Thread: Sir Michael Tippett

Bearing in mind his restless and energetic appearance and the active life he lived, it is indeed strange he didn't live until his 110th.

It's also astonishing how age left little trace upon him. In his sixtieth year he looked like he was 15 years younger.

After having read a lot of Erich Fromm, I feel free to conclude that Sir Michael Tippett is a fine example of a 'productive', 'biophile' and 'wholesome' man.

I like his earlier works better, but his latter and more avant guarde ones are also very interesting.
For beginners in Tippett, I recommend 'A Child of Our Time', Concerto for Double String Orchestra, Piano Sonata No.1, 'Boyhood's End' and 'The Heart's Assurance'.
Then you can move on to the Little Music for Strings, Ritual Dances, Piano Concerto and String Quartet No.1.
Afterwards - explore!

Originally Posted by Lisztfreak

It's also astonishing how age left little trace upon him. In his sixtieth year he looked like he was 15 years younger.

Spot on. There was an uncanny resemblance to Constable Odo.

Attachment 225
Constable Odo


Attachment 226
Michael Tippett

Almost!

Listen to his piano concerto... wow

Tippett's Symphony No.2 is a great work in my opinion. The slow movement is one of the most exquisite slow movements ever written. Superbly crafted and also very moving.

Originally Posted by Lang

I very much admired Tippett as a man, and indeed, while I was a music student I once had the pleasure of meeting him and discussing Schoenberg with him. But sadly I was never in tune with his music, which struck me like much modern British music as being highly accomplished technically, but saying nothing at all to me.

Originally Posted by Altiste

Tippett's Symphony No.2 is a great work in my opinion. The slow movement is one of the most exquisite slow movements ever written. Superbly crafted and also very moving.

I agree with both these statements, although at first, this may seem contradictory.

I have just acquired the recent reissue of three of his major works on the one CD by EMI - Concerto for Double String Orchestra; Piano Concerto & Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli.

Upon listening to these works, my first impression is that the slow movements of the first two really grabbed me. They are very lyrical and movingly profound. This can also be said of the Fantasia Concertante, a work that is more approachable than the other two, as it is firmly rooted in traditions of the past. However, I find his faster movements fit Lang's description of being "highly technically accomplished" but less affective. Of course, I have not given up on his music, and I think with further listening, as I get to know them more, I might move in the other direction.

I've also heard, about 10 years ago, A Child of Our Time. I remember it as a very dramatic and emotional piece, and maybe I will acquire it on CD to revisit it. It certainly seemed to express his feelings about the WWII going on at the time; he was a committed pacifist.

All in all his music seems somewhat idiosyncratic and individual (like, say, Janacek's). It is hard to categorise him or put him into a box. There are also many good recordings our there of his whole output, and I think this is also encouraging. Some, like the Fantasia Concertante on the EMI disc, are conducted by the composer himself.

Originally Posted by Andre

However, I find his faster movements fit Lang's description of being "highly technically accomplished" but less affective. Of course, I have not given up on his music, and I think with further listening, as I get to know them more, I might move in the other direction.

Really? I always have a wide smile on my face when the 3rd movement of the Doubles Concerto comes near the end, the moment when that glorious Northumbrian tune enters. It's a perfect example of liquid happiness in music. Youthful and like being in love, that entire concerto is.

Originally Posted by Lisztfreak

Really? I always have a wide smile on my face when the 3rd movement of the Doubles Concerto comes near the end, the moment when that glorious Northumbrian tune enters. It's a perfect example of liquid happiness in music. Youthful and like being in love, that entire concerto is.

Thanks for your insights...I listened to Tippet's Concerto for Double String Orchestra again last night after reading your comments.

I agree, the whole work is very sprightly, especially the last movement.

But it still doesn't somehow grab me as much as Vaughan Williams' foray into the same genre, his Partita for Double String Orchestra.

However, I will continue to listen and delve into that Tippet disc from time to time.

Tippett is someone I've read about, heard about, but I have never gotten around to listening to any of his music.

I'm so enraptured in the sonic worlds of Mahler, Sibelius, Ravel, Debussy, Langgaard, Smetana, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Stravinsky right now that I haven't been listening to much else. Everyday I try and set aside time for something I haven't heard and right now Tippett isn't on my "to do" list, but only time will tell.

Anyone know a good place to start digging into his work?

I'd recommend the early pieces, which are much less experimental than the later ones. I started with the Little Music for Strings - neo-baroque, you might say, but clearly 20th-century. Piano Sonata No.1, String Quartet No.1, Concerto for Double String Orchestra, Piano Concerto, Ritual Dances - all quite easy to listen to for a Tippett-beginner.

I like Tippett often-- if have to be in the mood, and not quite as much as V. Williams or
Britten overall. Though 'Child of Our Time' & 'Midsummer's Night's Dream' I like a lot. I would recommend recent Hyperion recording of MT's Piano Concerto; Fantasia on Theme of Handel & several Piano Sonatas-- feat. Steven Osborne and BBC
Scottish Symph. Orchestra. Osborne can be hit or miss for me, but here I think he
really succeeds. The Piano Concerto is a difficult piece-- but very imaginative IMO.

Ed

Originally Posted by altiste

Tippett's Symphony No.2 is a great work in my opinion. The slow movement is one of the most exquisite slow movements ever written. Superbly crafted and also very moving.

I, however, like the 1st movement best. IMO, it is one of 10 best symphonic movements in the 20th century music. Love the pounding bass Cs and the horn calls contrasted with very high and acerbic string writing. And when the timpani go wild near the end... brilliant.

Just been getting into some of his music now. The following copied from current listening thread -

Michael Tippett
String Quartets, Vol. 1 -
No.1 in A major (1934-5, rev.1943)
No.2 in F sharp major (1941-2)
No.4 (1977-78)
The Tippett Quartet (on Naxos)

Just getting into these more deeply, after owning them for a couple of years.

Tippett's string quartets come off as linked to many things important to him, not the least the landscapes of his spiritual home & birthplace, Suffolk. Also, his compositional hero, Beethoven. Then there's the sprightly dance rhythms of old courtly England and the choral harmonies of Renaissance chruch music. Also, some 20th century writers in this medium as well, eg. Vaughan Williams, Bartok, Hindemith to name three. But far from being a grab-bag of everything and saying nothing, Tippett's musical voice comes strongly through these works.

The slow movements esp. of his first two quartets here grabbed me most with those. That of the first quartet captured those choral harmonies and the polyphony so well, it was like choral sounds coming from the strings, the fading out sounding like a male bass voice but it was the cello. The second quartet's slow movement came across as having a night time feel, a fair dose of eeriness and tension there.

The fourth quartet is in four connected movements, very fragmentary. Bits of ideas float around, eg. the dance vibes as well as something similar to Beethoven. Then in the last movement all is revealed, he puts the jigsaw together to be that powerful theme from Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, which Tippett quotes and elaborates upon in this final movement.

I like this disc and I aim to listen to the other volume with the other two quartets - #'s 3 & 5 - very soon...