Topic: Cyril Scott

[tjguitar]

Have heard some good things about this composer.  Is anyone a fan? Any recommendations?

[Don]

Have heard some good things about this composer.  Is anyone a fan? Any recommendations?

I have about 10 Scott cds, so I guess I qualify as a fan.  I find his music very interesting and recommend the Chandos orchestral series (3 discs so far) and the piano discs on Dutton (four volumes to date).

There is one Scott disc I've had trouble getting into - string quartets on Dutton.  More ascerbic than his norm, and I keep trying.

[tjguitar]

I have about 10 Scott cds, so I guess I qualify as a fan.  I find his music very interesting and recommend the Chandos orchestral series (3 discs so far) and the piano discs on Dutton (four volumes to date).

There is one Scott disc I've had trouble getting into - string quartets on Dutton.  More ascerbic than his norm, and I keep trying.

Has more been recorded/planned on being recorded?  What composers would you say he is similar to/influenced by?


Thanks
TJ

[Greta]

Funny, I just heard his 2nd Piano Sonata on our radio coming home! Pretty neat stuff, and more atonal than I expected, interesting though. It was a Naxos recording, the pianist was something Erickson.

I also am not really familiar with him but have been curious. Especially the orchestral works.

[Don]

Has more been recorded/planned on being recorded?  What composers would you say he is similar to/influenced by?


Thanks
TJ

It's likely that Dutton, Chandos and Lyrita will continuing releasing discs.  I consider Scott one of a kind.  His music reveals a wide range of style with some victorian elements, a lot of dissonance and some deviation from tonal centers.  He also composed a ton of piano miniatures at the request of his publisher, many of them delightfully playful. 

Scott was sort of a man for all seasons - he wrote dozens of books on poetry, alternative medicine and off-beat religions.  As for similarity to other composers, I suppose one could consider him an updated version of Elgar, but I find Scriabin a somewhat kindred spirit.

[tjguitar]

I went over to cyrilscott.net and it said:

CHANDOS is now planning to record all the major orchestral compositions.

I wonder what constitutes "major" compositions? Will EVERYTHING be released? or just his symphonies and concertos w/ some "filler" ?

[sound67]

Cyril Scott was better in the shorter works, like the beautiful "Aubade", than in his longer pieces like the symphonies. I would recommend the two Piano Concertos though, of which several versions are now available - incl. the pioneering Lyrita release with John Ogdon under the baton of Bernard Herrmann.

His music oscillates between impressionism and late romanticism, sometimes uncomfortably so. An uneven composer to be sure.

Proceed with caution, and avoid the dreadful Marco Polo disc of his shorter orchestral works under Peter Marchbank.

The Chandos series has now progressed to the Violin Concerto, which itself is not a great work (but not unpleasant either). That disc contains a wonderful version of the Aubade, and a spirited Three Symphonic Dances, my Scott favorite. The Chandos recordings surely show the composer in the best possible light.

Thomas

[vandermolen]

I agree with Thomas, although I like the work "Neptune" on one of the Chandos issues (I have the Violin Concerto but have not yet listened to it).

The Lyrita CD with both piano concerti and "Early one Morning" is my favourite Cyril Scott CD.

[Nunc Dimittis]

Cyril Scott was better in the shorter works, like the beautiful "Aubade", than in his longer pieces like the symphonies. I would recommend the two Piano Concertos though, of which several versions are now available - incl. the pioneering Lyrita release with John Ogdon under the baton of Bernard Herrmann.

His music oscillates between impressionism and late romanticism, sometimes uncomfortably so. An uneven composer to be sure.

Proceed with caution, and avoid the dreadful Marco Polo disc of his shorter orchestral works under Peter Marchbank.

The Chandos series has now progressed to the Violin Concerto, which itself is not a great work (but not unpleasant either). That disc contains a wonderful version of the Aubade, and a spirited Three Symphonic Dances, my Scott favorite. The Chandos recordings surely show the composer in the best possible light.

Thomas

A nice summation and I agree with most of it.  I would also suggest the newly available Lyrita CD of the two Piano Concertos.  I especially like the slow movement to the 1st Piano Concerto with its use of the celesta.

[Guido]

His Cello Concerto is being recorded for the first time later this year by Chandos. I contacted them about a uniquely beautiful piece - The Melodist and the Nightingales. The title obviously derives from Beatrice Harrison's famous BBC recordings, and she in fact premiered. It's in the same veign as The lark ascending but more harmonically sicy - lots of chords based on fourths, but the whole effect is ravishing (in the same way, or better even than the RVW). I only know about it because I heard about it through a cellist, and then happened upon the rare sheet music by chance.

Their reply was that they were extremely interested in recording the piece, so hopefully it will make it onto the disc - its about 20 minutes, so it will probably be a push to add in at the end, but heres hoping!

[tjguitar]

I listened to his symphony No. 3--amazing stuff.  It sounds VERY "film music-like"...and being a fan of that genre, I'm loving every bit of it.

I especially like the brass.  The BBC Philharmonic really shines here.

[Sean]

Lotus land for piano- short but magical, nostalgic piece quite sophisticated and colourful in that exotic way.

[tjguitar]

Just got an e-mail response from Desmond Scott:

The 1st Symphony and the Cello Concerto are to be recorded this
October.
Release date not yet available.

Sincerely

Desmond Scott

[tjguitar]

From cyrilscott.net

Chandos's Fourth CD with the early Symphony No 1 in G (1899) and the Cello Concerto (1927), Paul Watkins soloist, is scheduled for recording with the BBC Philharmonic and Martyn Brabbins later this year and will be released sometime in 2008.

[tjguitar]

It seems this is being released in early March:

http://www.kochdistribution.com/catalog/AudioInfo.aspx?number=CHN-CD-10452

[tjguitar]

...and the cover art:

[Dundonnell]

Just bought and listened to the new Scott CD from Chandos.

I am not a huge fan of Cyril Scott's music. I have bought all of the orchestral works recently released but more out of a sense of duty to the cause of British music(or lunatic completism to be more cruel!). The Cello Concerto is rather too diffuse for my tastes-sub-Delian meandering at first listening(it may grow on me!) but the 1st symphony is rather a jolly piece-certainly unlike his music from the 1920s onwards. I do tend to be a bit suspicious of a lot of the turn of the century British music being released in some quantity these days and find much of it a bit pale in the obvious influences of Brahms, Dvorak etc but the Scott does show considerable promise and was definitely worth its revival by Chandos. Recommended!

[Guido]

Where did you buy it from? Amazon doesn't yet list it, and I can't seem to see it on the website. I've been waiting for two years for this release - originally Jullia Lloyd Webber was meant to record the piece, so I don't know why that didn't happen. As I noted back in mAy, I wrote to them asking whether they could include 'The Melodist and the Nightingale' for cello and orchestra on this CD, but obviously they haven't. I read somewhere that this was the last in the series of discs too which is a bummer, as its likely to be ages before anyone shows any interest in recording anything else by him. 

Very much looking forward to the cello concerto though!

[Harry]

I certainly going to try some works of this interesting composer.
Chandos seems the place.....

[Dundonnell]

Where did you buy it from? Amazon doesn't yet list it, and I can't seem to see it on the website. I've been waiting for two years for this release - originally Jullia Lloyd Webber was meant to record the piece, so I don't know why that didn't happen. As I noted back in mAy, I wrote to them asking whether they could include 'The Melodist and the Nightingale' for cello and orchestra on this CD, but obviously they haven't. I read somewhere that this was the last in the series of discs too which is a bummer, as its likely to be ages before anyone shows any interest in recording anything else by him. 

Very much looking forward to the cello concerto though!

I got it from MDT-the mail order company based in Derby in England. Get almost all my CDs from them-excellent firm and excellent prices!

I agree with your point about this CD being the last in the series. As with the recent Lennox Berkeley/Michael Berkeley series Chandos seem to have no intention of giving us a complete survey of the orchestral works but rather incomplete selections. Cyril Scott's other concerti-for Oboe, Harpsichord, Violin/Cello, for example-will remain unrecorded for now. As frustrating for devotees as the 'failure' of Hyperion to follow up Robert Simpson's symphonies with his concerti!