20th-century British symphonies: Recommendations

[schnittkease]

And keeping to the Schoenberg-descended style, the symphonies of Roberto Gerhard were all composed after he emigrated to England, and can be thus considered "British". There's four numbered ones, plus the earlier Sinfonía "Homenaje a Pedrell" (which is actually very Spanish). Paul Conway wrote a detailed, very interesting article on them for MusicWeb International.

Yes, I know and love Gerhard's symphonies. I suppose I never properly introduced myself on this forum!—my favorite composers include Schnittke, Ligeti, Lutosławski, Bartók, Schubert, etc.

I've just heard the first four Arnold symphonies on YouTube. In general, I think that the fast movements are too jumpy and that his themes are rather banal-sounding. Take the 'ballroom melody' in #4 mov. 1, which is pretty but doesn't seem to gel well with a dramatic, percussive beginning. The slow movements, however, are very good (I love the regular use of that harp).

[Daverz]

Several of the works in this Membran set might be of interest. I was  particularly  impressed by Bush

Under $14 for 10 CDs on Amazon Marketplace.  Really a no-brainer.

[JBS]

Under $14 for 10 CDs on Amazon Marketplace.  Really a no-brainer.

I should warn you that the Elgar CD is sort of meh, the Delius CD can be thrown out in the garbage, and I have no memory of the RVW CD. The rest however was at minimum pretty decent music making.

[Daverz]

I should warn you that the Elgar CD is sort of meh, the Delius CD can be thrown out in the garbage, and I have no memory of the RVW CD. The rest however was at minimum pretty decent music making.

Yeah, at that price a few stinkers is not a problem.

TD: Hoddinott, Symphony No. 6



A fine 20-minute, single movement symphony, beautifully recorded here.

[Brian]

Hmmmm...I could see some symphonies by Vaughan Williams, Rubbra, Wordsworth, Berkeley, and Rawsthorne fitting your description. But I often find the symphonies of Arnold, Alwyn, Bax, Benjamin, Moeran, Leighton, Lloyd, Walton, and others to be as viscerally exciting and powerful as anything else in the repertoire.

I said many, not all. I also said I like Alwyn, Lloyd, Walton, and some Moeran.

[kyjo]

I've just heard the first four Arnold symphonies on YouTube. In general, I think that the fast movements are too jumpy and that his themes are rather banal-sounding. Take the 'ballroom melody' in #4 mov. 1, which is pretty but doesn't seem to gel well with a dramatic, percussive beginning. The slow movements, however, are very good (I love the regular use of that harp).

Before you give up on Arnold, do try the 5th Symphony, which is his masterwork IMO.

[André]

Before you give up on Arnold, do try the 5th Symphony, which is his masterwork IMO.

+1

Arnold is sometimes made to sound banal by overly 'straight' conductors. To experience his music by the composer himself is to enter into an entirely different world, a voyage into darkness and shadows. Arnold conducts his symphonies and overtures (tone poems really) much slower than other conductors - and presumably in flagrant contradiction with his own tempo or metronome markings. Far from experiencing mere lightness, one enters Arnold's own unbearable lghtness of being. It's obviously not the only way to play his music, but I find it an engrossing - if sometimes heavy and depressing - experience.

[Maestro267]

the Delius CD can be thrown out in the garbage,

Give "On the Mountains", the 15-minute tone poem a go first though. I've found that to be a real gem from this fantastic box set. Initially, I had it confused with the instrumental opening section to Part 2 of A Mass of Life, but it is its own stand-alone work.

[JBS]

Give "On the Mountains", the 15-minute tone poem a go first though. I've found that to be a real gem from this fantastic box set. Initially, I had it confused with the instrumental opening section to Part 2 of A Mass of Life, but it is its own stand-alone work.

Nothing can make amends for that awful Paa Vidernne melodrama. I am not keen on works of that type, but the oversentimental text is only made more bathetic by the narrator's tone of voice.

BTW, there might be some confusion here.  The EMI Delius box has a recording of On the Mountains by Beecham, bit gives it the subtitle Paa Vidernne, and has no trace I can see of the melodrama recorded by Bostock.

[vandermolen]

Count me in as another admirer of Macmillan's 4th (I haven't yet heard the others). It contains more "modernist", dissonant passages alongside sections of poignant, lyrical beauty.

Yes, that's a very nice description of the Macmillan Myle. It was recommended by the Head of Music at the school where I work. He lent me the CD and it was something of a revelation.

[vandermolen]

Yeah, at that price a few stinkers is not a problem.

TD: Hoddinott, Symphony No. 6



A fine 20-minute, single movement symphony, beautifully recorded here.

My favourite of the Hoddinitt symphonies and the most approachable. Leighton's Third Symphony, also on Chandos, is a poignant, poetic and lyrical work.

[schnittkease]

Before you give up on Arnold, do try the 5th Symphony, which is his masterwork IMO.

I don't intend to give up just yet! I'll give the composer's interpretation a listen.

[vandermolen]

I don't intend to give up just yet! I'll give the composer's interpretation a listen.

It's a fine work and the only one I've seen live, at a birthday concert for MA.