Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-1994)

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Vandermolen, if you are referring to this release

[asin]B000PGTICU[/asin]

I found the "music for strings" conducted by Barry Wordsworth to be poorly performed. Handley did a better job, IMO. I'm more partial to Maconchy Chamber music.

I had the idea I had listened to Maconchy String Quartets, but it turns out I was thinking of Bacewicz String Quartets. I do own a cycle of Maconchy String Quartets on Regis, but I see that set is now hard to get.

[cilgwyn]

I think I'll try her chamber music,first;if I try anything! Thanks for the replies.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

My favorite Maconchy is here:

[asin]B00008IHWS[/asin]

[Irons]

My favorite Maconchy is here:

[asin]B00008IHWS[/asin]

I like the look of that collection.

[cilgwyn]

Ah,that looks tempting! And Joseph Holbrooke. The "Cockney Wagner"! Once (a long,long time ago!) the "great white hope" of British music! Also,Cooke,Frankel and Howells! And an interesting Amazon review,too! "quick service,nice music". I like the sound of the clarinet!

[cilgwyn]

I can't resist (for some,strange reason) mentioning another Elisabeth,with a "z" (again)! I was recently watching a dvd of an old b/w British sci-fi movie,"The Earth Dies Screaming". Killer robots invade rural england & turn unlucky sods into zombies (Dennis Price included!). Quite fun,in a tacky sort of way;with one quite scary bit,with a woman hiding in a wardrobe! I noticed the music was by Elizabeth Lutyens. In fact,movies on the talking pictures channel seem to,regularly,sport her name,in the credits! (Of course,they keep putting the same ones on!)

[Symphonic Addict]

These days I've been exploring Maconchy's string quartets. I already knew her Symphony for Double String Orchestra and I thought it was very nice, an accomplished work. But these quartets seem more impressive and cogent, even more aggresive. The main influence on her appears to be Bartók, it's rather evident on a simple listen. SQs Nos. 1-7 bear this Bartók-sounding element, whilst Nos. 8-13 are decidedly more astringent and advanced but not less interesting. Alongside Milhaud and Tippet's SQs, these works have impressed me so much lately.

[vandermolen]

Vandermolen, if you are referring to this release

[asin]B000PGTICU[/asin]

I found the "music for strings" conducted by Barry Wordsworth to be poorly performed. Handley did a better job, IMO. I'm more partial to Maconchy Chamber music.

I had the idea I had listened to Maconchy String Quartets, but it turns out I was thinking of Bacewicz String Quartets. I do own a cycle of Maconchy String Quartets on Regis, but I see that set is now hard to get.

Yes, is my very belated reply 

[foxandpeng]

Elizabeth Maconchy
Complete SQs
SQ #1

I've very much enjoyed getting to know this first SQ, written as I understand, when EM was only 26. The opening movement is energetic and lively, with a recurring motif rooted in the opening bars which develops quickly into a genuinely beautiful melody. Maconchy can write tunes!

This whole quartet isn't a long piece, so the 2:13 Scherzo continues the same nimble pace before giving way to the third movement's lugubrious and reflective Andante, with its gentle but insistent background pizzicato dipping in and out, as if marking the passage of time.

The finale lifts the mood with a return to liveliness that flirts enough with melody to make me sorry for the brevity of this compact and concise SQ.

I've now heard this four or five times over the last couple of days, and it is good stuff!

[foxandpeng]

Elizabeth Maconchy
Complete SQs
SQ #2

There are a good many British SQ cycles from the 20th century and beyond, and I know I've got a lot of listening to do before I can speak with any real knowledge, but I don't think there is a British female composer out there quite like Maconchy. 13 SQs over more than 50 years?

This is a great cycle, and #2 is hugely engaging.

Right from the gates, this is tonal, lyrical, and memorable. I love it from the opening interplay of instruments over the deep resonance of the cello, through the rising harmonies and swapping and changing of focal instruments, to the eventual calmness of the movement's conclusion.

Central movements run seamlessly together, moving into the hints of melody that grow into something quite beautiful.

By the time Maconchy reaches the pizzicato of the last movement, she's in full blown lyrical mode that refuses to let up until the last plucked notes 

I've heard the whole cycle through now, and feel that this might be one of my initial favourites :-)

[Irons]

Thanks for your thoughts, Foxandpeng. Most enlightening. I have ordered at modest outlay Vol.1: String Quartets 1-4.

[foxandpeng]

Thanks for your thoughts, Foxandpeng. Most enlightening. I have ordered at modest outlay Vol.1: String Quartets 1-4.

Hopefully you'll really enjoy them 😊. Great works. I doubt I will annoy people with my thoughts on every one, because they're frankly not that interesting,  but the quartets themselves are, and deserve a considered listening.

[Rinaldo]

Hopefully you'll really enjoy them 😊. Great works. I doubt I will annoy people with my thoughts on every one, because they're frankly not that interesting,  but the quartets themselves are, and deserve a considered listening.

Annoy away, please! I remember really getting into Maconchy's SQs a decade ago and I was recently thinking about getting reacquainted with them (and her work in general). Back then, I was mesmerized.

[foxandpeng]

Annoy away, please! I remember really getting into Maconchy's SQs a decade ago and I was recently thinking about getting reacquainted with them (and her work in general). Back then, I was mesmerized.

Cheers, Rinaldo :-).

I can see why. I have to say that I've been mightily impressed so far. There is real quality here, it seems to me.

SQ #3 might be the shortest, but it isn't by any means inconsequential. The melodic beauty of the work has grown on me in the same way as some of the haunting lyricism of the Shostakovich SQs did in recent months. The recurring motif that appears in the opening lento, and which closes the poco largamente, has become something of an ear worm 🙂. This is a heartfelt quartet, and despite the two short presto notations, leans hard into the thoughtful outer and central melodies for some significant pathos.

Beautiful, frankly.

[Irons]

Hopefully you'll really enjoy them 😊. Great works. I doubt I will annoy people with my thoughts on every one, because they're frankly not that interesting,  but the quartets themselves are, and deserve a considered listening.

The 1st Quartet I very much did so. I didn't think there was an English school of quartet writing, now I'm not so sure. A youthful Maconchy stands shoulder to shoulder with exalted company of Britten, Berkeley and others composing string quartets in the 1930's and 1940's. Modern, spicy and not a cow-pat in sight.

Incidentally, Maconchy wasn't completely ignored prior to the Unicorn set. I found a copy of the 5th Quartet on my shelves.

[foxandpeng]

The 1st Quartet I very much did so. I didn't think there was an English school of quartet writing, now I'm not so sure. A youthful Maconchy stands shoulder to shoulder with exalted company of Britten, Berkeley and others composing string quartets in the 1930's and 1940's. Modern, spicy and not a cow-pat in sight.

Incidentally, Maconchy wasn't completely ignored prior to the Unicorn set. I found a copy of the 5th Quartet on my shelves.

Maconchy is a star. I'd love to hear that recording. I do think that the British SQ has some pedigree, mind.

Aside from Maconchy... Beamish, Bryars, Sawyers, Britten, Rubbra, Simpson, Maxwell Davies, Daniel Jones, John Blackwood McEwen, Tippett, Mathias, Fricker, Gal, Frankel, David and Colin Matthews,  Birtwistle, Dodgson, McCabe, Glass, Nyman... to say nothing of RVW, Arnold, Bax, Stanford, Elgar, Alwyn...

There are others, of course, some of whom are probably obvious omissions 🙂. These have just been on my listening radar during 2021.

[Irons]

Maconchy is a star. I'd love to hear that recording. I do think that the British SQ has some pedigree, mind.

Aside from Maconchy... Beamish, Bryars, Sawyers, Britten, Rubbra, Simpson, Maxwell Davies, Daniel Jones, John Blackwood McEwen, Tippett, Mathias, Fricker, Gal, Frankel, David and Colin Matthews,  Birtwistle, Dodgson, McCabe, Glass, Nyman... to say nothing of RVW, Arnold, Bax, Stanford, Elgar, Alwyn...

There are others, of course, some of whom are probably obvious omissions 🙂. These have just been on my listening radar during 2021.

I would love to know what Stanford would think of the Maconchy quartets. I am referring to a  particular period and style of playing. Mind you, that is some list.

Two things forcibly struck me listening to the 2nd SQ - the high intensity of the work and echoes of Janacek in the third movement.

foxandpeng, have a good Christmas.

Edit: Glass is American isn't he?

[foxandpeng]

I would love to know what Stanford would think of the Maconchy quartets. I am referring to a  particular period and style of playing. Mind you, that is some list.

Two things forcibly struck me listening to the 2nd SQ - the high intensity of the work and echoes of Janacek in the third movement.

foxandpeng, have a good Christmas.

Edit: Glass is American isn't he?

Haha. Glass is only American when it suits me. Clearly, the colonies can be reclaimed at any point of convenience. You are, of course, quite correct 😁.

Many seasonal blessings to you too, Irons!

[krummholz]

Elizabeth Maconchy
Complete SQs
SQ #2

There are a good many British SQ cycles from the 20th century and beyond, and I know I've got a lot of listening to do before I can speak with any real knowledge, but I don't think there is a British female composer out there quite like Maconchy. 13 SQs over more than 50 years?

This is a great cycle, and #2 is hugely engaging.

Right from the gates, this is tonal, lyrical, and memorable. I love it from the opening interplay of instruments over the deep resonance of the cello, through the rising harmonies and swapping and changing of focal instruments, to the eventual calmness of the movement's conclusion.

Central movements run seamlessly together, moving into the hints of melody that grow into something quite beautiful.

By the time Maconchy reaches the pizzicato of the last movement, she's in full blown lyrical mode that refuses to let up until the last plucked notes 

I've heard the whole cycle through now, and feel that this might be one of my initial favourites :-)

By far my favourite of Maconchy's SQs (though I have not heard this particular cycle).

[foxandpeng]

By far my favourite of Maconchy's SQs (though I have not heard this particular cycle).

Isn't it great? 😁

Enjoying #4 at the moment, which has some of the tension that I found in #2.

For me, it has a fairly fraught and ominous first movement, with the intrusive violin uncomfortably breaking in to the opening cello pizzicato. There is a only a fleeting peace, before it gives way to a fractious and darker mood.  Maconchy allows that unease to dominate the allegro molto, with frankly little relief in the third movement, either. The final  presto is both climactic and lyrical.

Lots to like about this cycle, so far.