FOUR SHORT PIECES

Frank Bridge entered the Royal College of Music in London in 1899 to study the violin as well as composition with Charles Villiers Stanford, but switched to the viola which he went on to play professionally in various string quartets. He also found work as a conductor, which included deputising for Henry Wood at Promenade concerts, but Bridge increasingly turned his attention to composition, concentrating on chamber works which stood a better chance of regular performance than larger orchestral pieces. Bridge's catalogue lists nearly two hundred works written between 1900 and 1941, mainly chamber music, piano solos and songs. His early work was in an harmonically rich English style, but he was deeply affected by the First World War and adopted elements of serialism in his later and starker compositions. Bridge is now best remembered for tutoring Benjamin Britten in composition, and Britten continued to champion his teacher's music after his death.

'Four Short Pieces' for violin and piano were written for Cynthia Lubbock, a violin pupil of Bridge's, and published in 1912. Nothing by him for solo wind is listed, so the publication of Robert Rainford's arrangement for clarinet and piano, one hundred and three years later, is very welcome. He writes in the introduction "These four character pieces are eloquently descriptive, and perfectly match their titles. The Meditation is calm and serene, while the Spring Song is light and flowing. The Lullaby has a long, flowing melody over lush harmonies, while the Country Dance trips along fleetly."

• Spring Song
• Lullaby
• Country Dance

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