Three Songs with viola

Frank
Bridge became Britten’s main composition teacher when the youthful composer was
only fourteen and remained a significant influence for many years. Britten
himself cited Bridge’s influence until the end of his life, so it is entirely
in keeping to follow late Britten with early Bridge in a concert that is
zigzagging its way back from the 1960s to the 1860s. This work is particularly
apposite as the violist, Audrey Alston, became Britten’s viola teacher and was
responsible for introducing him to Frank Bridge.

In
the first fifteen years of the twentieth century, Bridge was prominent in
English musical life, a multi-talented instrumentalist, conductor, composer
and, like so many composers, an exceptional viola player. As a young composer
he specialised in high-grade easy-going miniatures displaying his personal
brand of wistful but fresh melody enjoying considerable success in the then
amateurish English musical environment. The Three
Songs are not really a cycle but make a satisfying group with a shared mood of sombre but underplayed
melancholy.