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Dudley Moore & the "Humour in Music" article
Posted by Ralph Moore on April 20, 2023, 10:03 am
I should like to commend David Barker's latest article as it has a special significance for me.
I am a great fan of Dudley Moore's parody of Peter Pears, as of course Pears is a direct forerunner of the ghastly Bostridge/Padmore/Tear school of English/British tenor singing - and to me he got both the constricted voice and the precious mannerisms absolutely spot-on.
As an ignorant 18-year-old, I attended my very first concert in Oxford just a few weeks after arriving there as an undergraduate in 1973: there was a concert just down the road from my college in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. All I knew was that it featured a celebrated English tenor in music by Britten.
I could not believe my ears when he opened his mouth and began wailing. Thus began my lifelong antipathy to both that vocal style and the music itself, which was "Les illuminations". I am well aware for some both are touchstones of excellence but can only shake my head and refer you to similar tastes and aversions which have recently been discussed on this forum, such as Mikeh's - what is to me inexplicable - loathing of Bruckner or the delight some take in what I hear as the awful bombast written by Liszt.
As we never tire of intoning here at MWI: "we are a broad church."
"Chacun à son goût." When the 1967 film "Bedazzled" was released it was panned by most critics, but I happen to think it is a very funny film with a message beyond the underlying humour. The music for the film, by Dudley Moore, I also rate as splendid, and that's nothing to do with the fact that both Dud and myself were born in Dagenham.
As for "The awful bombast" by Liszt I can only think that you've never heard "Orpheus" "Benediction de dieu dans la Solitude" "Feux Follets" or, indeed, a hundred other pieces including the famous Consolations and Liebestraume or that your understanding of bombast differs radically from mine !
Previous Message
I should like to commend David Barker's latest article as it has a special significance for me.
I am a great fan of Dudley Moore's parody of Peter Pears, as of course Pears is a direct forerunner of the ghastly Bostridge/Padmore/Tear school of English/British tenor singing - and to me he got both the constricted voice and the precious mannerisms absolutely spot-on.
As an ignorant 18-year-old, I attended my very first concert in Oxford just a few weeks after arriving there as an undergraduate in 1973: there was a concert just down the road from my college in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. All I knew was that it featured a celebrated English tenor in music by Britten.
I could not believe my ears when he opened his mouth and began wailing. Thus began my lifelong antipathy to both that vocal style and the music itself, which was "Les illuminations". I am well aware for some both are touchstones of excellence but can only shake my head and refer you to similar tastes and aversions which have recently been discussed on this forum, such as Mikeh's - what is to me inexplicable - loathing of Bruckner or the delight some take in what I hear as the awful bombast written by Liszt.
As we never tire of intoning here at MWI: "we are a broad church."
Quite right, Jeffrey; not all of it is bombast - quite a lot else is what a good music-loving friend of mine always called "meandering slop"! ;-) (Honestly; I have tried...)
Previous Message
"Chacun à son goût." When the 1967 film "Bedazzled" was released it was panned by most critics, but I happen to think it is a very funny film with a message beyond the underlying humour. The music for the film, by Dudley Moore, I also rate as splendid, and that's nothing to do with the fact that both Dud and myself were born in Dagenham.
As for "The awful bombast" by Liszt I can only think that you've never heard "Orpheus" "Benediction de dieu dans la Solitude" "Feux Follets" or, indeed, a hundred other pieces including the famous Consolations and Liebestraume or that your understanding of bombast differs radically from mine !
Previous Message
I should like to commend David Barker's latest article as it has a special significance for me.
I am a great fan of Dudley Moore's parody of Peter Pears, as of course Pears is a direct forerunner of the ghastly Bostridge/Padmore/Tear school of English/British tenor singing - and to me he got both the constricted voice and the precious mannerisms absolutely spot-on.
As an ignorant 18-year-old, I attended my very first concert in Oxford just a few weeks after arriving there as an undergraduate in 1973: there was a concert just down the road from my college in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. All I knew was that it featured a celebrated English tenor in music by Britten.
I could not believe my ears when he opened his mouth and began wailing. Thus began my lifelong antipathy to both that vocal style and the music itself, which was "Les illuminations". I am well aware for some both are touchstones of excellence but can only shake my head and refer you to similar tastes and aversions which have recently been discussed on this forum, such as Mikeh's - what is to me inexplicable - loathing of Bruckner or the delight some take in what I hear as the awful bombast written by Liszt.
As we never tire of intoning here at MWI: "we are a broad church."
When I was a music student - I learned quite a lot of bombast and meandering slop back then - I noted three reactions from college lecturers who spoke of Liszt . One was Denys Darlow - a baroque specialist who conducted all the Bach cantatas for the BBC and told us "As a musician there are certain things you need to know; for instance you need to know that Haydn wrote 101 symphonies" and summed up Liszt by playing a record of one of his etudes by saying "If you can play that without falling off the stool you'll be able to make yourself a lot of money." I rated his opinion of Liszt on a par with his knowledge of Haydn symphonies and, although I played a lot of Liszt while still remaining firmly seated I usually did it for a pittance.
Another was Anthony Hopkins who showed he thought very highly of the composer. He played a record of the Totentanz and noted "The sheer violence of the music"....well you wouldn't expect a dance of death to be cast in the form of a minuet, would you?
The third was Dr. Stephen Wilkinson who, perhaps, arrived at a sensible, balanced opinion: "Some of it, and note I said "Some of it", is very beautiful music" he said.
Personal tastes don't always (or,even, often) equate with informed opinion. After being assured , in a radio broadcast by Hans Keller, that the Schoenberg Violin Concerto was one of the greatest examples of the form, I listened to it a number of times but found that I still preferred the "Symphonie Espagnole." And when I was a lot younger, with a few exceptions, I didn't care much for the music of Bach or Schubert; I can't believe it now. As the words of the old popular song say, "We all make mistakes and we're sorry."
Previous Message
Quite right, Jeffrey; not all of it is bombast - quite a lot else is what a good music-loving friend of mine always called "meandering slop"! ;-) (Honestly; I have tried...)
Previous Message
"Chacun à son goût." When the 1967 film "Bedazzled" was released it was panned by most critics, but I happen to think it is a very funny film with a message beyond the underlying humour. The music for the film, by Dudley Moore, I also rate as splendid, and that's nothing to do with the fact that both Dud and myself were born in Dagenham.
As for "The awful bombast" by Liszt I can only think that you've never heard "Orpheus" "Benediction de dieu dans la Solitude" "Feux Follets" or, indeed, a hundred other pieces including the famous Consolations and Liebestraume or that your understanding of bombast differs radically from mine !
Previous Message
I should like to commend David Barker's latest article as it has a special significance for me.
I am a great fan of Dudley Moore's parody of Peter Pears, as of course Pears is a direct forerunner of the ghastly Bostridge/Padmore/Tear school of English/British tenor singing - and to me he got both the constricted voice and the precious mannerisms absolutely spot-on.
As an ignorant 18-year-old, I attended my very first concert in Oxford just a few weeks after arriving there as an undergraduate in 1973: there was a concert just down the road from my college in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. All I knew was that it featured a celebrated English tenor in music by Britten.
I could not believe my ears when he opened his mouth and began wailing. Thus began my lifelong antipathy to both that vocal style and the music itself, which was "Les illuminations". I am well aware for some both are touchstones of excellence but can only shake my head and refer you to similar tastes and aversions which have recently been discussed on this forum, such as Mikeh's - what is to me inexplicable - loathing of Bruckner or the delight some take in what I hear as the awful bombast written by Liszt.
As we never tire of intoning here at MWI: "we are a broad church."
'As we never tire of intoning here at MWI: "we are a broad church." Or, as my Lutheran father called us - sons and daughters of a Catholic mother, both non-practicing, thank God - we are a broad branch, Catlicks in other words.
Previous Message
I should like to commend David Barker's latest article as it has a special significance for me.
I am a great fan of Dudley Moore's parody of Peter Pears, as of course Pears is a direct forerunner of the ghastly Bostridge/Padmore/Tear school of English/British tenor singing - and to me he got both the constricted voice and the precious mannerisms absolutely spot-on.
As an ignorant 18-year-old, I attended my very first concert in Oxford just a few weeks after arriving there as an undergraduate in 1973: there was a concert just down the road from my college in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. All I knew was that it featured a celebrated English tenor in music by Britten.
I could not believe my ears when he opened his mouth and began wailing. Thus began my lifelong antipathy to both that vocal style and the music itself, which was "Les illuminations". I am well aware for some both are touchstones of excellence but can only shake my head and refer you to similar tastes and aversions which have recently been discussed on this forum, such as Mikeh's - what is to me inexplicable - loathing of Bruckner or the delight some take in what I hear as the awful bombast written by Liszt.
As we never tire of intoning here at MWI: "we are a broad church."
Following on from Ralph Moore's comments, some ten years ago reviewing a release of various Pears recordings for this site I observed: "It was...Pears’ misfortune to have been so cruelly – and accurately – mocked by Dudley Moore in Beyond the Fringe, a result of which was that it has become almost impossible to listen to his voice without the mannerisms which Moore guyed so precisely intruding on one’s enjoyment... The fact that Beyond the Fringe could include such an item, with the expectation that the audience would appreciate the joke, is in itself a testimony to the importance of Pears as an interpreter in the 1950s and 1960s."
A correspondent took issue with me for allowing the Fringe parody to colour my reaction to the original, and it is interesting to see that RM has a similar problem arising from an early encounter with the singer.
Even so it is even more startling that Moore's parody should still hold resonance today, when the Flanders and Swann Guide to Britten - a considerably more substantial piece - has irretrievably dated. Some of that is due to the Flanders emphasis on ingenious and elaborate rhyhme schemes coupled with some rather basic and philistine criticism of the music itself, but part of the problem also arises from Swann's much less empathetic approach to Britten's compositional style than Moore's barbed and accurate pinpointing of the composer's mannerisms and weaknesses. One can quite see why Britten is said to have so thoroughly disliked Little Miss Muffet, while Pears is alleged to have quite enjoyed the parody.
In the end it displays Moore's brilliance as a musical parodist, not just of Britten but of such varied composers as Beethoven, Schubert, Fauré and Weill. Surely it is only the sheer difficulty of performing these satires - both the incredible virtuosity of the piano writing and the extraordinarily wide vocal ranges required - that has prevented them from being taken up by later performers.