BERNARD STEVENS (1916 – 1983)

‘The seriousness, integrity, and personal distinction of his music make him one of the most important British composers of his generation.’ (THE NEW GROVE)

‘This…is unanswerable argument for hailing Stevens, not as somebody worth attention, but as a major British composer of the order of Britten and Tippett.’ (CLASSIC CD, 1992)

Recently Stevens has been featured as one of those ‘outsider’ British composers of great artistic merit, whose works, along with those of Robert Simpson and Havergal Brian, have received financial backing from the Rex Foundation, the benevolent agency of the perceptive American rock group, The Grateful Dead.

Stevens became an ‘outsider’, because of his political sympathies.  A humanist, believing the widest good to come from cooperation, he was naturally led in the 1930’s to become a Communist.   Yet, even though he left the party in 1956 when Stalin’s excesses were revealed and Hungary was invaded, he was still mistrusted by the McCarthyistic witch-hunting establishment of the time.  His reputation was damaged and a proper assessment of his music prevented.

The very qualities which led Bernard Stevens to take a political stance were the fine qualities of character which also inform the music – honesty, lack of pretentiousness, and a natural desire to communicate which necessitated a perfected craftsmanship.  A master of counterpoint, ‘he was principally concerned with the dynamic growth of basic musical ideas.  His themes are often instantly memorable, but they are fashioned for development, full of latent energy to be released as the music proceeds.’ (THE LISTENER)  Musicologist  Prof. Wilfrid Mellers, who knew him from undergraduate days, wrote ‘his communism was evidence of a cast of mind that, in the deepest sense, I’d call religious.’ (CLASSIC CD)  In fact, he became a member of the Teilhard de Chardin (the priest and paleontologist) Society.

This composer graduated in English Literature and Music from Cambridge, then attended the Royal College of Music where he studied with Morris and Jacob and won the highest awards for composition.   A brief period after army service in World War II saw him composing film scores and working for the promotion of contemporary music.  From 1948 to 1981 he was Professor at the RCM and was awarded numerous musical honours.

Much loved as composer, teacher and friend, the tributes on his premature death were many and glowing.

SOME WORKS

Orchestral

'As the years roll on I suspect that we will see or rather hear how Stevens provides an essential link between the symphonic achievement of Vaughan Williams and Rubbra and the currently evolving work of Robert Simpson, and his stature is commensurate with theirs.' (Wilfrid Mellers, BERNARD STEVENS AND HIS MUSIC, Kahn & Averill, p. 9)

Symphony No. 1 (Symphony of Liberation)   Winner of Daily Express competition for a

                     'Victory Symphony' to celebrate the end of the war.

                                     '...the Symphony is impressive as a purely musical achievement.  Concentrated in invention at every turn, it completely avoids rhetoric and pomp....Stevens' music is too original, too deeply felt,and too skilfully crafted to merit the neglect it has suffered in recent years...' (THE GRAMOPHONE)

                      'It has a poignancy and great emotional sincerity.' (Sir Malcolm Sargent, one of the competition judges, 1946)       

Symphony No. 2         '..unerring sense of form and mastery of organic

development proclaim a born symphonist..' (HI-FI NEWS & RECORD REVIEW, 1990)

Dance Suite            '...whose subtle rhythms relate equally to modern dance and to the Elizabethan madrigal.' (GROVES)

Sinfonietta            'Stevens' major contribution to the grand English tradition of works for strings...This is a sinfonietta in the sense of "short" symphony, not a "light" one...a work comparable in stature toTippett's Double Concerto, but within half the length.'  (THE LISTENER)

Violin Concerto        '..long, flowing lines, subtle counterpoint...expressive lyricism.  For my money, it excels both Walton and Britten, and ranks with the concertos of Moeran, Rubbra, and Brian as the best of the home product after Elgar.'  (TEMPO)

Piano Concerto         '...grand, heroic, muscular and weighty, acquiring strength and intensity rather than flash-and-filigree finger technique.'  (Michael Finnissy, BERNARD STEVENS AND HIS MUSIC, p. 128)

Cello Concerto          '...the profound Chaconne which forms the central movement - moving, powerful, undemonstrative,lovable music, itself enough to raise Stevens' concerto shoulder-high with the Elgar.'  (TEMPO) 

Eclogue
Ricercar for Strings

Chamber

Theme and Variations for String Quartet, Piano Trio, Suite for Six Instruments

KEYBOARD

Five Inventions, Ballad, Fantasia on Giles Farnaby’s Dreame, Haymaker’s Dance, Sonata, Concertante/Fantasia on Irish Ho-Hoane for 2 pianos, Five Inventions (piano or harpsichord)

VIOLIN

Fantasia on a Theme of Dowland, Fantasia for 2 Violins, Concerto

Choral/Vocal

The Shadow of the Glen (Synge) 'It was their common feeling for the poor and           disadvantaged, the simple and natural, the essential and unspoilt, that finally determined him [Stevens] to expend his last energies on such an undertaking...The Shadow of the Glen is                      Stevens' personal testimony and his masterpiece.'  (Christopher de Souza, BERNARD STEVENS AND HIS MUSIC, p. 157)

The Pilgrims of Hope   '...with its text of such high artistic quality and its musical setting so fully equal to such a searching demand.'

The Palatine Coast