The Water Lily Pool
It was probably the water-lily pool in Kew Gardens which inspired her piece. We often visited Kew Gardens and I remember how we sat down by this pool one summer afternoon … My mother would relax by such a scene, drawing-in its beauty, and later she translated her impressions of stillness, colour and music into a short tone poem.
— Lecture notes by Rev. A. H. Gibson, Susan's son
Susan’s The Water Lily Pool was first written for flute and orchestra and premiered when she conducted The British Women’s Symphony Orchestra at the Queen’s Hall in London on 22 May 1925. She conducted it again at the Proms on 13 October 1925. The Proms programme lists it only as Romantic Piece without naming the work, words sometimes used when the piece to be played had not been agreed at the time of printing. It is clear that The Water Lily Pool was performed at that concert from the press reviews and because Susan wrote the date and performance on the cover of the manuscript. She went on to conduct it as festivals in Bournemouth and Folkestone. A version for flute and string quartet was published in 1939. The work is believed to have been inspired by Susan’s visits to the water lily pool at the botanical gardens in Kew, London.
There is a live performance of an arrangement for flute and piano at the Conservatorio Niccolo Piccinni, Bari, on YouTube. There is also a beautiful recording of this arrangement by Anna Noakes, flute and Leo Nicholson, piano on their album Music for Flute by Women Composers (Dutton Epoch).
The original version for flute and orchestra, as performed at the Proms in 1925, has been edited and transcribed by Peter Cigleris from Susan’s manuscript. As yet, it has not been recorded.
