Hubert PARRY Symphony No. 2 "Cambridge" Overture to an Unwritten Tragedy Symphonic Variations Royal Scottish National Orchestra Andrew Penny Charles Hubert Parry (1848 - 1918) Overture to an Unwritten Tragedy Symphony No. 2 in F major, 'The Cambridge' Symphonic Variations in E majorlminor Sir Hubert Parry came from a family of some distinction. He was the second son, and third surviving child of Thomas Gambier Parry by his first wife. His father's maternal great-uncle was Lord Gambier, Admiral of the Fleet, whose name he had taken, while Thomas Parry himself inherited a fortune from his own father, a director in the East India Company. Hubert Parry was educated at Eton, where he was able to distinguish himself in music, not so much in the desultory musical atmosphere that then obtained at the College, but through association with George Elvey at St George's Chapel, Windsor, and from Elvey he was at least able to have sound enough technical instruction and compose music for the choir. While at school he took the Oxford Bachelor of Music degree, the requirements of which, it must be said, have changed considerably since Parry's time. At Oxford he made the most of the musical opportunities offered, continuing, as at school, to compose music, particularly songs and sacred music and to enjoy informal musical gatherings, although his university studies were in law and history. During this period he was able to study, in a long vacation, with Henry Hugo Pierson in Stuttgart. Parry enjoyed an association with the Herbert family, notably with his school-friend George Herbert, 13th Earl of Pembroke. His marriage to Herbert's sister Maude, an alliance that won the disapproval of his mother-in-law, Lady Herbert, had various consequences. In the first place Parry was obliged to earn a living and this he attempted, with his father's help, by joining Lloyds'. His wife's variable state of health was to cause continuing worry and difficulties that seemed to impede his musical interests, which remained dominant. Above all, in London he made the acquaintance of the pianist and Wagnerian Edward Dannreuther, who became his friend, teacher and adviser. In 1877, after a winter spent impatiently in Cannes for his wife's health, Parry wound up his affairs with Lloyds'. In addition to the income settled on his wife by her family, he had been earned payment for the contribution of articles for Grove's new dictionary of music and musicians. In 1880 Dannreuther played Parry's Pintlo Concerto it1 F sharp nnljor, a choice of key that did not endear him to the orchestra, at the Crystal Palace and success here was followed by a cantata based on Shelley's Pron~ethelisUilbollild for the Gloucester Festival, where it was performed in 1882. At the end of the same year he was invited by Grove to join the new Royal College of Music as Professor of Musical History and shortly afterwards was offered an Honorary Doctorate in Music at Cambridge, where Protizethezls Uimbozitld had been performed in 1881 under stanford His First Synlplroily, for which Richter had eventually found no time in his London concert season, was -~iven with some success in Birmingham. The connection with Stanford and Cambridge led to the suggeslion of incidental music for the Cambridge Greek ~lav,Y'lze Birds of Aristo~hanesand in later years Parry provided incizental misiifor Oxford of The Frogs, The Clolrds and The Admnzintls, with music for Cambridge performances of the Agnnlettztzot~ of Aeschylus in 1900. An even closer connection with Cambridge came with the composition of the Synrplzotly No. 2 ill F nmnjor, known as Tlze Cambridge or the Utmiversity Synlphotly. Written between October 1882 and May 1883 for the Cambridge University Musical Society, the symphony has an inner programme, the life and aspirations of an undergraduate. The whole work, very much in the German tradition and conceived at a period when the symphonies of Brahms and Dvoi6k might be heard in London, is an outstanding achievement and was so regarded by discerning contemporaries. The first lnoven~entof the symphony opens with a slow introduction, the feelings of a schoolboy, now turned undergraduate, leading to an Allegro that expresses the joy and happiness of friends and, reflecting Parry's own university experience, the beginning of love. The introduction contains elements that are later developed in a movement that offers the expected two subject groups and a central development. The second movement, a Scherzo, it is suggested in a later programme note for a performance under Richter, reflects the merriment of holidays, a long vacation spent at home, a harvest festival and a hint of love, an element that dominates the slow movement. After this, the finale, a movement replaced in 1895 by music of grander conception, still suggests graduation and emergence now into the world, with all its hopes and aspirations. Parry's Overture to nil Ui~zuritfe~zTragedy was written in 1893 in response to a commission for the Worcester Festival. The Parrys' family property, Highnam Court, in the West Country, had brought a continuing connection with the choral and orchestral festivals of the Three Choirs, the cathedral choirs of Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford. The new Ouertl~rewas given no specific programme, but a perceptive contemporary critic guessed Parry's intentions when he associated the work with Shakespeare's Otl~ello.Tragedy is implicit in the long introduction, while the following Allegro offers themes suggesting the strength and nobility of Othello and, in a lyrical second subject, the innocence and love of Desdemona. As with the Seco~ld Sy~~lpho~ly,the introduction provides ideas that undergo later development and there is again a distinct contrapuntal element that adds interest to the central development. It may be added that Elgar, a West Country man by birth and inclination, was among the violinists at the first performance, and certainly in Parry's music, both here and in the earlier symphony, there are hints of a vein that Elgar too explored. In 1894 Parry became director of the Royal College of Music and further honours were to follow, with a knighthood in 1898, the chair of music at Oxford in 1900 and a baronetcy in 1903. His Syiirphorric Vnrintiorrs were written in 1897 in response to a commission from the Royal Philharmonic Society. The first performance in June was followed by performances in Liverpool and Birmingham and again the following year in London, with other performances abroad. Parry had written earlier sets of variations for piano, notably the Tlleiile nild Niireteerr Vnrintioils completed in 1885. He had, of course, heard sets of variations by Brahms and DvofWs Syiirplrorric Vnrintions. His own work is symphonic in rather a different way, since it sets out to follow the general plan of a four-movement symphony. The theme and the first eleven variations form a first movement, followed by a 'Pause' variation with the augmented theme played by the brass. The variations, in any case, fall into groups of six, the first in E minor, the second in E major. ThisMnestoso erlergico first movement is followed by six variations that provide a C major scherzo, marked Allegro scherznrrdo. There is a change of pattern in the four variations that constitute the A minor slow movement, Lnrgo nppnssiorlnfo. The last movement, that has been regarded by some critics as symphonically too insubstantial to balance the preceding structure, consists of four variations, the key now turning to E major and marked Viunce. Parry's last orchestral work, a symphonic poem originally called Froin Denflz to Life, was written in 1914. War brought sorrows and difficulties, with the number of male students at the Royal College of Music seriously depleted, German friends interned and some conflict between a patriotism that was never for a moment in doubt and his loyalty to German music, musicians, philosophers and thinkers, by whom he had always been heavily influenced. He died in October 1918, a month before the armistice. Royal Scottish National Orchestra Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, in 1951 the ensemble, now full- time, took the name of the Scottish National Orchestra, later assuming the title Royal, a recognition of its importance in the musical life of Scotland. Distinguished conductors who have worked with the orchestra include Karl Rankl, Hans Swarowsky, Walter Susskind, Bryden Thomson and Sir Alexander Gibson, the last named becoming the first Scottish-born principal conductor in 1959. Neeme Ja~i,who was conductor from 1984 to 1988 is now Conductor Laureate and Walter Weller was appointed Music Director in 1992. The orchestra has a busy schedule in Scotland, including regular seasons in its home-town of Glasgow, annual appearances at the Edinburgh Festival and regular performances in the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in London. In addition to concerts in England, the orchestra has travelled to other countries abroad, with tours of North America, Japan, Austria and Switzerland. The wide repertoire of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra extends from the Baroque to the contemporary. There have been two recent awards from the Gramophone magazine and the orchestra now embarks on a series of recordings for Naxos that will include work by Bruckner, Bax, Holst and Alfven. Andrew Penny Andrew Penny was born in Hull and initially studied the clarinet at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he also worked as conductor of the Opera Unit. The newly established Rothschild Scholarship in Conducting led to study with Sir Charles Groves and Timothy Reynish and work as assistant with Richard Hickox and Elgar Howarth. Winner of the prestigious Ricordi Prize, he achieved a major success with the Vaughan Williams opera Riders to the Sen at Sadlers Wells Theatre in London.