Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Howard Ferguson

“Rood Awakening” on “The Lost Chord”

This week on “The Lost Chord,” it’s a Howard Ferguson Easter.

Born in Belfast in 1908, Ferguson had ambitions to become a composer. To this end, he traveled to London, where he studied at the Royal College of Music with, among others, Ralph Vaughan Williams. He also met and befriended fellow student Gerald Finzi. He achieved early success with works like the Octet of 1933, and no less a personage than Jascha Heifetz recorded his Violin Sonata No. 1.

Even so, over the decades his music has slipped from consciousness, no doubt helped by the fact that, by mid-life, he felt he had already said everything he had to say as a composer. He devoted his last four decades to musicological pursuits, editing and promoting works of Purcell, Schubert, and Finzi. In the 1990s, he also wrote a cookbook, “Cooking Solo.” Ferguson died in 1999, not long after his 91st birthday.

Thankfully, he lived long enough to hear some fine recordings as part of a modest revival of his music in the 1980s and ‘90s. A number of his chamber works were released on the Hyperion label by fine musicians like Thea King and members of the Nash Ensemble; his Piano Concerto was recorded for EMI by Howard Shelley; and Richard Hickox conducted a disc of his orchestral works for Chandos.

Also on the latter album is what turned out to be Ferguson’s last completed work, “The Dream of the Rood,” for chorus and orchestra, composed in 1958. After that, the composer embarked on a string quartet, but became frustrated by the lack of a fresh perspective and tore the thing up.

“The Dream of the Rood” is based on an 8th century Anglo-Saxon poem that marries the Passion story with characteristics of the secular heroic tradition. The poem is framed by a narrator’s vision of a magnificent bejeweled tree. Upon closer inspection, however, he finds its jewels bespattered with blood. It becomes apparent that this tree is the very same upon which Christ was crucified.

The middle portion of the poem is told from the tree’s perspective, with the tree being cut down and carried away for the purpose of the Crucifixion. The nails pierce the tree, yet man and tree endure, refusing to fall, bearing unimaginable pain for the sake of mankind. Just as Christ is resurrected, so is the Cross resurrected, now adorned with gold and silver. It is honored above all trees, just as Christ is honored above all men. The narrator gives praise to God, filled with hope at the prospect of eternal life and a desire to be nearer the glorious Cross.

I hope you’ll join me for music by Howard Ferguson (you’ll get to hear the Octet too), on “Rood Awakening,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX Classical Oregon!

——–

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu

——–

PHOTOS: Portions of the poem are engraved on the 8th century Ruthwell Cross (top, as it appeared between 1823 and 1887; and bottom, at its current location at Ruthwell Church, Dumfriesshire, Scotland)

April 4, 2026
Howard Ferguson’s Easter Dream of the Rood

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” it’s a Howard Ferguson Easter.

Born in Belfast in 1908, Ferguson had ambitions to become a composer. To this end, he traveled to London, where he studied at the Royal College of Music with, among others, Ralph Vaughan Williams. He also met and befriended fellow student Gerald Finzi. He achieved early success with works like the Octet of 1933, and no less a personage than Jascha Heifetz recorded his Violin Sonata No. 1.

Even so, over the decades his music has slipped from consciousness, no doubt helped by the fact that, by mid-life, he felt he had already said everything he had to say as a composer. He devoted his last four decades to musicological pursuits, editing and promoting works of Purcell, Schubert and Finzi. In the 1990s, he also wrote a cookbook, “Cooking Solo.” Ferguson died in 1999, not long after his 91st birthday.

Thankfully, he lived long enough to hear some fine recordings as part of a modest revival of his music in the 1980s and ‘90s. A number of his chamber works were released on the Hyperion label by fine musicians like Thea King and members of the Nash Ensemble; his Piano Concerto was recorded for EMI by Howard Shelley; and Richard Hickox conducted a disc of his orchestral works for Chandos.

Also on the latter album is what turned out to be Ferguson’s last completed work, “The Dream of the Rood,” for chorus and orchestra, composed in 1958. After that, the composer embarked on a string quartet, but became frustrated by the lack of a fresh perspective and tore the thing up.

“The Dream of the Rood” is based on an 8th century Anglo-Saxon poem that marries the Passion story with characteristics of the secular heroic tradition. The poem is framed by a narrator’s vision of a magnificent bejeweled tree. Upon closer inspection, however, he finds its jewels bespattered with blood. It becomes apparent that this tree was the very same upon which Christ was crucified.

The middle portion of the poem is told from the tree’s perspective, with the tree being cut down and carried away for the purpose of the Crucifixion. The nails pierce the tree, yet man and tree endure, refusing to fall, bearing unimaginable pain for the sake of mankind. Just as Christ is resurrected, so is the Cross resurrected, now adorned with gold and silver. It is honored above all trees, just as Christ is honored above all men. The narrator gives praise to God, filled with hope at the prospect of eternal life and a desire to be nearer the glorious Cross.

I hope you’ll join me for music of Howard Ferguson on “Rood Awakening,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

PHOTO: Portions of the poem are engraved on the 8th century Ruthwell Cross (left, as it appeared between 1823 and 1887; and right, at its current location at Ruthwell Church, Dumfriesshire, Scotland)

April 4, 2021
Howard Ferguson Composer’s Lost Chord Rediscovered

Howard Ferguson is an interesting figure. Born in Belfast in 1908, he had ambitions to become a composer. To this end, he traveled to London, where he studied at the Royal College of Music with, among others, Ralph Vaughan Williams. He also met and befriended a fellow student, Gerald Finzi. He achieved early success with works like the Octet of 1933, and no less a personage than Jascha Heifetz recorded his Violin Sonata No. 1.

Even so, over the decades his music has slipped from consciousness, no doubt helped by the fact that by mid-life, he felt he had said everything he had to say as a composer. He devoted his last four decades to musicological pursuits, editing and promoting works of Purcell, Schubert and Finzi. In the 1990s, he also wrote a cookbook, “Cooking Solo.” Ferguson died in 1999, not long after his 91st birthday.

Thankfully, he lived long enough to hear some fine recordings as part of a modest revival of his music in the 1980s and ‘90s. A number of his chamber works were released on the Hyperion label by fine musicians like Thea King and members of the Nash Ensemble; his Piano Concerto was recorded for EMI by Howard Shelley; and Richard Hickox conducted a disc of his orchestral works for Chandos.

Also on the latter album is what turned out to be Ferguson’s last completed work, for chorus and orchestra, “The Dream of the Rood,” composed in 1958. After that, the composer embarked on a string quartet, but became frustrated by the lack of a fresh perspective and tore the thing up.

“The Dream of the Rood” is based on an 8th century Anglo-Saxon poem which marries the Passion story with characteristics of the secular heroic tradition. The poem is framed by a narrator’s vision of a magnificent bejeweled tree. Upon closer inspection, however, he finds its jewels bespattered with blood. It becomes apparent that this tree was the very same upon which Christ was crucified.

The middle portion of the poem is told from the tree’s perspective, with the tree being cut down and carried away for the purpose of the crucifixion. The nails pierce the tree, yet man and tree endure, refusing to fall, bearing unimaginable pain for the sake of mankind. Just as Christ is resurrected, so is the Cross resurrected, now adorned with gold and silver. It is honored above all trees, just as Christ is honored above all men. The narrator gives praise to God, filled with hope at the prospect of eternal life and a desire to be nearer the glorious Cross.

“The Dream of the Rood” will be the featured work on the “The Lost Chord” this Easter Sunday. I hope you’ll join me for “Rood Awakening,” tomorrow night at 10 ET, with a repeat Wednesday evening at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.

PHOTO: Portions of the poem are engraved on the 8th century Ruthwell Cross (left, as it appeared between 1823 and 1887; and right, at its current location at Ruthwell Church, Dumfriesshire, Scotland)

April 4, 2015
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett Unsung Musical Genius

Sir Richard Rodney Bennett could do it all: from twelve-tone to torch songs, from film music to jazz. Bennett was a brilliant musician who never really seemed to find his niche and continues to be undersold – despite the knighthood he acquired in 1998.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we remember Bennett with an hour of his music, including his later, generously melodic “Partita for Orchestra,” his thornier Violin Concerto from 1975, and selections from his most celebrated film score, that for “Murder on the Orient Express.”

Even so, it hardly encompasses the enormous variety of his pursuits. Late in life, Bennett began to diversify even further, preferring to paint and work in collage.

Howard Ferguson, one of his teachers at the Royal Academy of Music in London, regarded him as perhaps the greatest talent of his generation, though, he opined, he lacked a personal style. I’m not sure I agree with this, but when one is all over the map with one’s interests, one becomes very difficult to pigeonhole.

Bennett died in 2012. I hope you’ll join me, on what would have been his 80th birthday, for “A Nod to Rod,” tonight at 10 ET. A repeat will air Wednesday evening at 6; or you can enjoy it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.

PHOTO: The young Bennett, looking very Mod, with skinny tie and cigarette

March 29, 2015

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS