Ruth Gipps: Symphony No. 2, Op. 30
in one movement (1945)
I was so pleased and excited to present this work with the Burlington Civic Symphony Orchestra in April 2026. I hope more conductors and musicians consider performing the work, too. These performance notes will offer interpretive ideas and help you decide if the work is a good fit for your orchestra.
From my short address to the audience prior to performance:
“What attracted me to this piece was that it is so skillfully composed and has a compelling story. Gipps studied with Ralph Vaughan Williams and saw herself as one to carry on his style of composition. So, there are lush chords and hints of folk music. The opening 20 seconds are particularly rich with impressions of the English countryside with big sky and wide horizons. She writes masterfully for the brass section. Everything is playable and in character for the instrument, yet the material sounds freshly crafted. Creative combinations between wind, brass and strings keep the work flowing with color and textural changes.I found the storyline arch of the work compelling. The piece was written in 1945, so it is a wartime work. The composer has said that the work is in three parts; the time before the war, during the war, and after the war. The first part depicting the pre-war time seems to capture “the good life,” a sense of open horizons, youthful energy, and rich expectations for life.Then war arrives and everything changes. Usually when composers depict war, the music is about the fighting and violence, but Gipps gave it a more personal perspective and captures the emptiness, insecurity and anxiety of being on the homefront. Recently married, her husband now leaves to serve in the Royal Air Force. Every day brings uncertainties. Who comes home, and who doesn’t? There are moments, too, of holding on to the memory of life prior to the war.The third part depicts the time after the war. Most composers make this section into a victory march gushing with nationalistic pride. But again, Gipps offers a more personal experience. For me, instead of victory, she expresses massive relief. It is over. Relief, her husband comes home after three years of service. Relief, one can sense that a future exists again. Of course there is still the grief of war to sort through, but dreams are possible and plans can be made.I find that to be a compelling story line, especially that moment when you can suddenly feel that the future exists again; there is hope and space to dream.”
Instrumental Considerations
2[1/pic.2/pic] 2[1.2/Eh] 2 2 — 4 2 3 1 — timpani +4 — hp — str
Percussion: bass drum, cymbals, suspended cymbals, triangle, tambourine, bell (chime) Bb
Horns tend to sit high and have numerous solos.
Cellos have a passage with a six-note falling motif which spans a good two octaves. For example, one phrase goes from D#5 down to F#3. The principal cello also has a passionate solo in the treble clef.
The concertmaster also has a solo.
Both flute players double on piccolo and enjoy an extended passage for piccolo duet.
The brass players have exposed moments: Trombone 1 has a solo line, trumpet 1 has solo passages.
The Harp part has huge chords during the exposed English Horn solo.
Timpani: Uses three timpani with numerous pitch changes throughout
Score and Parts Discrepancies
For the most part, when I found a discrepancy between the score and parts, the parts tended to be the better option.
M.1: score shows 4 quarter notes for the timpani. The part has 3, with beat one a rest. I went with the 3 beats in the timpani part. (I doubt she wanted to evoke the Beethoven Violin concerto!)
M.4: The score shows a F natural half-note whereas the parts have the correct F#.
M. 25: Allegro Moderato, Viola and Cello need an added “mp” dynamic.
M.129: the pick-up to H. Score has Ob. 1 playing an E as the second note, the part has the correct D.
M. 252: Violins 1, 2, and Viola. Beat three, 2nd note of triplet should be C#.
Interpretation Ideas
I found the triplet idea throughout, but especially as it is first presented in the Allegro Moderato. Measure 28 has the first triplet in the violin line. With triplets I usually ask myself if something is being compressed (three notes instead of two) to create more energy? Or is something being relaxed (three notes instead of four, making a feeling of things being delayed or slowed.) Often, we consider triplets as this wait-wait delaying pattern. Here though, and throughout the piece I find the triplet is asking for more vitality; three notes instead of two are needed to satisfy the energy. So, I ask players to “throw” the rhythm bit. Let the triplet rush into being; the 2nd note wanting to hug the first and third note wanting to get there as soon as possible. For me, this phrasing of the triplets conveys the youthful, hopeful energy that I’d like to express in these moments. Even in the Adagio, I feel the quarter-note triplets should be seen as having this subtle ‘thrown” energy.
Two bars before D, I love this almost Mahlerian motif with hairpin crescendo/decrescendos creating a stretched, upside-down feeling. The following piu mosso brings in the tambourine which adds an important military band flavor.
Harp and English Horn solo: The harp has the EH solo cued in their part so little conducting movement or distraction is needed.
Rehearsal F: for me the ‘a tempo’ is the same as “Meno mosso” but a bit more nostalgic.
Rehearsal H: The triplets in the Viola and Bassons, etc. I feel are full of energy, the ‘Non legato’ marking suggests long, fast bows but no bounce or sharp articulation.
M.167, one may need to remind Violins 1 that beat 4 is A natural.
Rehearsal M: shape the inflection of this brass section, so it is not just note followed by note. I leaned into the last note of each little phrase, making it sound defiant and reluctant. And please, m.186, no beating out the empty beat 1 by the conductor, it ruins the moment.
M. 187 through m. 294 creates the impression of a marching band approaching, then passing directly by in full strength (m. 254), then fading again as it passes. No ritard or slowing going into the Adagio.
Adagio: Keep the players well tucked inside each other, with no individual louder than another. Notice the now-familiar downward steps in m. 301. I felt they could be lingered upon a bit. The triplet in m. 296 and other similar places, I asked the accompanying players to swell with the triplet, followed by a corresponding decrescendo. M. 304: let the beautiful harmonic color be offered, rather than just played. One before Rehearsal V: in the F major chord, bring out the Violin 2 part. Rehearsal V: Let the horn shape the phrase. Our horn player chose to breathe between beat 3 and 4 in m. 327. Also, before beat 4 in m. 330, delaying beat 4 a bit. All to wonderful effect.
M. 393 Tranquillo. The addition of the bell here creates a possible impression of a ship’s bell and being down at the docks. Perhaps a ship has returned from war. The orchestration and resulting color here is almost eerie and mysterious. Then, the return of the opening three beats from the timpani brings us back to the present.
While the Solo Cello offers expressive tension, the beautiful colors are nudged by the orchestra’s accents m. 414 and 416. The D natural for the solo cello in m. 418 adds another moment of color and poignancy.
Soon we hear the trumpet playing what could be “taps.” I asked the Violins 2 to keep their G# gentle and very quiet, so the listeners’ ear can find the trumpet line quickly. The taps gesture seems almost poetic and tender; we seem to escape the usual haunting message of taps.
M. 453: A tempo is spirited. At m. 458 I chose to stretch the 4th beat; holding the tension so the allegro is a release full of “relief”. M. 499, Piu mosso: “It’s over” and is a bit defiant.
Rehearsal EE: Once again, the triplets get thrown with high energy. As do the final triplets in measure m. 529.
Tempo considerations: I stayed on the moderato side of the tempos. Too fast and the harmonies lose color and music becomes more textural. For the section conveying “relief” I used a temp that didn’t become anxious or scurried but remained solid and joyful.