The Five Short Pieces are amongst Lennox Berkeley's most important early piano works, and was completed some ten years earlier than his other major piano work, the "Piano Sonata" Opus.20, of 1945. Berkeley's other major works from the late 1930's and around the time of the" Five Short Pieces", were the "Violin and Piano Sonata" no.2 (OP.1) of 1933, the "Polka for Two Piano's" of 1934, which was very successful both in Britain and America. This was followed by the" Three Piano Pieces", of 1935, of which the "Etude" was dedicated to the pianist Harriet Cohen, also the same year(1935), Berkeley's "Overture for Orchestra"(OP.8), was premiered at the" Proms"(Albert Hall) under the Conductorship of Lennox Berkeley himself !

This was followed a year later in 1936, by his Oratorio "Jonah"(OP.3), which was premiered by the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. It was also at this point, in the Spring of 1936 that Lennox Berkeley first met Benjamin Britten for the first time at the International Society of Contemporary Music Festival(ISCM), which was held in Barcelona, where Berkeley's "Overture for Orchestra" was performed. While, Benjamin Britten's contribution as Britain's other representative at the Festival, was his "Suite for Violin and Piano"(OP.6). Apart from Britten, Berkeley was also very impressed by Alban Berg's "Violin Concerto" performance at the Festival.
In 1937, soon after Berkeley's first meeting with Britten, they made a rare musical collaboration based on old "Catalan" Folk tunes, this resulted in the Orchestral Suite "Mon Juic"(OP.9). Following this, in the Autumn of 1937, the two of them spent a brief holiday break in Newquay(Cornwall), where Berkeley first showed Britten his "Five Short Pieces", who in turn introduced his composition, "Our Hunting Fathers" to Lennox. It was during this period that Britten and Berkeley cemented their relationship and understanding of each others music. It is without doubt though, that Lennox Berkeley's" Five Short Pieces" are exceptional and encapsulate all Berkeley's compositional skills and reflect his musical integrity, his charm and wit. One see's in the "Five Short Pieces" an absolute economy, balance and a myriad of contrasting textures, all result in subtle harmonies and sublime lyricism. One is reminded of Francis Poulenc's music when you listen to Lennox Berkeley, the two of them were lifelong friends.

(Ⅰ) Andante; D-major;
This first piece is indeed a short piece, barely lasting a minute! The Andante begins with and is characterised by an almost whimsical and improvisatory theme. One might say, It's a minature musical "sketch", and importantly, the melody line has a slightly "daydreamy" atmosphere which appears to be in perpetual modulation. This is especially true of the climax, where 6/8ths and 7/8ths re-occur one after another, the meter is constantly changing throughout the work. Berkeley requires the listener to be aware of the subtle rhythmical nuances and the overall delicate expression of the piece.

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(Ⅱ) Allegro; Moderato C-major;
The second piece is based around a simple melodic line, with a quaver pulse accompaniament, which creates a texture suitable for contrapuntal development later on. Again, Berkeley succeeds in creating maximum musical impact by using the bare minimum! His sophisticated and economic use of the musical language is a trade mark of Berkeley's compositional skills. The harmonic progression is quite simple in this work, it begins in C-major, and progresses on to F-major, G-major and finally back to the key of C-major.

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(Ⅲ) Moderato; G-major;
This third piece is intriguing, the contrast between the "singing" legato and the mischevious staccato, with the melody set over a steady rhythmic pattern on the bass line. The melodic theme is characterised by the descending interval of the 6th, which Berkeley also uses throughout his piano sonata op.20. The melody begins with this sequence in G-major and continues on in the key of B to D flat to A and then back to G-major, with a slight change to the thematic.

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(Ⅳ) Andante; E-major;
In this fourth piece, again the tempo marking is in Andante, but it has a completely different feel and approach from the first piece. There is a mysterious quality to it, an evocative melody in the bass, along with a delicate accompaniament of an undulating Alberti bass. The piece ends with melodic intervals of 5th's, like a duet, and it then quietly fades out.

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(Ⅴ) Allegro; A-minor;
In this the fifth piece, begins in the key of A-minor and Berkeley's sensitivity to tonality is complex, as this key(A-minor) does not always reflect the ambience and range of this key signature. His radical modulations tend to leave the listener wondering where the work is going untill the conclusion is reached, and this Allegro in A-minor personifies this.
The entire work is very"fluid" due to it's ever changing time signatures, and so, the search for a more consistant and idenitifiable key signature is alas, unsuccessful and the work concludes on a clear unison of octaves in "A".

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MP3→ (Ⅰ) ～ (Ⅴ)

　

Kumiko Ida / Brian O'Hara-(text) Autumn 2005.