English Art Song

[mc ukrneal]

I like English song too and was thinking about this one over at the Hyperion 'I'm not loved, so buy me cheap' group of discs. Anyone familiar with it or would recommend an alternative to this one?

[chasmaniac]

This is quite a special disc for anyone interested in English songs:



Very good performances, but this would primarily be bought as an affordable intro into some lesser known repertoire. Five Mystical Songs and especially On Wenlock Edge are quite well known (and deservedly so), but the rest are also great discoveries. It was a lover and his lass and silent noon were both incredible discoveries for me, songwriting of the most delicate and beautiful nature.

Old post, but I discovered Dirge for Fidele on this record. Gorgeous.

[jlaurson]

Mostly about Schoeck -- but also, re: this thread, on Finzi!


Christopher Maltman: Truly, truly, truly a Masterpiece.

Monday, April 7th, Christopher Maltman took a couple minutes just hours before his recital at the Mozart-Saal to chat about the great, elusive, «Notturno» by Othmar Schoeck:

C.M.:   How do you know the Schoeck «Notturno»?

jfl:       I know it from Klaus Mertens' recording which was one of the... well, it wasn't the first recording. The first one, I think, was Fischer-Dieskau with the Cherubini Quartet, and I'm not sure if it ever made it unto CD. [It had, actually, and copies are hard, but not impossible, to find]

So it was it recorded for vinyl and was never digitally mastered or came back out again? I looked for it, because I was certain that Fischer-Dieskau would have recorded it. But I couldn't find it anywhere and then I looked on some websites and godknowswhat and I saw that he had recorded it but couldn't find a copy to listen to. Which is a bit sad.

But there is of course the Mertens recording, a gorgeous new one with Stephan Genz and the Leipziger Streichquartett and the Gerhaher recording...

That's the one I listened to, actually. Which is beautiful.

It's great... except the Rosamunde Quartet lets him down a bit.But it was him that I first talked about the «Notturno» with at length, well before he knew he'd get a chance of recording it...

Yes, it's not easy to do the piece. It was only when this opportunity at the Konzerthaus was presented to me, where they as much as said: "Look, what would you like to do." And I said: "I would like to do the Schoeck «Notturno»." And they looked at me and said: "OK – what's that?" So I said: "Well, it's a fantastic song cycle for low voice and string quartet." But fortunately they gave me sort of carte blanche to decide what I wanted to do. And it's so hard to get opportunities like that. It's so hard to get concerts like this. They come up, for me, once every two or three years. And I really am so pleased that I had got the opportunity to do this piece. Because the more I worked on it and the more looked at it and the more I got inside it, I think it's absolutely Schoeck's best composition. It's a towering piece of music.

[The backstage dummy alarm rings]
Oh my Lord, what noise is that?...

Full interview here: http://konzerthaus.at/magazin/Home/tabid/41/entryid/352/Christopher-Maltman-Truly-truly-truly-a-Masterpiece.aspx

[knight66]

Thanks, I am now listening to the piece and am surprised at its lushness. It is entirely new to me.

Mike