Springtime

Eric Francis Harrison Coates (27 August 1886 – 21 December 1957) was an English composer of light music and, early in his career, a leading violist. Please support my channels: https://ko-fi.com/bartjebartmans Springtime, Suite for Orchestra (1937) I. Fresh Morning (Pastorale) (0:00) II. Noonday Song (Romance) (4:05) III. Dance in the Twilight (Valse) (8:37) BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by John Wilson. It is an established fact that during the 1930’s Eric Coates’s orchestral music displayed one of two contrasting styles. On the on hand, there was the up-tempo, syncopated ‘dance-band’ mood used in The Three Men and the London Again Suite. And on the other, there was the post-Edward German ‘pastoralism’ which came to the fore in The Meadow to Mayfair Suite and the present work. Over his career, Eric Coates composed some 13 orchestral suites: Springtime is the eleventh. The Springtime Suite has three equally balanced movements: 1. Fresh Morning: Pastorale, 2. Noonday Song: Romance and 3. Dance in the Twilight: Valse which reflects the progress of a spring day. Each is around the four-minute mark. The work is scored for woodwind, brass, an array of percussion including bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, side drum, timpani and triangle as well as harp and strings. Geoffrey Self writes that this work has been overshadowed, even in the composer’s own mind. It is not mentioned in his autobiography, Suite in Four Movements (1953). Self also notes that it has not ‘received direct attention from the press.’ The work has been unjustly neglected in comparison to several of his other Suites. According to Payne, Coates was working on the Springtime Suite at the time he moved house from Baker Street to Berkeley Court. This music was thought out ‘despite the chaos of unpacking.’ In a letter to Harold Lowe (12 June 1936) Coates explained that ‘the work is quite unpretentious and on the lines of my old “Summer Days”, so please do not expect to hear anything out-of-the-ordinary.’ The opening movement, ‘Fresh Morning’, looks back to the Edwardian pre-Great War era, with its innocent pastoral mood and carefree 6/8 rhythm. This certainly nods to Edward German, but also reflects the style of music that Coates was writing in the immediate post-Great War years. Coates introduces three tunes, all of which relate to the opening theme. Toward the conclusion, there is a delicious modulation into a loose and short-lived Gb major (7 flats). It is a perfect musical postcard of an English meadow, soaked in dew with the sun just peeping up from behind the hill. This is contrasted by a thoughtful ‘Romance’ that reflects on the sadness of a lost age or lover despite its title being ‘Noonday Song.’ The movement opens with a wistful flute melody, before the main ‘yearning’ theme is announced on the solo violin. This tune is characterised by an upward leap of a minor 7th (e.g. G to F). This leads to a highly-charged passage for full orchestra and harp culminating in a sweep