Bur 6 Six Folksong Settings for two piano duet

Contents

1. Gossip Joan (FS 11) *

2. O Waly Waly (FS 13) *

3. Peas, Beans, Oats and the Barley (FS 20) *

4. Captain Grant (FS 17) *

5. Welsh Lullaby (FS 16) *

6. Eggs in her Basket (FS 22) *

* Numbers given by the composer in Burrows's Folk Song Settings series

Editor's Notes

Benjamin Burrows's first twenty four folk song settings for two pianos were written separately, but between 1952 and 55 he embarked on three groups: Three Irish Airs (1952) Three Scottish Airs (1954) and Three Welsh Airs (1954). Not his first efforts at writing for piano duet, they do however represent an absorbing interest that this medium held for him between 1940 and 1954. While studying with Charles Kitson, whose distinguished mantle as a theory teacher he himself later so uniquely wore, he had transcribed Delius's Brigg Fair for two pianos and in 1934 he composed a Rhapsody and an Intermezzo, much influenced by popular music of the day, and Gershwin in particular. Later, interspersed among the folk song settings, are a Rumba (1944) which owes something to the more noted Jamaican Rumba of Arthur Benjamin, Five Waltzes (1947/8) and Three Fugues (1951). These last reveal the contrapuntal ingenuity that earned him first prize in a nationwide fugue competition.
His virtuosity as a keyboard player ensured a highly effective piano style and these works for two pianos are a delight for players and listeners alike. One other work is worth a mention since it is an example of the rare combination of organ and piano. Variations on an Original Theme was written in 1948 for Elsie Everett, a Leicester pianist and the composer's secretary. (Green Man Press, catalogue ref. Bur 7 ).

The sources for the first twenty four folk songs Burrows chose were Chappell's Popular Music of the Olden Times, Journals of the Folk Song Society and Folk Song Collections (Novello). When he decided to add his three settings from Ireland, Scotland and Wales, he turned to volume one of 12 Twelve Scotch and Irish Airs with Variations set for the German Flute, Violin or Harpsichord by Mr Buck (Thunott Simpson, London 1742) and Minstrelsy of Wales (Augener 1906). In our series of publications we have selected eleven which seem to us representative of the best.
In some of the settings, Burrows is content to provide a simple harmonic frame for the melody: O Waly Waly, (no. 2), Through the Wood and, exquisitely, The Spanish Lady, exemplify this type . Others are more elaborate, achieving considerable dramatic excitement by the use of imitation, canon and fughetta.

Burrows spotted Gossip Joan (no. 1) as fugal material and the result is tremendously exhilarating; over a twelve bar dominant pedal excitement mounts and is released in a grand, triumphant codetta. In contrast, O Waly Waly is a pensive treatment of the lovely old Northumbrian tune, popularised by Benjamin Britten in his Folk Song Settings in the 1940s.
Peas, Beans, Oats and the Barley (no. 3) - along with Greensleeves, (no.1) the only tune Burrows did not personally select - was a tribute to the aforementioned Elsie Everett, on the occasion of her marriage to a "market gardener". At least, that was the composer's description of Harry Cox; Elsie disclaimed such a grandiose title for her husband whose operation, it seems, was more of a small-scale hobby. The title of the tune was, however, a happy choice and into the joyous piece (bar 15 – first appearance) is incorporated the sound of wedding bells which, modified, lay the piece to rest.
The 6/8 rhythm of Greensleeves also informs Captain Grant (no. 4). One suspects Irish origins here; the second line has a similar melodic contour to the celebrated song I met her in the garden where the praties grow. The jig rhythm and the bagpipe drone emphasize the Celtic connection. The attractive modulations through which the music incessantly ripples, give the piece the charm of a delightful journey, most likely on horseback, full of variety and interest.
Welsh Lullaby, (no. 5) will be familiar to many recorder pupils and teachers from their earliest lessons in that instrument, as Winter Sleeps. This simple three note range tune (doh, ray, me), draws from Burrows an enchanting harmonic treatment, displaying his cunning for subtle and telling transmutation. The harmony is not strikingly new. Burrows had become very much of a traditionalist after the 1930s but there is a subtle and personal quality about it that imbues the piece with that air of soothing repose required of a lullaby.
Eggs in her Basket (no. 6) is a buoyant piece, this time based on canon derived from the opening figure. A similar excitement is generated to that in Gossip Joan but in contrast with the fugal setting, after grand pretensions to the approach of a similar "maestoso" ending, the piece skitters away in a chuckle of mirth.