................................... 125 Talk by John Suchet on Classic FM .................................................................. 127 LETTERS Tony Watts .......................................................................................................... 128 Tony Noakes ...................................................................................................... 129 MISCELLANY A Statue for Felix? .............................................................................................. 130 Edna Graham ..................................................................................................... 130 The Pianola rolls ................................................................................................. 131 Erratum ............................................................................................................... 131 Delius Wine ......................................................................................................... 132 Music for Tired Gardeners ................................................................................. 132 ‘Song of Summer’ CD ........................................................................................ 133 EVENTS 2005 – 2006 ........................................................................................ 134 � 5 CHAIRMAN’S NOTES At the 2005 AGM, Lionel Carley was confirmed as our new President. Speaking immediately afterwards, he acknowledged the unique qualities of his predecessors, Eric Fenby and Felix Aprahamian. Eric had worked with Delius in a manner that has gone down in musical history – the word ‘amanuensis’ positively evokes his name – while Felix had visited the composer at Grez. The passage of time has eroded personal connections with the composer (with the happy exceptions of our Honorary Members Evelin Gerhardi, who stayed with the Deliuses for nine months in 1932, and her sister Malve Steinweg). Lionel, however, remains in virtual contact with Delius as much as anyone, as is amply shown by his splendid collection of writings on the composer. We welcome him to a long and fulfilling Presidency. Of late, sadness and celebration have gone hand-in-hand for our Society. We were very sorry to learn that our Vice President Meredith Davies died on 9th March. A man of immense musical insight, as well as of graceful manners and modesty, he will be much missed. Helen Faulkner’s obituary and Roy Massey’s reminiscences appear in this edition of the Journal. It was splendid to be able to announce, at the AGM, the appointment of Mark Elder to Vice Presidency of the Society. We are proud to acknowledge in this way his commitment to the music of Delius. We recall in particular his advocacy of the composer at last year’s BBC Promenade Concerts and his Delius recordings on the Hallé Orchestra’s own label. Mr Elder has identified a number of other works that he hopes to perform in Manchester. We extend a hearty welcome to him. Many members will recall the Columbia ‘Delius Society’ recordings of the 1930s, with their rather dismal brownish albums packed with 12 inch 78s that held a feast of the music of Delius, recorded by the LPO under Beecham. The first volume, containing Paris, Eventyr, the closing scene from Koanga, the serenade from Hassan and two Shelley songs performed by Heddle Nash and Gerald Moore, weighs in at about six pounds. Well, you can now have it in an excellent and totally weightless transcription via the Pristine Audio Direct website (http://www.pristineaudiodirect.com) which will cost you just £3.49. You can also order a standard CD for £4.99 or a premium quality CD for £7.49. The Hassan item is available as a free 6 sample, but at 7.4 MB it will take a while to download unless you have broadband. The LSO/Anthony Collins 1953 recording, originally Decca ffrr LXT 2788, is also available from the same site. This contains Brigg Fair, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, The Walk to the Paradise Garden and A Song of Summer. Some believe that digital transfers via the internet represent the future of recorded music. I hope to see large numbers of members at the final of the second competition for The Delius Prize, to be held at 7pm on Friday 25th November. Once again the venue is the David Josefowitz Recital Hall at London’s Royal Academy of Music. Lionel Friend will be the Adjudicator. Members will be most welcome at a simple reception to be held after the event. Roger Buckley � Delius’s hand – Ernest Proctor (1929) (Reproduced by courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery) 7 EDITORIAL I must first warmly thank the many Members who have said, in emails, letters and personally, how much they have enjoyed the re-styled Journal. Like almost every voluntary job undertaken by the ‘great retired’, it is taking much more time than I had been led to expect – but so far, I am getting a great deal of pleasure from putting it together. Things would be very different, however, without the inestimable help of Paul Brooks in Oxford, who ‘magics’ all the articles and pictures together into the right places for the printers, leaving as few blank spaces as possible, with absolutely no fuss at all I was unable to find a really good photograph of Felix Aprahamian in time to include it with his obituaries in DSJ 137, but a Member, David Butterworth, has kindly provided the one which, as I think very appropriate, is our frontispiece. This issue also begins what I intend will be the main feature of the Journal for the next few years - the devotion of a substantial proportion of each one to a particular Delius work. We start with The Song of the High Hills, and some very distinguished Members have responded to my cajoling for articles - it is especially pleasing that Bo Holten agreed to write about conducting
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