Music and Vinyl: E.J.Moeran - Symphony in G minor

Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950) was part of the generation of British composers whose lives were shaped by their experiences in the First World War. Like Arnold Bax he had an affinity with Ireland, spending a lot of his time after 1934 in County Kerry.

E.J. Moeran

After studying at the Royal College of Music under Stanford, and later as a pupil of John Ireland, he also shared a house with fellow composer Peter Warlock - the pseudonym of Philip Heseltine - whose lifestyle would go on to influence his life with bouts of alcoholism.

Musically, Moeran was attracted to folksongs and madrigals. but his most substantial work was undoubtedly his G minor Symphony, finished in 1937, and commissioned by Hamilton Harty for his Hallé Orchestra. Harty had given the premiere of William Walton's First Symphony two years earlier, and Moeran's G minor Symphony was of a similar stature, coupling lyricism with martial brass in a way that led biographer Geoffrey Self to declare the symphony as Moeran's "war requiem".

In this 1975 performance we have Sir Adrian Boult conducting the New Philharmonia for Richard Itter's enterprising Lyrita label. And as usual the recording, by Decca engineers, is first rate, as are the sleeve notes reproduced below (click on the scan to enlarge).