The Gluepot Connection celebrates the coming together of a generation of established and emerging composers who defined British music in the middle of the last century in a cornerstone of British life – the local pub. “That bloody Gluepot” was the nickname given to The George public house in central London by Sir Henry Wood, exasperated that its proximity to the legendary Queen’s Hall proved irresistible to his musicians. Andrew Griffiths skillfully joins the dots of the Gluepot’s tangled relationships and musical achievements with the Londinium chamber choir to present a vivid portrait of a moment unique in British music. Arnold Bax’s a cappella masterpiece ‘Mater ora filium’ blends past and present to produce one of the most challenging and rewarding works in the English choral repertoire. Delius’s ‘On Craig Ddu’ proved “a revelation” to a young Peter Warlock, whose ‘The Full Heart’ boldly marries antiquity and modernity with the same rapturous atmosphere. Interest in the first Elizabethan age was strong in the years before and after the second Queen Elizabeth took the throne, notably so in John Ireland’s melancholic The Hills and EJ Moeran’s attractively varied Songs of Springtime. Appearing for the first time are Alan Rawsthorne’s bracing, tightly constructed Four Seasonal Songs and Alan Bush’s pastoral part-song ‘Like Rivers Flowing’ and ‘Lidice.’ The Gluepot’s connection to the new is illustrated by Elisabeth Lutyens’ warm and melting ‘Verses of Love’ – a mellower contrast to early serialism that saw her dubbed ‘Twelve-Tone Lizzie’. A highlight is William Walton’s tour-de-force anthem ‘Where does the uttered music go?’ employing his trademark blend of warm-hearted lyricism and angular rhythms.
