Dutton?

Since Latvian has asked me about the neglect of the music of Wilfred Josephs:

There are I suppose around 30 British symphonists of the mid to late 20th century who might very broadly be placed in a sort of second division of composers. (Behind that is composers like Britten, Walton, Tippett and a few others.)

Whatever the intrinsic "merits" of their music-which of course could be endlessly debated, with vigorous disagreements-the "popularity" or indeed survival of the work of these composers is often dependent on a range of diverse factors. Some might characterise these as "luck".

There are a few who enjoyed the passionate support of people with some influence in the British musical scene. An obvious example would be Havergal Brian. Brian's music was championed by the composer Robert Simpson. As a music producer at the BBC Simpson drove forward the project to have as many as possible of Brian's symphonies broadcast. Brian's music (and to an extent his life story) began to attract a cult following. Malcolm MacDonald wrote his acclaimed three volume study. From various and different sources money was made available to launch cd recordings. The rest is history.
Others enjoyed the support of particular conductors who, usually from a regional "power-base", could persuade the BBC to broacast the music. Sir Edward Downes tirelessly promoted the music of George Lloyd and shortly afterwards Albany began its series of recordings. Bryden Thomson, in Manchester with the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra and in Wales with the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, championed composers like Daniel Jones.

If a composer was outside the London musical scene or the academic world of the music academies but had a regional presence and if that region had a BBC orchestra and an interested conductor then the composer's music could be performed and broadcast. This certainly helped composers like Daniel Jones, Alun Hoddinott and William Mathias in Wales or composers like Iain Hamilton (although he lived in London and, for a substantial time, in the USA), Robin Orr, Thomas Wilson and (the adoped Scot) William Wordsworth in Scotland. Arthur Butterworth was well-known in Manchester and with the local orchestras in Yorkshire.

The "popularity" of these composers faded quickly after their deaths or the deaths of those conductors who had performed their music. A new generation of younger conductors and BBC music producers had much less interest in keeping the music "alive".

For a fortunate few the British record companies like Chandos, Hyperion and, particularly, Lyrita and Dutton made their music accessible through cds. Thus the music of Richard Arnell and Stanley Bate was brought back from oblivion.Hyperion recorded all the Robert Simpson symphonies. A German record label-CPO- remarkably recorded the symphonies of Benjamin Frankel and Humphrey Searle. Toccata appears to be doing the same for William Wordsworth.

Why these composers? Some of it is down to the particular musical tastes of the owners of the record companies. Much is down to whether or not there are people with enough money or access to it to subsidise recordings.

And where does this leave Wilfred Josephs? He wrote twelve symphonies. There is one on cd (No.5). Two have never been performed (Nos. 6 and 12). Of the seven which were composed after 1971 (when the composer was still only 44), ie after No.5, only No.10 was performed by a full, professional orchestra (No.10 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vernon Handley in Norwich in 1985 but not broadcast). Josephs hailed from Newcastle in the north-east of England. He wrote a great deal of music to accompany TV series. His reputation suffered from a lack of exposure and from a wide consensus based on preconceptions. Even before his death in 1997 Josephs could not get his new large-scale orchestral compositions performed at all, let alone broadcast. After his death he was well-nigh forgotten.

Does his music deserve this fate? That remains a matter of opinion based on listening to the music we can hear in off-air recordings. Will it re-emerge? I doubt it. The music is not the sort of "warmly romantic" (Bate or Arnell or Arthur Butterworth) which would interest (or should one say did interest) Dutton. There are off-air recordings of Symphonies Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 7. Will Lyrita re-master these for cd? Who knows.....but I have my doubts.

I hope this goes some way to address your question, Maris ;D