# Sir Michael Tippett



## Bach

With the passing on January 8th 1998 of Sir Michael Tippett we lost one of the greatest British composers. But beyond that he was also one of the great men of the 20th century - a man of vision, creative genius and personal courage. We mourn the passing of a musical giant but rejoice in the life-enhancing output he has left behind which is a unique contribution to our cultural heritage.


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## Lisztfreak

Bearing in mind his restless and energetic appearance and the active life he lived, it is indeed strange he didn't live until his 110th.

It's also astonishing how age left little trace upon him. In his sixtieth year he looked like he was 15 years younger.

After having read a lot of Erich Fromm, I feel free to conclude that Sir Michael Tippett is a fine example of a 'productive', 'biophile' and 'wholesome' man.

I like his earlier works better, but his latter and more _avant guarde _ones are also very interesting. 
For beginners in Tippett, I recommend 'A Child of Our Time', Concerto for Double String Orchestra, Piano Sonata No.1, 'Boyhood's End' and 'The Heart's Assurance'.
Then you can move on to the Little Music for Strings, Ritual Dances, Piano Concerto and String Quartet No.1.
Afterwards - explore!


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## purple99

Lisztfreak said:


> It's also astonishing how age left little trace upon him. In his sixtieth year he looked like he was 15 years younger.


Spot on. There was an uncanny resemblance to Constable Odo.

View attachment 225

Constable Odo

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Michael Tippett


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## Lisztfreak

Almost!


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## Zombo

Listen to his piano concerto... wow


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## Lang

I very much admired Tippett as a man, and indeed, while I was a music student I once had the pleasure of meeting him and discussing Schoenberg with him.  But sadly I was never in tune with his music, which struck me like much modern British music as being highly accomplished technically, but saying nothing at all to me.


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## altiste

*Symphony No.2*

Tippett's Symphony No.2 is a great work in my opinion. The slow movement is one of the most exquisite slow movements ever written. Superbly crafted and also very moving.


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## Sid James

Lang said:


> I very much admired Tippett as a man, and indeed, while I was a music student I once had the pleasure of meeting him and discussing Schoenberg with him.  But sadly I was never in tune with his music, which struck me like much modern British music as being highly accomplished technically, but saying nothing at all to me.





Altiste said:


> Tippett's Symphony No.2 is a great work in my opinion. The slow movement is one of the most exquisite slow movements ever written. Superbly crafted and also very moving.


I agree with both these statements, although at first, this may seem contradictory.

I have just acquired the recent reissue of three of his major works on the one CD by EMI - _Concerto for Double String Orchestra; Piano Concerto & Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli_.

Upon listening to these works, my first impression is that the slow movements of the first two really grabbed me. They are very lyrical and movingly profound. This can also be said of the _Fantasia Concertante_, a work that is more approachable than the other two, as it is firmly rooted in traditions of the past. However, I find his faster movements fit Lang's description of being "highly technically accomplished" but less affective. Of course, I have not given up on his music, and I think with further listening, as I get to know them more, I might move in the other direction.

I've also heard, about 10 years ago, _A Child of Our Time_. I remember it as a very dramatic and emotional piece, and maybe I will acquire it on CD to revisit it. It certainly seemed to express his feelings about the WWII going on at the time; he was a committed pacifist.

All in all his music seems somewhat idiosyncratic and individual (like, say, Janacek's). It is hard to categorise him or put him into a box. There are also many good recordings our there of his whole output, and I think this is also encouraging. Some, like the _Fantasia Concertante_ on the EMI disc, are conducted by the composer himself.


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## Lisztfreak

Andre said:


> However, I find his faster movements fit Lang's description of being "highly technically accomplished" but less affective. Of course, I have not given up on his music, and I think with further listening, as I get to know them more, I might move in the other direction.


Really? I always have a wide smile on my face when the 3rd movement of the Doubles Concerto comes near the end, the moment when that glorious Northumbrian tune enters. It's a perfect example of liquid happiness in music. Youthful and like being in love, that entire concerto is.


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## Sid James

Lisztfreak said:


> Really? I always have a wide smile on my face when the 3rd movement of the Doubles Concerto comes near the end, the moment when that glorious Northumbrian tune enters. It's a perfect example of liquid happiness in music. Youthful and like being in love, that entire concerto is.


Thanks for your insights...I listened to *Tippet's* _Concerto for Double String Orchestra_ again last night after reading your comments.

I agree, the whole work is very sprightly, especially the last movement.

But it still doesn't somehow grab me as much as *Vaughan Williams' *foray into the same genre, his _Partita for Double String Orchestra_.

However, I will continue to listen and delve into that Tippet disc from time to time.


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## JTech82

Tippett is someone I've read about, heard about, but I have never gotten around to listening to any of his music.

I'm so enraptured in the sonic worlds of Mahler, Sibelius, Ravel, Debussy, Langgaard, Smetana, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Stravinsky right now that I haven't been listening to much else. Everyday I try and set aside time for something I haven't heard and right now Tippett isn't on my "to do" list, but only time will tell.

Anyone know a good place to start digging into his work?


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## Lisztfreak

I'd recommend the early pieces, which are much less experimental than the later ones. I started with the Little Music for Strings - neo-baroque, you might say, but clearly 20th-century. Piano Sonata No.1, String Quartet No.1, Concerto for Double String Orchestra, Piano Concerto, Ritual Dances - all quite easy to listen to for a Tippett-beginner.


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## ecg_fa

I like Tippett often-- if have to be in the mood, and not quite as much as V. Williams or
Britten overall. Though 'Child of Our Time' & 'Midsummer's Night's Dream' I like a lot. I would recommend recent Hyperion recording of MT's Piano Concerto; Fantasia on Theme of Handel & several Piano Sonatas-- feat. Steven Osborne and BBC
Scottish Symph. Orchestra. Osborne can be hit or miss for me, but here I think he 
really succeeds. The Piano Concerto is a difficult piece-- but very imaginative IMO.

Ed


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## Lisztfreak

altiste said:


> Tippett's Symphony No.2 is a great work in my opinion. The slow movement is one of the most exquisite slow movements ever written. Superbly crafted and also very moving.


I, however, like the 1st movement best. IMO, it is one of 10 best symphonic movements in the 20th century music. Love the pounding bass Cs and the horn calls contrasted with very high and acerbic string writing. And when the timpani go wild near the end... brilliant.


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## Sid James

Just been getting into some of his music now. The following copied from current listening thread -

*Michael Tippett*
_String Quartets_, Vol. 1 -
_No.1 in A major _(1934-5, rev.1943)
_No.2 in F sharp major_ (1941-2)
_No.4 _(1977-78)
The Tippett Quartet (on Naxos)

Just getting into these more deeply, after owning them for a couple of years.

Tippett's string quartets come off as linked to many things important to him, not the least the landscapes of his spiritual home & birthplace, Suffolk. Also, his compositional hero, Beethoven. Then there's the sprightly dance rhythms of old courtly England and the choral harmonies of Renaissance chruch music. Also, some 20th century writers in this medium as well, eg. Vaughan Williams, Bartok, Hindemith to name three. But far from being a grab-bag of everything and saying nothing, Tippett's musical voice comes strongly through these works.

The slow movements esp. of his first two quartets here grabbed me most with those. That of the first quartet captured those choral harmonies and the polyphony so well, it was like choral sounds coming from the strings, the fading out sounding like a male bass voice but it was the cello. The second quartet's slow movement came across as having a night time feel, a fair dose of eeriness and tension there.

The fourth quartet is in four connected movements, very fragmentary. Bits of ideas float around, eg. the dance vibes as well as something similar to Beethoven. Then in the last movement all is revealed, he puts the jigsaw together to be that powerful theme from Beethoven's _Grosse Fuge_, which Tippett quotes and elaborates upon in this final movement.

I like this disc and I aim to listen to the other volume with the other two quartets - #'s 3 & 5 - very soon...


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## Crudblud

Fell in love with this man recently...

...it's only illegal if you get caught, guys.


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## Neo Romanza

I think Tippett's star has fallen considerably since his death but I'm hoping there's a resurgence of interest in his music. Hopefully an enterprising record label will revive this composer's music. Some of my favorite works are _Double Concerto for String Orchestra_, _Piano Concerto_, all of the symphonies, _The Rose Lake_, _Fantasia Concertante on Theme of Corelli_, _The Midsummer Marriage_ (love the _Ritual Dances_ often pulled from this opera as a sort of orchestral suite), _Praeludium_ (don't know why exactly I love this work but I do --- it's haunting in a way), and _A Child of Our Time_. These are the works I continue to come back to time and time again. Tippett was an incredibly uneven composer, but I find that at his best he was on the same level as his contemporary Britten.


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## GGluek

Just to say something that I hope will not prove controversial . . . I think The Midsummer Marriage contains the most beautiful music written in the mid-Twentieth Century.


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## elgar's ghost

I'm a fan of his five string quartets. Interestingly, he composed the (official) first three by the time he was about 40 and didn't compose the fourth until over 30 years later. The final one was written when Tippett was in his mid-80s and proved that he was still on top of it and although not frivolous it certainly had no immediately apparent autumnal/nostalgic overtones either. It's regrettable that he didn't get around to composing more chamber works than he did - his only other significant contribution to this category was a sonata for four horns.


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## starthrower

Just listened to the piano concerto performed by John Ogden. What a beautiful piece! I'm going to have to pick up a CD. As far as his other works are concerned, any opinions on EMI verses Nimbus?

And then there's the quartets. Collins re-issued on Brilliant Classics, or Naxos?


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## Becca

GGluek said:


> Just to say something that I hope will not prove controversial . . . I think The Midsummer Marriage contains the most beautiful music written in the mid-Twentieth Century.


I can go along with this if it is modified to "some of the most beautiful..." i.e. it can sit alongside late Vaughan Williams, Rubbra, George Lloyd, Martinu, Tubin...


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## Vaneyes

Mark Wigglesworth on Tippett.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...tippett-conductor-mark-wigglesworth-bbc-proms


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## juliante

It's taken me a long time to get round to listening to Tippet, largely because of very limited chat about him on TC. But I heard an excerpt of his Concerto for Double String Orchestra on the radio the other day and now have listened to this piece a couple of times. There's definitely a place in my CD collection for this. It's harmonically and rhythmically very interesting and I find it a very engaging and enjoyable piece. I will be exploring him more and now I'm wondering why there is so little interested in him here. Maybe there are only a small number of great pieces by him?


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## joen_cph

The Corelli Fantasia for Strings and the 3rd Piano Sonata are very catchy works too.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT

I'm very fond of his operas _A Midsummer Marriage_, _The Knot Garden_ and, especially, _King Priam_. I've been lucky enough to have seen the latter two performed live, and they make for compelling theatrical experiences. I took three "opera virgin" friends to see _The Knot Garden_ and, despite its not being an "easy" work, they all enjoyed it immensely.


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## elgar's ghost

I like _The Knot Garden_ - it is clever in its distortion of the 'play within a play' structure and the characters are clearly drawn. However, I can't empathise with any of them - even allowing for the fact that some of the 'issues' may well be genuine they strike me as being self-absorbed and/or hysterical to the point of caricature, apart from the wife Thea who seems undemonstratively stoical in comparison. Perhaps this level of character exaggeration was an intentional device by Tippett in order to make the reasoning behind all the psychiatry and therapeutic roleplay instigated by the unlikeable and pretentious Mangus more apparent.

The idea of inter-relations within a group of diverse people serving as encapsulations of various modern-day political and social issues was utilised in similar fashion - and probably more starkly - by Tippett with his next opera, _The Ice Break_.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT

Thanks. I must dig out my CD of _The Ice Break_ - I haven't listened to it in years.


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## Josquin13

I recently discovered Tippett's "The Rose Lake" and "The Visions of St. Augustine", and thought they were worthwhile, interesting works, especially "The Rose Lake": I ended up buying the Sir Colin Davis LSO recording: 




You might find Tippett's "A Child of Our Time", 4 Symphonies, & 5 String Quartets of interest, as well (in addition to the works that others have recommended):

"A Child of Our Time": 




Symphony No. 1: 



Symphony No. 2: 



Symphony No. 3: 



Symphony No. 4: 




String Quartets 1-5 (performed here by the Britten Quartet):


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## senza sordino

I have recently acquired five cds of Michael Tippett's music. I like his work. His oeuvre can be a bit uneven, some super works and some not so good. The triple concerto is super, so beautiful; a work for violin, viola and cello. And the fourth symphony is a cracking symphony. It's supposed to be about life - birth to death along with all the chaos and bliss in between. It ends with some strained breathing and the last gasps of air.

I have a CD of the first two symphonies. I've only listened once, they didn't impress me on the first hearing. I need to listen again. I don't own a copy of the piano concerto but my one and only listen did impress me.


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## juliante

senza sordino said:


> I have recently acquired five cds of Michael Tippett's music. I like his work. His oeuvre can be a bit uneven, some super works and some not so good. The triple concerto is super, so beautiful; a work for violin, viola and cello. And the fourth symphony is a cracking symphony. It's supposed to be about life - birth to death along with all the chaos and bliss in between. It ends with some strained breathing and the last gasps of air.
> 
> I have a CD of the first two symphonies. I've only listened once, they didn't impress me on the first hearing. I need to listen again. I don't own a copy of the piano concerto but my one and only listen did impress me.


Thanks for the rec of the triple concerto, loving it so far


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## Enthusiast

senza sordino said:


> I have recently acquired five cds of Michael Tippett's music. I like his work. His oeuvre can be a bit uneven, some super works and some not so good. The triple concerto is super, so beautiful; a work for violin, viola and cello. And the fourth symphony is a cracking symphony. It's supposed to be about life - birth to death along with all the chaos and bliss in between. It ends with some strained breathing and the last gasps of air.
> 
> I have a CD of the first two symphonies. I've only listened once, they didn't impress me on the first hearing. I need to listen again. I don't own a copy of the piano concerto but my one and only listen did impress me.


Tippett went through three or four different phases and the music of each can be quite different. Do you know the quartets? They can be a good guide to the range of his music and they are all excellent.


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## Radagast

Absolutely agree! Oops.That was meant to be a response to the comment aboit the second symphony.Sorry, I'm new on here.


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## Janspe

I've been feeling a bit "repertoire-trapped" recently, meaning that I've felt like I've been concentrating too much on music I already know. So today I've been listening to nothing but Tippett, a composer I've been aware of for years but never really gotten around to listening to any of his music.

So far I've listened to the four piano sonatas and the first two symphonies. As I write this I'm listening to the first string quartet, with the intention to listen to all five in the upcoming few days. I'm not fully sure if this is music I connect with very much - not _yet_ anyway! - but I'm really excited to just enjoy the unfamiliarity of it all. Keeps one's mind fresh and alert!


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## CrunchyFr0g

Janspe said:


> I'm not fully sure if this is music I connect with very much - not _yet_ anyway! - but I'm really excited to just enjoy the unfamiliarity of it all. Keeps one's mind fresh and alert!


Hang in there for a while at least. The first Tippett music I heard were the quartets by the Lindsays and I didn't get it at all until one day - I did. And that opened the door to the rest of his music.

He's all about counterpoint and (in the early period) rhythm. The fast movements of the Concerto for Double String Orchestra dance on air. And you hear that same transparent rhythmic vitality in much of his early music. I just love it. As others have said, the Piano Concerto is just beautiful with the same lightness of texture.

Symphony 2 is a masterpiece that straddles his first and second periods as a composer.

Later music is more difficult to get into but still contains some wonderful stuff. The triple concerto is an incredible work. I think the opening chord may be the most amazing chord (given the voicing and orchestration) that I've ever heard.

Being new to this forum, it was nice to see this thread from before my time pop up. Thanks to the popper-upper


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## Janspe

CrunchyFr0g said:


> Being new to this forum, it was nice to see this thread from before my time pop up. Thanks to the popper-upper


Breathing new life into old(er) composer conversations is always fun, no matter who does it. Each composer should get their place in the spotlight every now and then, if even for a fleeting moment!

Thanks for the suggestions. My partner - who happens to be British - keeps recommending the Double Concerto for String Orchestra, so maybe I should listen to that work soon. It seems it's always mentioned when Tippett is discussed.

Tippett's style is certainly very personal; some textures he conjures up from the orchestra are quite original.


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## Pat Fairlea

Janspe said:


> Breathing new life into old(er) composer conversations is always fun, no matter who does it. Each composer should get their place in the spotlight every now and then, if even for a fleeting moment!
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions. My partner - who happens to be British - keeps recommending the Double Concerto for String Orchestra, so maybe I should listen to that work soon. It seems it's always mentioned when Tippett is discussed.
> 
> Tippett's style is certainly very personal; some textures he conjures up from the orchestra are quite original.


Yes, go for that Double Concerto with its driving energy and sheer joie de vivre. And then T's Sinfonia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli for its rich textures and counterpoint.


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## Guest

I like all of his instrumental music (not a fan of any vocal music), and we guitarists are so grateful for his "The Blue Guitar," although much of it is very unidiomatic to play.


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## Janspe

Listened to some Tippett just now - something I unfortunately haven't done even once since my last post on this thread! So much to listen to and so much to explore, but so little time... Anyway, I listened to the _Triple Concerto_ and it was an intriguing experience. I can't say that I fully understood the work yet - it really is quite a strange beast in way - but the overall impression I got was one of subtlety and gentle luminosity. I really enjoyed the interludes especially! Definitely a work that requires a few revisits in order to be understood further...

Up next: the _Concerto for Orchestra_ from the same album (both works led by Sir Colin Davis)! Happy to investigate this composer's output yet again.


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## Roger Knox

I've always loved all of Tippett's so-called "early" works (he wrote some before the Double Concerto and _A Child of Our Time_ that we don't hear), and some more recent ones. I didn't react well to his _King Priam_ period, but have a lot of respect for his stylistic growth over a long career.


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## John O

I like quite a lot of Tippett, but love the Fantasia Concertante on a theme by Corelli.
It is an exquisite masterpiece , described by his biographer as his 'perfect piece"
The climax is the 9 part double fugue based on a Bach fugue on a Corelli theme. (3 composers in one) 
The intricate lines intertwine like a Gothic tracery before soaring high up in ecstasy above the theme in 3/2.
Anyone who loves VW Tallis Fantasia or the Britten's fugue at the end of Young Person Guide should love this.


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## Neo Romanza

John O said:


> I like quite a lot of Tippett, but love the Fantasia Concertante on a theme by Corelli.
> It is an exquisite masterpiece , described by his biographer as his 'perfect piece"
> The climax is the 9 part double fugue based on a Bach fugue on a Corelli theme. (3 composers in one)
> The intricate lines intertwine like a Gothic tracery before soaring high up in ecstasy above the theme in 3/2.
> Anyone who loves VW Tallis Fantasia or the Britten's fugue at the end of Young Person Guide should love this.


I think the _Concerto for Double String Orchestra_ is pretty perfect, too. In a similar vein to the _Corelli Fantasia_, I also like the _Handel Fantasia_. If I had to pick one Tippett work to accompany on a desert island it would be the _Concerto for Double String Orchestra_. It's stuck in my head days after listening to it. I also like his more gnarly later works, which aren't always appreciated like _Symphony No. 3_ and the _Triple Concerto_ for example.


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## starthrower

What are the preferred recordings of his symphonies? Hickox, Davis or the composer's recordings?


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## starthrower

I decided to buy a copy of the Hickox set.


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