Julian Clifford Sr.: Valse mignonne (Birds on the Wing)

Phillip Sear plays a somewhat étude-like waltz from 1918 by the British composer, conductor, and pianist Julian (Seymour) Clifford (1877–1921).
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Clifford was born in London, and studied at the Leipzig Conservatory and the Royal College of Music.

He began his career as a pianist, but soon turned to conducting. He held positions with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Yorkshire Permanent Orchestra in Leeds, before being appointed Musical Director to the Corporations of Harrogate and Hastings in 1906 (Clifford’s Harrogate orchestra would visit Hastings for the winter season).

Clifford was a highly respected conductor, and his orchestras were known for their high standards of performance. He was also a champion of new music, and gave the first provincial performances of many works by English composers, including Elgar, Vaughan Williams, and Holst. He was a close friend of another short-lived English composer, Ernest Farrar, who was killed in World War 1.

Clifford’s works as a composer are now largely forgotten. He wrote a piano concerto, a song cycle, and a tone poem, as well as smaller pieces. I have referred to him in the titles as “senior” to avoid confusion with his son, also Julian (1903–66), likewise a conductor, pianist, and composer (of light music). You can read more about both Cliffords here: https://tinyurl.com/2dcpl7pj

The use of a French main title and an English descriptive subtitle seems amusing to us today, but I guess that this was good marketing in the day!

Thumbnail image created with Wombo Dream ( https://rb.gy/ekerq ).
#britishmusic #waltzmusic #birdmusic
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Played by Phillip Sear
http://www.psear.co.uk (Email: piano4@psear.33mail.com
WhatsApp: http://wa.me/441444483794 )