Havergal Brian.

[calyptorhynchus]

I'll look forward to getting this one. The Toccata disk whetted my appetite for more HB songs.

Finzi is still my favourite English song writer, because he had such good taste in choosing lyrics (mainly by Hardy). Seems like HB had a similar knack for choosing lyrics.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Well, apart from Shakespeare and his beloved Blake, Brian also set a few poems by his landlord, Christopher Masterman, one of which is 'The Soul of Steel'. Great song, but not great poetry. But that's perhaps for the best - then the music can 'lift' the words.

[cilgwyn]

A pity I can't read it... Could you summarise?

Apologies,Johan. I,sort of,assumed you had! I will come back to you on this tommorrow. It's a bit late now!At least one of them was quite long!!!

[calyptorhynchus]

Well, apart from Shakespeare and his beloved Blake, Brian also set a few poems by his landlord, Christopher Masterman, one of which is 'The Soul of Steel'. Great song, but not great poetry. But that's perhaps for the best - then the music can 'lift' the words.

Yes, the Masterman songs on the Toccata disk aren't the best. I should have said re Finzi "because he had such good taste in choosing lyrics (mainly by Hardy) AND matched them with masterful music"

[cilgwyn]

Fair play to Brian,though. He's not the only one! Elgar chose some pretty awful stuff to set;but it's what he did with it that matters. And then,of course,there's Brian's 'Wine of Summer'. I don't think many people would want to read that on it's own,at least not for fun! (Although,possibly because of the notoriety value of it's author?) But what a marvellous piece of music Brian makes out of it! It's so sad that Brian Rayner Cook was never able to make a commercial recording of it in his prime. Hopefully,Testament or some other record label will rectify this by issuing the BBC recording on cd one day for everyone to enjoy. Having said that,I am convinced that it will be issued,eventually,because of it's historic & artistic importance. When that happens it will be truly wonderful to hear it in digitally remastered sound quality. Oh,and when that 'great day' happens,can we have the Pope third & Holmes Violin Concerto too,please!!!

[cilgwyn]

And then there are the great opera's with ludicrous story lines & classic movies derived from terrible,long forgotten novels. If you tried to make a list you would run out of paper!
Anyway,Masterman via Brian sounds pretty masterly to my ears! Although,the Blake songs were my favourites (if I HAD to choose at gunpoint!)

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I wholly agree with your assessment of Brian's songs, cilgwyn. They all have their own unique character. The variety of moods and styles is terrific.

[cilgwyn]

One of my all time favourite opera's,incidentally,has to be Weber's 'Der Freischutz'. The plot is ridiculous,of course,but it's crammed to the brim with wonderful tunes,it's a masterpiece,and,quite frankly, magic bullets,a demon and a spooky Wolf Glen, are my idea of good,gothic,gruesome fun! All those opera houses that keep trying to make it more palatable to modern sensibilities really should lighten up,or perhaps I should say,spook up a bit! (Oh,and it's got a nice,happy ending too! )

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

That Wolf's Glen scene is very scary music. Weber had great powers.

[cilgwyn]

Well, apart from Shakespeare and his beloved Blake, Brian also set a few poems by his landlord, Christopher Masterman, one of which is 'The Soul of Steel'. Great song, but not great poetry. But that's perhaps for the best - then the music can 'lift' the words.

I seem to remember that Brian's landlord let him live in his 'accomodation' rent free,(or gave him a rebate,or something?) because he liked his music so much. Presumably this was the same Masterman. If this was true,this would be quite an incentive to set his poetry to music,even if it was terrible!
I may have got the story wrong,of course!
 
Looking at the Stone Records website,I must say,I DO like the archive photos, of the actual composers,on the covers. CW ORR even has an appreciative dog sitting on top of the piano,listening to him play. A bit like the ORR version of the famous HMV dog! 'Delius & his circle',HAS a photo of Delius & his circle (although I haven't been able to see the booklet). Too often,the soloist chooses to put himself on the cover,artfully posed & manicured. Of course, with the big labels,you probably don't have a choice. Put that cheesy smile & designer suit on (or whatever?) or get the sack?!!!

  If Alison Balsom gets her own label,maybe we'll be seeing allot less of her blonde good looks & some 'mug shot' engravings of Hummel!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Yes, I think you remembered correctly - Brian did do a Picasso with his landlord, i.e. pay the rent by creating pieces of art.


I checked out the, to me, unknown Alison Balsom. I think Hummel's legs were thinner.

[cilgwyn]

 
If there was any justice in this world scores like the Gothic would pay a heck of allot of rent!!! (Although,that came a bit later,I think!)
One reason why so many composers resort to movie scores to keep the old wolf from the door!

[thranx]

One of my all time favourite opera's,incidentally,has to be Weber's 'Der Freischutz'. The plot is ridiculous,of course,but it's crammed to the brim with wonderful tunes,it's a masterpiece,and,quite frankly, magic bullets,a demon and a spooky Wolf Glen, are my idea of good,gothic,gruesome fun! All those opera houses that keep trying to make it more palatable to modern sensibilities really should lighten up,or perhaps I should say,spook up a bit! (Oh,and it's got a nice,happy ending too! )

As popular as YA fantasy is these days (Hunger Games, Potter, all the vampire and werewolf stuff), one would think that an opera along similar lines would be a natural.  Not necessarily a good thing, but a natural.
For that matter, I always wonder why no composer of note ever did a full-scale (as opposed to the Paul Ziemba attempt) grand opera based on Dracula.

[Winky Willy]

mmmmmmm...listening to the Tigers for the first time...too much going on at one time in the crowd scenes. It hurts my head.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

@Thranx: Wagner uses elements of fantasy. But horror is a genre that postdates the greatest opera composers, apart from the fact it didn't have any academic prestige. This situation has changed (think Lovecraft), but too late, I think, for opera.


@WW - do you have a libretto?


http://www.mediafire.com/view/?qguca0krifb0yib

[kishnevi]

@Thranx: Wagner uses elements of fantasy. But horror is a genre that postdates the greatest opera composers, apart from the fact it didn't have any academic prestige. This situation has changed (think Lovecraft), but too late, I think, for opera.

I've forgotten who wrote it, but someone in the 19th century wrote a vampire opera, based on an early 19th century novel titled The Vampyr.   

In fact, horror/Gothic was popular enough to be spoofed by Gilbert and Sullivan--remember John Wellington Wells, a dealer in potions and spells?  Sadly, that's the only line I actually remember.

[cilgwyn]

Marschner's Der Vampyr is not bad! The BBC even did an updated version in English,some years ago. Lord Ruthven,the vampire,is given some quite powerful arias & some of the music has a nice,darkly gothic atmosphere. Quite a good composer,if you like something off the beaten track. Like Lortzing,he deserves a bit more exposure than he gets. I'm suprised that emi didn't get around to a recording of Hans Heiling,his other supernatural opera. They did a few Lortzing recordings in the sixties with wonderful casts. Sadly,to this day,the only Marschner recordings available are live recordings,but,having said that,the opera d'oro releases are very good of their kind,in better than average sound (although the opening minutes of 'Der Vampyr' are a bit dodgy,thanks to a dozy engineer?!).
  Marschner did have some influence on Wagner & was,apparently,the most important German opera composer after Weber (until Wagner!).

  There is an opera by Gounod on the cpo label. I haven't heard it,but the plot is derived from gothic novel,'The Monk',which I remember reading,as a youngster,with great relish!!!

Oh,and there's Meyebeer's Robert le diable (hope I got that right!)

[Winky Willy]

@JSmith  Ruddigore especially is entirely a spoof on that genre!

Johan, I have been following along in the vocal score! I am quite conflicted about the Tigers both as a drama (or even a story) and as a musical composition. I certainly am not with those who rank it near the Gothic!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

@Winky Willy I think The Tiger is a musical success, but dramatically flawed. I have no time now to say more. I say - keep listening and give your first verdict after you have taken in the whole of it.

[cilgwyn]

I love it,myself!
The libretto is very eccentric though,to put it mildly!