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Reviews
for the Second Rhapsody
Proms Performance, 1929
Mr. E.J.Moeran’s Second Rhapsody, which was heard at the Norwich
Festival five years ago but has never been done in London, made
a good impression on the Promenaders tonight, in spite of the fact
that the composer is not a practised conductor. The work does not
strike one as being firmly enough knit. It contains two kinds of
music which will not quite blend into unity, though both are distinctly
congenial to Mr.Moeran. At one moment he loves to be alone with
nature and far from the tranquil places where Delius loves to linger;
at the next he is eager to be in touch with the rich humanity that
sings its chanteys in country taverns. The hearer is tossed from
one mood to the other and back again until he feels the title of
"rhapsody" to be an apology. But there is so much that
is good to listen to in this work that one forgoes good form without
insisting on excuses.
E.B.
Mr.E.J.Moeran’s Second Rhapsody does not seem as well knit as some
of his earlier work; its looseness of articulation was all the more
evident in comparison with the Elgar violin concerto and the Introduction
and Allegro for Strings. But Mr. Moeran has genuine imagination
and a vision of his own.
Mr.E.J.Moeran, whose Rhapsody No.2 also had its first concert performance
in London, has won an established position amongst our younger composers,
who are definitely English in outlook. This Rhapsody has a strain
of originality differentiating it from other musical bucolics.
H.E.W.
E.J.Moeran’s Second Rhapsody...owes its inspiration to folk-song.
Its interest is melodic; the melodies are original, neo-modal, and
beautiful. The work is of considerable length and has the strength
of nationally tinged music. It ought to be heard again soon.
The other new work was a rhapsody by Mr.E.J.Moeran, a much more
serious aspirant, for his joking, what there was of it, was sad.
If there is a human story behind his patchwork poem it is one of
far-away things.
Mr.Moeran’s Second Rhapsody shows him continuing further on the
same broad lines as in his former works. The themes of this Rhapsody
are definitely in the folk-music language, and his treatment of
them is definitely expressive, perhaps romantic, though with little
or no rhetoric. It should at least be heard again.
Reviews compiled by Barry Marsh
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