George Lloyd

Started by Thom, April 14, 2007, 12:37:44 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Maestro267

After some posts in the "Blown away" thread, I'm revisiting the Seventh Symphony, and I have some observations:

1. Is the first movement a rare example of a symphony opening with a Scherzo? It certainly feels light and dancey for a lot of its duration.

2. With each listen, I realize more and more just how gorgeous the slow movement is.

relm1

Quote from: Maestro267 on August 18, 2020, 06:25:29 AM
After some posts in the "Blown away" thread, I'm revisiting the Seventh Symphony, and I have some observations:

1. Is the first movement a rare example of a symphony opening with a Scherzo? It certainly feels light and dancey for a lot of its duration.

2. With each listen, I realize more and more just how gorgeous the slow movement is.

It's fine music.  It's not a scherzo but is a waltz so does feel like a ballet as the second subject.  Yes, this is gorgeous!

kyjo

Quote from: Maestro267 on August 18, 2020, 06:25:29 AM
After some posts in the "Blown away" thread, I'm revisiting the Seventh Symphony, and I have some observations:

1. Is the first movement a rare example of a symphony opening with a Scherzo? It certainly feels light and dancey for a lot of its duration.

2. With each listen, I realize more and more just how gorgeous the slow movement is.

1. Interesting point. The fact that it's in quick triple time (most likely 3/8 or 6/8, I haven't seen the score) probably contributes to this, and I agree about its balletic nature. Of course, it certainly carries the requisite weight, argument, and drama of a truly symphonic opening movement.

2. And yes, when the music "blossoms" halfway through the slow movement with the tune in the celli, it's certainly a glorious moment! Lloyd does a similar thing in the slow movement of the 4th Symphony where the music eventually "opens up" gloriously after a rather austere opening.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

relm1

Some of you might enjoy this musical analysis of George Lloyd's Symphony No. 7
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Nov/Lloyd-symphony7-analysis.htm

kyjo

Quote from: relm1 on November 20, 2020, 06:49:26 AM
Some of you might enjoy this musical analysis of George Lloyd's Symphony No. 7
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Nov/Lloyd-symphony7-analysis.htm

Thanks very much for sharing, Karim! This masterpiece certainly deserves the in-depth analysis you've given it.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

vandermolen

Quote from: kyjo on November 20, 2020, 07:16:32 AM
Thanks very much for sharing, Karim! This masterpiece certainly deserves the in-depth analysis you've given it.
+1
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

relm1

Thank you!  I hope it helps expose this unjustly neglected composer to more audiences. 

foxandpeng

Quote from: relm1 on November 20, 2020, 06:49:26 AM
Some of you might enjoy this musical analysis of George Lloyd's Symphony No. 7
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Nov/Lloyd-symphony7-analysis.htm

This is excellent. I've heard Symphony #7 three times in the last couple of days, with this as a plumbline. Thank you for a readable and informative guide to this very enjoyable work. I'm planning to acquaint myself with as many of Lloyd's symphonies as I can, and this is a super starting point. As a programmatic work to the story of Proserpine, there's lots to enjoy. The slow movement is a work of art.
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

foxandpeng

Thank you for this thread. I've really enjoyed reading the discussion of the actual works that I've been hearing and found them valuable and illuminating.
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

Maestro267

It's funny. The recording I have doesn't make as big a deal of the Proserpine thing so I've never seen it as a programmatic symphony.

foxandpeng

Quote from: Maestro267 on June 13, 2021, 08:14:21 AM
It's funny. The recording I have doesn't make as big a deal of the Proserpine thing so I've never seen it as a programmatic symphony.

I may be over-egging it to suggest programmatic, but I can see how the story of Proserpine could be tracked through the movements in the way the music progresses. It's been quite a discovery for me.
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

aligreto

I am  newcomer to this thread  8)

Lloyd: Symphony No. 1 [Lloyd]






This is my first exposure to this composer's symphonies. I very much like what I have heard in this work alone. Symphony No. 1 was, for me, both a breath of fresh air and a tour de force. I really like the craftsmanship of this first symphony. I believe that it has quite a lot to say both musically and emotionally. I very much like the sweep of the work. It is both very well crafted and constructed. I enjoyed the tension, excitement, emotion and the drama of this work. It is both bold and powerful and it makes quite a musical statement. I really like the essential Life Force of this work. I am really very much impressed, thus far, whilst, obviously, only beginning to encounter his oeuvre.

Maestro267

Awesome! I do like the First even though I haven't listened to it anywhere near as often as the Twelfth Symphony on the same disc.

vandermolen

Quote from: Maestro267 on August 18, 2021, 09:48:42 PM
Awesome! I do like the First even though I haven't listened to it anywhere near as often as the Twelfth Symphony on the same disc.

Yes, same here. 4,5,7,8,11 and 12 are my favourites. I also like the piano concertos 'Scapegoat', 3 and 4.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Symphonic Addict

A fascinating journey waits for you, aligreto! If you enjoyed the 1st, you'll love most of the next ones, I suspect.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Albion

#375
I wish Albany would release their Lloyd symphony recordings all together in a budget box (if they have, I've missed it). A real composer of quality, whose romantic idiom was sadly out-of-step with the prevailing trends for much of his life.



:)
A piece is worth your attention, and is itself for you praiseworthy, if it makes you feel you have not wasted your time over it. (SG, 1922)

J.Z. Herrenberg

#376
 ;D
'Symphony, she wrote' (title for a later Miss Marple series)
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Maestro267

Does Albany even still exist as a record label?

vandermolen

Quote from: J.Z. Herrenberg on August 21, 2021, 04:03:42 AM
;D
'Symphony, she wrote' (title for a later Mrs Marple series)
Indeed!
;D
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: vandermolen on August 21, 2021, 05:03:44 AM
Indeed!
;D

I was in doubt about Miss/Mrs... Corrected. (Though in some circles the whole difference is seen as bad.)
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato