IDAGIO | Bridge: Dance Rhapsody - Rebus Overture - Dance Poem - 2 Poems

Featuring

Nicholas Braithwaite
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Frank Bridge

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Composer Biography

By 1932, Frank Bridge became so depressed and bitter due to his best music being infrequently heard and misunderstood that he composed nothing significant for four years.

Composer Biography

During the first part of his career (1904-1918), Frank Bridge was both a leading viola player and a popular composer, a versatility viewed with suspicion at the time.

Composer Biography

Frank Bridge, the composer, was a controversial figure during his lifetime, refusing to follow the prevailing tastes of the musical establishment.

Compositional Technique

The Overture Rebus by Frank Bridge uses a single three-bar motif as its thematic foundation, conveying how rumour spreads by progressively transforming and distorting this simple idea.

Composition History

Frank Bridge's Overture Rebus, completed in 1940, was originally conceived as 'Rumour', but the title was changed due to the sinister implications of rumour during the start of the holocaust.

Composer Biography

Frank Bridge died on January 10, 1941, while working on what he hoped would be his most significant project, a Symphony for String Orchestra, which he did not live to hear performed.

Critical Reception

Frank Bridge's radical 'foreign' musical style, which began with his Piano Sonata (1924), shocked and bewildered the public and press who had previously welcomed his more amiable music.