Tippett: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1-3

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Michael Tippett (1905-1998)Piano Sonatas Nos. 1-3Among the most arresting features discernible in theoutput of Sir Michael Tippett is that the majority of hismost important works fall into recognisably classicalcategories (operas, symphonies, concertos, stringquartets and piano sonatas) that occur throughout hiscomposing career. So with the four piano sonatas, whichencompass a time-frame of 48 years and take in hisrange of creative preoccupations, from the vigorous neoclassicismof the 1930s, through the experimental phaseof the 1960s, to a renewed involvement with the'classical tradition' of the 1970s and the process ofsummation and synthesis that took place during the1980s. Of equal note is the fact that, in common with hisstring quartets, no two of Tippett's sonatas have thesame number and arrangement of movements, typical ofa composer who sought new solutions to the challengesposed by large-scale instrumental writing over theprevious two centuries.By his own admission Tippett was a slow developer.Whereas his younger contemporary Benjamin Brittenhad established a fair reputation by his mid-twenties,Tippett evolved slowly and fitfully as a composer,withdrawing all of his music written before the FirstString Quartet, completed in 1935, though substantiallyrevised in 1943. Compared to the Beethovenian densityof this piece, the First Piano Sonata (1936-7) is bothmore relaxed in manner and more varied in expressivecontent. At its premi?¿re, given by Phyllis Sellick inLondon in November 1937, it had the title FantasySonata, indicating the musical range found within itsclear-cut, four-movement form.The first movement begins with a theme, alternatelyvigorous and flowing, which is made the basis of fivevariations. The first is lively and capricious, the secondhectically virtuosic, while the third brings forth a lyricalnew counter-melody. The fourth variation trips along inblithe syncopation, then the gamelan-like fifth emergesmysteriously from the depths, before a coda repeats thetheme largely as before. The second movement takes theScottish folk-song 'Ca' the cowes tae the knowes' as thebasis for its increasingly elaborate and cumulativelyexpressive variants, before a return to its pensiveorigins. The third movement is cast in sonata form, itsforceful and ruminative main themes made the subjectof intensive discussion, before moving into a subtlyaltered recapitulation. In evoking jazz and popularmusic, the rondo fourth movement ranks amongTippett's most engaging pieces, concluding the work ina mood of boisterous humour, and, in its rhythmicfreedom, anticipating the Concerto for Double StringOrchestra (1939) and Second String Quartet (1942), aswell as two post-war instrumental works, the FirstSymphony (1945) and the Third String Quartet (1946).One of the greatest surprises for those who had keptabreast of Tippett's creative evolution was his seemingabandonment of the 'ecstatic lyricism' that permeatedhis music during much of the 1950s, notably his firsto