Ruth Gipps (1921-99)

Started by Maestro267, July 21, 2018, 07:38:52 AM

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Maestro267

Quote from: cilgwyn, George Lloyd threadThere isn't a Ruth Gipps thread;but I wonder if vandermolen (or anyone else who is interested in this composer) is aware  that Chandos are going to be releasing a cd of Ruth Gipps' Symphonies 2 & 4. You can view the artwork on the MDT website!

Well let's make a Ruth Gipps thread then! I've got the Symphony No. 2 as part of the 10-disc British Symphonic Collection. A tiny bit disappointed they've chosen to re-record No. 2 rather than go for two unrecorded symphonies, but at this rate we must take what we can get.

vandermolen

#1
This is such great news! The Symphony 4 is her masterpiece I think but I like everything I have heard by her including the ClassicO release of Symphony 2. On the radio the other day I heard a delightful horn concerto which I thought must be Malcolm Arnold but it was actually by Ruth Gipps (on a Lyrita CD). Good to see Chandos promoting lesser-known composers again. Thanks to cilgwyn and Maestro267 for alerting us to this.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

cilgwyn

Thank you Maestro267! I would have made a thread,but unfortunately,I've got some software on the pc that stops me from spending too much time online!! It makes me feel like Ronnie Corbett in that old sitcom! ("Language Timothy!"). It also stops me from browsing s/h cd's and "discovering" yet another old B movie or cinema serial that never gets shown on tv (but is on dvd!) and allows me to concentrate more on painting and writing!

I have noticed that Chandos have seemed to have begun recording less well known repertoire,again. This culminated,recently,in a new Richard Rodney Bennett series,and now Ruth Gipps. I might just consider buying this,even though I've been trying to avoid composers that I don't already have in my collection. This is partly due to reasons of space (or lack of it!). But this does seem the first really hard bit of evidence that Chandos may be going back to one of things that made them such a stand out label;and I would,really,like to support such a release;especially of a British composer!
I have to say the poor sound quality of off-air recordings I have heard of Ruth Gipps' music,have put me off! I wonder what composer she most resembles? I have read comparisons with Vaughan Williams! What is the release date,by the way. I'm unable to look at the MDT site at the moment (see above!! :().

Christo

Quote from: vandermolen on July 21, 2018, 11:31:48 PM
This is such great news! The Symphony 4 is her masterpiece I think but I like everything I have heard by her including the ClassicO release of Symphony 2. On the radio the other day I heard a delightful horn concerto which I thought must be Malcolm Arnold but it was actually by Ruth Gipps (on a Lyrita CD). Good to see Chandos promoting lesser-known composers again. Thanks to cilgwyn and Maestro267 for alerting us to this.
Fully agree. The Horn concerto is one of four or five pieces by Ruth Gipps that are available on Spotify - the only music I have in my luggage here (in Israel and Palestine). Another lovely piece - she really has a very characteristic style of her own, perhaps somewhere in the wider Vaughan Williams orbit, but certainly not mimicking him or anyone else - is the Wind Sinfonietta.
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

vandermolen

Quote from: cilgwyn on July 23, 2018, 09:00:50 AM
Thank you Maestro267! I would have made a thread,but unfortunately,I've got some software on the pc that stops me from spending too much time online!! It makes me feel like Ronnie Corbett in that old sitcom! ("Language Timothy!"). It also stops me from browsing s/h cd's and "discovering" yet another old B movie or cinema serial that never gets shown on tv (but is on dvd!) and allows me to concentrate more on painting and writing!

I have noticed that Chandos have seemed to have begun recording less well known repertoire,again. This culminated,recently,in a new Richard Rodney Bennett series,and now Ruth Gipps. I might just consider buying this,even though I've been trying to avoid composers that I don't already have in my collection. This is partly due to reasons of space (or lack of it!). But this does seem the first really hard bit of evidence that Chandos may be going back to one of things that made them such a stand out label;and I would,really,like to support such a release;especially of a British composer!
I have to say the poor sound quality of off-air recordings I have heard of Ruth Gipps' music,have put me off! I wonder what composer she most resembles? I have read comparisons with Vaughan Williams! What is the release date,by the way. I'm unable to look at the MDT site at the moment (see above!! :().

7th September according to the MDT website. I very much doubt that you would regret investing in the CD:
https://www.mdt.co.uk/gipps-ruth-symphonies-rumon-gamba-chandos-records.html
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

cilgwyn

#5
I've just got to buy this one for the above reasons and such a lovely photo of the composer on the front! The customer reviews on Amazon and MusicWeb are all very encouraging. Also another female composer in my collection. Not many,I'm afraid! I rate Grace Williams and Louise Farrenc very highly,though! I've got some Amy Beach and Hildegarde of Bingen on cassette tape. A cd-r of Ethel Smyth and Morfydd Owen! Oh,and Dana Suesse,who I do like. I wish Chandos would do a cd of her! But first things first!

Grazyna Bacewicz is very good too,I seem to remember?! I had some off air tapes of symphonies.

cilgwyn

Just placed my order with MDT! :)

vandermolen

#7
Quote from: cilgwyn on July 23, 2018, 10:30:32 AM
Just placed my order with MDT! :)

I'll look forward to discussing the release with you. The photo on the front is very nice and Ruth Gipps sounds like a rather endearing personality with her penchant for sports cars. I have a feeling that, in my youth, I saw her conduct one of her works in London but might have got this wrong. Another work by a female composer which I strongly admire is the Symphony by Nina Makarova who was married to Khachaturian. Well worth looking out for. I have it on a Russian Disc CD but these are often prohibitively expensive. It is, however,mon You Tube as well. I think highly of Grace Williams as well, especially her turbulent Symphony 2. Recently I had a nice exchange with Judith Bailey a living British composer whose music I enjoyed ( it featured on a CD called 'Havas' with music by George Lloyd). She sent me a freebie CD if her chamber music which I thought excellent.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

SymphonicAddict

How is her style? I'm reading this thread and I'm curious now.

kyjo

Excellent news about the forthcoming Chandos CD, however I can't say her Symphony no. 2 (the only work of hers that I've heard) impressed me too much. There are some nice parts, but I felt that it fails to cohere as a whole.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

vandermolen

Quote from: kyjo on July 23, 2018, 06:49:07 PM
Excellent news about the forthcoming Chandos CD, however I can't say her Symphony no. 2 (the only work of hers that I've heard) impressed me too much. There are some nice parts, but I felt that it fails to cohere as a whole.

No 4 is the greater work I think Kyle.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

#11
Quote from: SymphonicAddict on July 23, 2018, 06:35:12 PM
How is her style? I'm reading this thread and I'm curious now.

A bit like Vaughan Williams/Malcolm Arnold also Sibelius  and maybe Moeran in places I think Cesar but with her own distinct, tuneful, tonal and melodic style.

Here is an earlier performance of Symphony 4 which, if it works, will give you an idea of her style:

https://youtu.be/JYCoZP6p0tY

Have just listened to it through again myself. The recording on You Tube is not that great but the performance (John Pritchard with the BBC SO I think) is fine. There is a lovely, sad, heroic tune which first appears about 22 minutes in (a bit like a warmer-hearted 'Swan of Tuonela') if you want to hear just a sample but it returns at the end, with harp accompaniment, and builds up to a fine, moving, inspiriting ending - at times I was even reminded of Tubin. Certainly I can't wait to hear the new release from Chandos.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Harry

Since I have already music by her and like it enormously, the Chandos is on my order list too.
Quote from Manuel, born in Spain, currently working at Fawlty Towers.

" I am from Barcelona, I know nothing.............."

vandermolen

Quote from: "Harry" on July 24, 2018, 01:27:29 AM
Since I have already music by her and like it enormously, the Chandos is on my order list too.

Good to know Harry.

The release is now on the Amazon UK site for pre-order quoting a 31st August release date.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

cilgwyn

Looking for reviews and information,articles about Ruth Gipps online,I read a post by Gareth Vaughan at Unsung Composers. I can't resist posting this observation by Holbrooke,Sacheverell Coke champion (amongst others) Gareth Vaughan,regarding Gipps' Fourth Symphony. I hope he doesn't mind?!

"It's a wonderful score and deserves a first-rate recording. Indeed, she deserves a symphonic cycle by Chandos with a first class orchestra and conductor".

Could this (deserved) Chandos cycle be on the verge of becoming a reality?! ???

cilgwyn

It's interesting to hear a different view from kyjo! I'm not familiar with the music of Ruth Gipps. I felt I had to pre-order this one,though;because it's the first real,hard evidence that Chandos (though there have been hopeful signs of late) are going back to recording composers,and music,that are neglected on cd;and hopefully,if the cd fares well,more neglected repertoire will follow (Oh,and some Holbrooke,please! ::) ;D)?!

Oates

There is so much music by Ruth Gipps that I have not heard - but everything I have heard from the few meagre CDs on the market (and You Tube), I like very, very much. This is a great move by Chandos. Essential for anyone who appreciates RVW, Howells, Finzi, Moeran etc.

relm1

Quote from: Oates on July 24, 2018, 04:18:00 AM
There is so much music by Ruth Gipps that I have not heard - but everything I have heard from the few meagre CDs on the market (and You Tube), I like very, very much. This is a great move by Chandos. Essential for anyone who appreciates RVW, Howells, Finzi, Moeran etc.

I think you should write them a letter telling them so.  This will put a bug in their ear to do more like this since these things can be scheduled out for years.  Here is their address:
Chandos House
1 Commerce Park
Commerce Way
Colchester
Essex
CO2 8HX
United Kingdom

or email them here:
https://www.chandos.net/contactus

Christo

Quote from: cilgwyn on July 24, 2018, 04:02:10 AM
It's interesting to hear a different view from kyjo! I'm not familiar with the music of Ruth Gipps.
I always hold his opinions in high esteem, often agree or admire even. About Ruth Gipps Second I beg to differ: find it very personal and very moving, love it dearly. :-)
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Roasted Swan

As a student I went to a couple of orchestral rehearsals which were run by Ruth Gipps.  It was called something like the London Repertoire Orchestra.  In my ignorance/arrogance I have little memory of her except that she was quite small and not very good at conducting!  That Chandos disc looks like a must-buy.  Anything offered up in the past by Bostock on Classico is almost certain to sound weaker than it actually is.