Frank Bridge

On the whole, the finely-crafted works of British violist and composer Frank Bridge (1879-1941) suffer an undeserved neglect, at least outside of Great Britain, and so he is perhaps most remembered as the teacher of his singular composition student, Benjamin Britten (1913-1976). Not surprisingly, prior to World War I (1914-1918), Bridge wrote in a Late Romantic style typical of his British contemporaries, but after the war his music became more and more dissonant, in keeping with Continental tends. Bridge composed his Cello Sonata in D minor between 1913 and 1917, and it already exhibits flashes of more "modern" tonal colors. In his piano writing, Bridge's use of parallel 4ths, 5ths and triads shows an affinity with Debussy, and the work's striking lyricism might easily bring to mind Rachmaninoff. "The War to End All Wars" was still raging when Bridge completed the Sonata, and one cannot help but feel the almost desperate melancholy that perfuses much of the second movement as a reflection of the tremendous suffering and loss that accompanied that international tragedy. Bridge's Cello Sonata remains among his most-performed works, and has been included in at least 18 different commercial CD releases since the early 1990s.

Frank Bridge: Sonata in D minor (1913-17) [on YouTube]

[SCORE pdf from imslp.org]

I. Allegro ben moderato. II. Adagio ma non troppo