Ruth Gipps (1921-99)

[Spotted Horses]

My first experience with Gips, Symphony No 2, didn't make a strong impression. I am think of whether to return to the piece, or try a different one.

[Symphonic Addict]

My first experience with Gips, Symphony No 2, didn't make a strong impression. I am think of whether to return to the piece, or try a different one.

Yes, definitely try something different: a different composer. 

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Re: Ruth Gipps



This is the only recording I own of Gipps music and I was not encouraged to buy the other volumes. The music wasn't 'bad' or trite, but there's nothing within it that held my interest or that intrigued me. Now that I've stopped buy CDs and only occasionally buying a digital download, I doubt I'll pursue her music any further. I've probably listened to this first volume at least twice over a period of a year and half.

So I'm in agreement with @Symphonic Addict and @Spotted Horses in their impressions of Gipps' music.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Yes, definitely try something different: a different composer. 

Ouch! That's pretty harsh!

[JBS]

Re: Ruth Gipps



This is the only recording I own of Gipps music and I was not encouraged to buy the other volumes. The music wasn't 'bad' or trite, but there's nothing within it that held my interest or that intrigued me. Now that I've stopped buy CDs and only occasionally buying a digital download, I doubt I'll pursue her music any further. I've probably listened to this first volume at least twice over a period of a year and half.

So I'm in agreement with @Symphonic Addict and @Spotted Horses in their impressions of Gipps' music.

I'd have to go back and listen again, but I think that first installment of the series was unfortunately the weakest one in the series, for whatever reason--whether it was the music or the performers not being yet in tune with the composer.  Try sampling the later volumes--the Horn Concerto jumps to mind, because it's on the most recent one I have. (The most recent one of all was part of the order I did last week.)

[Spotted Horses]

Yes, definitely try something different: a different composer. 

I've only listened to one work, one time, so I am not ready to give up yet, especially since some members have expressed enthusiasm for the music. The question in my mind is whether to listen to the second symphony again or try something else.

[foxandpeng]

Yes, definitely try something different: a different composer. 

This did make me laugh.

[JBS]

I've only listened to one work, one time, so I am not ready to give up yet, especially since some members have expressed enthusiasm for the music. The question in my mind is whether to listen to the second symphony again or try something else.

Maybe some chamber music? (She herself performed as an oboist.)

[Christo]

I have made a different sound here before, and will continue to do so. In recent months I had the rare opportunity to play both her five symphonies and George Lloyd's twelve - which I had also skipped for decades. They are compared by more people here, but for me the outcome is clear: Gipps wins on all fronts. It's a real question for me why some -- here including the highly respected Cesar, who already reacted so much differently to what I think is her masterpiece so far, her Third, but similar sounds I saw in a video of the always forminadable Hurwitzer -- find her modal tonality so "boring" and repetitive, where to me, on the contrary, it is exciting, contrasting and extremely creative. Indeed: I admire many British symphonic cycles, from Vaughan Williams to Alwyn, Arnold, Brian, Bate, Rubbra and so many more, but she is at the top for me. Does it have something to do with her modality? On that point, otherwise I find her quite different, there are similarities with Vaughan Williams. Or with the late Respighi or with Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, the one work by Barber that the forlorn Hurwitzer finds unbearably boring, while I find it his best and most exciting work. Anyway: I am happy to be among the minority here who find Gipps a discovery of the first order. Glad there are now such good performances. And always special to discover how differently we can react to some music. I fully comply with Jill Halstead, writing on her centenary: >Stylistically her work parallels the other British composers of her generation who were influenced by the folk song revival and the new Franco-Russian movement. Her style is easily accessible and rich in character, marked by use of highly melodic tonal-modal themes and vibrant orchestration; harmonically her work can be chromatically complex yet never fully leaves the realms of tonality.< 

[Iota]

Britten:
The Diversions were the big discovery for me.

Yes, although you probably intended to post this on a different thread, I think it's a fun and engaging work. Britten was yet another composer who found a Wittgenstein commission to be a slightly bruising experience.

[Spotted Horses]

Maybe some chamber music? (She herself performed as an oboist.)

Useful suggestion. I listened to the first work on that recording, the Oboe sonata No 2, and found it interesting. But I found the audio disappointing, mainly because the piano seemed too recessed compared with the oboe. In any case, will keep Gipps on my list of composers to explore (meanderingly).