Plymouth Suite
Plymouth Suite
Whitlock and his wife Edna had gone on a trip to Plymouth to attend a conference of ‘The Incorporated Association of Organists’. The Plymouth Suite was the outcome of this visit. There are five movements. Each of them is dedicated to an organist who had attended the conference.
The piece was composed between August and November of 1937. A glance at the catalogue shews that it followed the Wessex Suite for Orchestra, a ‘Foxtrot’ the manuscript for which has been lost & a Shanty selection which has also been lost without all trace. However the major work of the previous year had been the Symphony in G Minor for Organ and Orchestra.
The first movement was dedicated to the then famous organist Harvey Grace. Harvey Grace was the organist of Chichester Cathedral and had succeeded W.G MacNaught as editor of the Musical Times. He was well known as an adjudicator at music festivals up and down the country. His book on the Organ Music of J.S. Bach enjoyed a vogue.
Like much of Whitlock’s music this movement is not easy to play. It is a somewhat laid back Allegro Risoluto with pretension to sounding like a theme for a passacaglia. This theme is treated in an extremely competent manner with robust harmonies. The second theme has been influenced by a phrase from the first movement of Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony. The two themes are worked quite extensively with the first re-appearing towards the end. The piece concludes with tuba fanfares. The writer Peter Hardwick in his article ‘The Organ Music of Percy Whitlock’ notices a number of neo-classicist finger-prints leading to some interesting dissonaces. There are polytonal and polymodal parallel triads working in opposition to each other and spare parallel fourths and tritones. The metre is also subject to ‘modernism’ – there are quick alterations between 5/4 and 3/4 time and 2/4 to 3/4. Hardwick suggests that this is done to suggest the ‘changing rhythms and moods of the sea.’
The second movement is entitled ‘Lantana’ – the dictionary definition of which is a ‘tree-like shrub.’ However it is translated by Whitlock as the ‘Wayfaring Tree.’ This movement was dedicated to the organist of Buckfast Abbey, Dom. Wilfred. The monk was well known for ‘organ’ crawls and even collected bits and pieces of kit for use on his own instrument. The mood is peaceful and quite distant in it’s atmosphere. There is no doubt that there are echoes of Edward Elgar in the working out of the melody.
The third movement is a Chanty, which is written for manuals only. It is dedicated to the Lancaster Roman Catholic Cathedral organist Dr. Reginald Dixon. Apparently this gentleman was regarded by Whitlock as being the ‘generally the naughty boy at any party.’ Here we have a genuine Plymouth reference. Quite definitely a nautical piece in a quick 2/4 rhythm. Riley points out that this piece is more in the style of an eighteenth century Hornpipe rather than a Shanty. Hornpipes however did not always have a nautical association. Handel used the form in his one of his concerti grossi. The time signature of this was 3/2. A ’shanty was definitely a sailor’s song – devised to make hard manual work easier by assisting the rhythmic motions of task aboard ship.
The fourth movement, called ‘Salix’ is an example of the pastoral style. It would be easy to see such a piece composed by the likes of Finzi or perhaps William Lloyd Webber. The depth of the piece is actually more intense than the ‘light hearted’ dedication would imply. Apparently the dedicatee was a certain Henry Austin Dewdney who was a Bournemouth pianist. He was involved in most of the local music making in the nineteen thirties. Whitlock states of him ‘A perpetual grouser, yet with much humour.’ Salix means a willow tree – a weeping willow. The main theme is a gentle ‘Sicilian’ tune in 6/8 time. It is quite definitely one of the composers finest miniatures. One wonders what it would sound like arranged for strings or small orchestra.
The last movement is a robust toccata. This was dedicated to the Borough Organist of Plymouth, Dr. George Harry Moreton. Strangely, perhaps this is Whitlock’s only essay in the form of Toccata. However this piece is in the tradition of the great French Toccatas of Böellmann, Gigout and Mulet. This is a grand finale to a fine suite. Superficially it is easy to play, however the subtle changes of key and figuration make it much harder to ‘bring off’ than a first glance would suggest. There are two themes at work. A wonderful, fairly slow moving pedal theme is set against a semi-quaver accompaniment on the manuals. The solo reed emerges to lift this piece into the heavens. This uses a wider melodic range and shorter note values.