British Composers born 1915-33

[lukeottevanger]

I cannot remember hearing any Hugh Wood for many, many years. I may have been deceived into thinking that the music was too 'difficult' for my taste at the time. With the passage of years however that may turn out to have been a false impression. I shall try the NMC recordings of his Symphony and the Violin and Cello Concerti.

I'd try the Piano Concerto first - it's a later work, but a most ingratiating one. I defy anyone not to find the slow movement utterly bewitching.

[Dundonnell]

I would like to try the Piano Concerto but £18 is the cheapest price on Amazon for what I think is a CD single. That's perhaps a bit steep!

[vandermolen]

I have been listening to David Morgan's 'Contrasts' - a wonderful work, powerful, lyrical, moving:

[Lethevich]

I've just survived () the first movement of George Lloyd's massive Arctic symphony (No.4), inspired by traumatic times from the composer's work during WW2 in the arctic convoys.

It's a very assured work, very of its time, i.e. a fully tonal frame of reference, but lacking the plushness of late Romanticism, and exhibiting a reluctance to create flowing themes - instead focusing on angular and declamatory moments interspaced by lyrical sections. Arnold's highly adaptable style, minus his fingerprint garishness, is one frame of reference, especially in his film music, and the film music of other contemporaries. Shades of "mechanical" music like Holst's Mars are apparant too in the wonderful ringing and growling brass. Based on the opening, in which the listener is thrown into the bustle without any attempt to set an introduction, I was concerned with thoughts of note-spinning, but despite a distinct lack of Vaughan Williams-esque formal clarity, the music is both attractive and engaging. Any thoughts of Pettersson-lite were finally fully dispelled by the wonderful melodic ending to the movement, a culmination of threads implied earlier on which transform into a rousing conclusion. Surpisingly affecting music from a composer who evidently knows what he is doing.

The ghostly scherzo is a welcome contrast to the opening movement, and startlingly delicate and muted compared to what came before. Once again, it's lacking any plush or folk-tinged edge, somewhat emotionally distant and pictoral rather than romantic - I keep thinking of those piercing strings in the first of Britten's sea interludes.

Still, I can't help but be daunted by the timings: 18:05, 12:41, 13:36, 20:38 - I'm not even half-way through yet

Dang, I just noticed that Lloyd fails to meet the criterion for this thread by two years. Too old, George

[False_Dmitry]

It's often forgotten that Donald Swann (1923-1994) was a prolific "serious" composer, in addition to his stage career with Michael Flanders.   A vast repertoire of songs & song-cycles (altogether about 2000 songs!),  his operas PERELANDRA and THE VISITORS, THE STORY OF BONTZYE ZWEIG, and REQUIEM FOR THE LIVING are good places to start...  although trying to get hold of recordings is a next-to-lost cause in several cases

[vandermolen]

I've just survived () the first movement of George Lloyd's massive Arctic symphony (No.4), inspired by traumatic times from the composer's work during WW2 in the arctic convoys.

It's a very assured work, very of its time, i.e. a fully tonal frame of reference, but lacking the plushness of late Romanticism, and exhibiting a reluctance to create flowing themes - instead focusing on angular and declamatory moments interspaced by lyrical sections. Arnold's highly adaptable style, minus his fingerprint garishness, is one frame of reference, especially in his film music, and the film music of other contemporaries. Shades of "mechanical" music like Holst's Mars are apparant too in the wonderful ringing and growling brass. Based on the opening, in which the listener is thrown into the bustle without any attempt to set an introduction, I was concerned with thoughts of note-spinning, but despite a distinct lack of Vaughan Williams-esque formal clarity, the music is both attractive and engaging. Any thoughts of Pettersson-lite were finally fully dispelled by the wonderful melodic ending to the movement, a culmination of threads implied earlier on which transform into a rousing conclusion. Surpisingly affecting music from a composer who evidently knows what he is doing.

The ghostly scherzo is a welcome contrast to the opening movement, and startlingly delicate and muted compared to what came before. Once again, it's lacking any plush or folk-tinged edge, somewhat emotionally distant and pictoral rather than romantic - I keep thinking of those piercing strings in the first of Britten's sea interludes.

Still, I can't help but be daunted by the timings: 18:05, 12:41, 13:36, 20:38 - I'm not even half-way through yet

Dang, I just noticed that Lloyd fails to meet the criterion for this thread by two years. Too old, George

I like this work too - best performance is on Lyrita I think. Symphony No 7 and 8 are also worthwhile.  I saw him conduct Symphony 11 in London and had a nice exchange of letters with him.