Moeran Symphony in g minor

 Day 58

Moeran Symphony in g minor

BBC Philharmonic

Vassily Sinaisky

This symphony by Moeran - for some reason he tends to be known as E J Moeran as if he were an amateur cricketers about to come out to bat at Lords - has a high reputation among English writers on music.  I’ve seen it described as one of the very greatest of English symphonies.  As far as I recall I’ve not heard a note of Moeran’s music before so I approached this with an open mind.

If I had expected anything it would have been a piece of English pastorale as part of what Elizabeth Lutyens naughtily called the ‘cowpat’ school. There was certainly an element of Vaughan Williams in this music but the main presence here is Sibelius - a reminder of just how much he loomed over English music between the wars.  Indeed the end of the symphony is a fairly blatant rip off of the end of Sibelius 5.

At times the music seems like pro-Walton who was working on his first symphony at the same time as Moeran was writing this piece (he spent the best part of a decade on and off on the composition). But there is nothing of the real bite and intensity that Walton produces from his orchestral forces - which are actually smaller than those required by Moeran.

I found this a perplexing work. There were lots of interesting passages but I couldn’t see how it all hung together - there seemed to be too much disparity in style and material. Perhaps the scherzo came off best but even that seemed to meander at times.

So while I was glad to hear the piece I did wonder what all of the fuss was about. I would see this as a curiosity rather than a neglected masterpiece. Perhaps another hearing might make me change my mind but it may be some time before I can get round to that.