明後日5/11に藤岡 シティ・フィルが演奏する、RVWの《ロンドン交響曲》。
版問題を含めて、なかなか奥深い曲です。
この曲については、1915年５月公演のためにRVW自身がプログラム・ノートを書いてます。
"There are four movements: The first begins with a slow prelude; this leads to a vigorous allegro—which may perhaps suggest the noise and hurry of London, with its always underlying calm. The second (slow) movement has been called ‘Bloomsbury Square on a November afternoon’. This may serve as a clue to the music, but it is not a necessary ‘explanation’ of it. The third movement is a nocturne in [the] form of a scherzo. If the hearer will imagine himself standing on Westminster Embankment at night, surrounded by the distant sounds of the Strand, with its great hotels on one side, and the ‘New Cut’ on the other, with its crowded streets and flaring lights, then the ‘Westminster Chimes’ are heard once more: on this it may serve as a mood in which to listen to this movement. The last movement consists of an agitated theme in three-time, alternating with a march movement, at first solemn and later on energetic. At the end of the finale comes a suggestion of the noise and fever of the first movement—this time much subdued—follows an ‘Epilogue’, in which the slow prelude is developed into a movement of some length."
この曲の解説として有名なのは、1920年５月公演を指揮したコーツによるもの。
三浦淳史『英国音楽大全』でコーツの全文を読めます（pp.365-367）。
昔ロンドンに住んでいたので、RVWのノートにあるロンドンの情景についてブログで書きました。
懐かしい。
