Havergal Brian

Havergal Brian (1876-1972) was born William Brian, “Havergal” being a later pseudonym, into an English working-class family. He had little formal education and was self-taught as a composer, yet from an early age he was possessed by the desire to write music, a desire that was quickened by an early encounter with the music of Elgar, and later by meeting the man himself. Elgar briefly acted as something of a mentor and in the decade before the Great War, Brian started to make a name for himself, his music being taken up by some of the major conductors of the day. Personal and professional crises engulfed him just before the Great War and the war itself finished off what was left of his professional career. Brian subsequently supported himself and his large family through a series of menial jobs, writing music all the while, though with little immediate prospect of it being heard. Brian came late to symphony writing – he was already 51 by the time he completed his first, the immense Gothic Symphony, written 1919-27; at around two hours-long, it is among the longest symphonies ever composed. Three very large symphonies followed over the next six years, after which Brian’s conception of the symphony began to change radically. Titanic musical architecture was replaced by compression and concision and the remaining 28 symphonies last no more than about 20 minutes each, usually written for fairly standard large orchestras, but always with greatly enlarged percussion sections. Several of the symphonies seem to organise themselves into groups and Brian himself is known to have described No. 8 , 9 and 10 (1949-54) as “brothers” – though their composition was punctuated by writing two full-scale operas: Turandot (1950-51) and The Cenci (1951-52). 1973 saw the world premiere of the 28th Symphony, by the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by none else than Leopold Stokowski, an event hailed by the Daily Telegraph review: “a 91-year-old conductor learning a new work by a 91-year-old composer.” Brian's music owes much to Wagner, Bruckner, Elgar, Strauss, Mahler and Bach. Like Bach and Bruckner, Brian was an organist, and the organ repertoire influenced his musical habits. Other sources of influence are brass and military bands (Brian’s music is always very brassy and his music never strays far from the march, either slow and solemn, or fast and violent), and late Victorian street music. Brian's music has several recognisable hallmarks: the likes of extreme dotted rhythms, deep brass notes, and various uncharacteristic harp, piano and percussion timbres as well as other sounds and textures than no-one else has conjured from the orchestra.