"Self-expression is the key. One looks out and assimilates the external world in conjunction with one's inner life. Both the heart and the mind are part of the creative process, and the two cannot be separated if one is to find a balance between the purely sentimental and the purely intellectual."
The above quotation by Ian Venables sums up succinctly his approach to composition, as well as his own creative life. Likewise, the composer Arnold Bax once wrote that "he was absolutely certain that the only music that can last is that which is the outcome of one's emotional reactions to the ultimate realities of life, love and death". Both of these musical creeds underline a need for personal integrity as well as creative sincerity and this is nowhere more apparent than in the music of Ian Venables.
From the many epithets used to describe his music, the one most often quoted is 'accessible'. In a world where adherence to a particular school of thought takes on an almost reverential status, Ian Venables' music is unashamedly Romantic in style. Its raison d'étre is, as Bax suggests, to communicate 'the ultimate realities of life, love and death', through a sound-world that is accessible and in a language that is musically and emotionally challenging.
When listening to Ian Venables' compositions – whether it is one of his intimate songs, a chamber work or a choral piece – one is struck not only by their emotional and technical strength but also by their very real beauty; qualities which can only come from an individuality as deep as it is genuine.
This musical development finds its roots in his love of the piano and it is no accident that his first creative works are for this instrument. The homage to Shostakovich in his Op. 1 Piano Sonata and the vertiginous sound world of his Prelude Op. 3 show a mind already engaged in experimentation: the melancholy of much of his later works cocooned by a style not yet given full flight.
The true 'English' nature of Venables' music finds its expression in his set of piano pieces The Stourhead Follies Op. 4. The rapt joy of these pieces is indicative of a style that has become more structurally, melodically and harmonically secure in its direction.
Much chamber music was also written during this period, with the composer more aware of the inherent limitations of the piano's expressive possibilities. The Elegy for Cello and Piano Op. 2 and the Three Pieces for Violin and Piano Op. 11 show his ability to create works of great depth and profundity yet continue to forge his own individual style and sound-world.
It is however through the medium of song that Ian Venables has found his true mode of expression. His ability to extract and shape meaning from within a poem through the medium of music finds no parallel in the last two decades of the 20th century. He is a passionate lover of poetry and this is reflected in his choice of poets. His settings of John Clare, J.A. Symonds, Harold Monro and Edna St Vincent Millay indicate a creative mind that is fully versed in word painting and musical metaphor. As a song-writer he has been likened to Gerald Finzi, and he could be justifiably reckoned as a worthy successor to the English Pastoral tradition.
His later works: the Piano Quintet Op. 27; Invite to Eternity Op. 31; String Quartet Op. 32 and Millennium Anthem Op. 34 show his mastery in developing and shaping large scale forms, and his gift at writing seemless melodic ideas shows an ever developing language that has created works of great depth and importance. Writing in a great variety of musical forms he has infused his works with poetic lyricism and has given tonal language new vitality.
The legacy of any composer is not to be found in fame or public exposure, but in whether their music "speaks" to those who listen. For Michael Tippett it was about a need "to sing songs", to be true to himself. So too for Ian Venables, whose music stands as a testament to the universality of human experience. He too "sings songs" – his message though is simple – a desire to create something of beauty that touches both the heart and mind.
© Graham Lloyd