British-Swiss symphonist

In contrast to other European countries, Great Britain almost defiantly stuck to the traditional tonal, mostly four-movement symphony even after the Second World War. Of the large number of British works in this genre, however, almost only those by Ralph Vaughan Williams and William Walton were able to establish themselves on the continent. The symphonies of such outstanding composers as Arnold Bax, York Bowen and Michael Tippett are hardly noticed in this country, let alone performed. The fact that one female composer - Ruth Gipps - has also achieved remarkable things in this field is likely to have escaped the attention of even most connoisseurs of British music. Chandos has now released a CD with her 2nd and 4th symphonies and two short orchestral works, which is highly commendable because it closes a real gap in the repertoire.

Ruth Gipps (1921-1999), whose music is entirely in the English tradition in terms of form, harmony and sound, is half Swiss. Her mother Hélène Johner studied as a budding pianist in Frankfurt, where she met her future husband Bryan Gipps. She came from Basel and her mother was Caroline von Weissenfluh from Meiringen. Ruth showed exceptional talent for music as a child: her first published piano piece, The Fairy ShoemakerShe began composing at the age of eight. As a young woman, she studied composition with Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gordon Jacob, as well as oboe with Léon Goossens. She was so versatile that in 1945 she not only played in the orchestra at the premiere of her first symphony by the City of Birmingham Orchestra, of which she was then a member as oboist and cor anglais player, but also performed Alexander Glazunov's first piano concerto as a soloist. She later founded the London Repertoire Orchestra, which she conducted for decades, an ensemble designed to give young professional musicians the opportunity to get to know the symphonic repertoire. She was also an esteemed composition teacher at three music academies.

All the works on the CD are well worth hearing and are interpreted with virtuosity, color and power by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under the direction of Rumon Gamba. Gipps' music is traditional, but not at all outdated: emotional depth is combined with the joy of opulent orchestral sound, as well as an excellent knowledge of all orchestral instruments, with expressive solos entrusted to the concertmaster, oboe, cor anglais and horn in particular. The dedicatee of the 4th Symphony from 1972, Sir Arthur Bliss, wrote to the composer: "I have been studying the symphony, and the more I do the more I like it." One can only agree with this.