The British composer William Busch (1901–1945) studied music internationally. His first music lessons were in the US, followed by piano and music lessons in Berlin. In May 1924, he returned to London, where he had piano lessons with Benno Moiseiwitsch and composition lessons with Alan Bush, John Ireland and Bernard van Dieren. He was also friends with Gerald Finzi and Howard Ferguson.
William Busch
Initially a pianist, Busch took seriously to composition only in the 1930s, first writing songs and then his acclaimed Piano Concerto. His small output mainly consisted of small forms: songs, piano music, and chamber music, although he did write a cello concerto (1941) and left a violin concerto incomplete at his early death, age 44.
This recording of Busch’s chamber music brings together many of his small ensemble works, including the Passacaglia for violin and viola (1939), a Quartet for piano and strings (1939), his Suite for cello and piano (1943), Three pieces for violin and piano (1943-44), the Elegy for violoncello and piano (1944), and A Memory for violoncello and piano (1944). The works are performed by members of the Piatti Quartet (Michael Trainor, violin; Zahra Benyounes, viola; and Jessie Ann Richardson, cello) joined by Simon Callaghan, piano, and Ashok Klouda, cello.
Piatti Quartet
Michael Trainor
Zahra Benyounes
Jessie Ann Richardson
Simon Callaghan
Ashok Klouda
In his obituary by John Amis, the writer noted that Busch’s music was ‘distinguished by its sensibility and warmth with a strong sense of form and a fine texture, linear rather than harmonic’. It is this emphasis on line that comes out in works such as the Elegy. Written for cello and piano, the cello assumes the ascendency, first with an extended soliloquy and then with dialogues with the piano.
William Busch: Elegy for Violoncello and Piano (Ashok Klouda, cello; Simon Callaghan, piano)
Other works, such as A Memory, written for Elizabeth Poston, also for cello and piano, bring a hazier side to the fore. It’s about memory but also about reminiscence and nostalgia. The opening is filled with a sense of distance, but the memory, in the end, is troubled and sorrowful.
The heart of the chamber music is his piano quartet. Written for piano and strings, his innate lyricism rings through but is constrained by the conciseness of each movement. The first movement gives us a contrast of two themes, one energetic and the other more tranquil. The second movement is based on a lament, with the solo violin rising to the fore. The scherzo changes character with an impetuous theme and a quieter contrasting trio. The last movement, a theme with 12 variations, gives Busch an opportunity to show what he can do with a ‘solemn, stately theme’. To round out the work, the first bars of the first movement are repeated at the end, leading to the triumphant conclusion.
The abbreviated life of William Busch and the potential shown in these chamber works, particularly in this series of new recordings on Lyrita (already issued: Songs, Complete Piano Music, and the Cello and Piano Concertos) brings this all-too-soon forgotten master back into the limelight.
Chamber Music of William Busch
Members of the Piatti Quartet’; Simon Callaghan, piano; Ashok Klouda, cello
Lyrita Records SRCD 439
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