Sir Arthur Bliss

[Daverz]

So the only recordings of the Violin Concerto are Campoli and Mordkovitch?  I have the Campoli on 2 different Eloquence issues, but seem to have missed the Mordkovitch.



or



EDIT: After listening again to refresh my memory of the piece, it's neglect makes more sense, as it is a pleasant enough but meandering work.  I'll stick with the Cello Concerto.

[vandermolen]

I like all of Bliss's concertos although the two piano concertos are my favourites.

[Maestro267]

There's two piano concertos?

[Roasted Swan]

There's two piano concertos?

I think Vandermolen means the Piano Concerto and the Concerto for Two Pianos......

[vandermolen]

I think Vandermolen means the Piano Concerto and the Concerto for Two Pianos......

Correct. I should have made it clearer.

[Christo]

Listening to the Music for Strings in this new recording:

[vandermolen]

Listening to the Music for Strings in this new recording:

[vers la flamme]

Whose house is that on the cover? It's very cool.

[Scion7]

So the only recordings of the Violin Concerto are Campoli and Mordkovitch?

There is also this one, at least:

[Roasted Swan]

Whose house is that on the cover? It's very cool.

Otto Saumarez Smith on Twitter: "Edward Wadsworth's painting of Peter Harland's Pen Pitts, Somerset, 1935, designed as the country home of composer Sir Arthur Bliss. ....."

concrete doesn't age well......

[Lisztianwagner]

I listened to Bliss' A Colour Symphony (my very first listen to Bliss too) and I love it, what a marvelous, astonishingly beautiful work! The title perfectly described the piece, it was very colourful to say the least, not only for the splendid orchestration and the variety of timbres, but also for the changeable atmospheres depicted; really awe inspiring. The first movement was very enchanting, alternating solemn, contemplative passages, quieter in mood, to others intense and expressive, more majestic; instead, the second movement was very powerful and vivid, definitely fiery and volcanic at times. As opposed, the third movement showed a calm, meditative atmosphere, rather similat to the Andante, slightly melancholic, but also with very floating, lively woodwinds and an extremely energetic middle section; the final fourth movement was hauntingly thrilling, as it sounded quite modern with its changes in rhythms and dynamics, harmonic tensions and dissonant contrasts, as well as with the great timbral exploration, very schoenbergian; in particular the beginning sounded incredibly in the style of the Austrian composer, as the first bars almost gave the impression to follow a dodecaphonic row (I haven't seen the score anyway, so I can't be sure). Surely a stunning symphony.
I appreciated Lloyd-Jones' recording a lot , he was very brilliant in conducting English composers (I usually keep his Holst in hight esteem) and he didn't disappoint me.

[Roasted Swan]

I listened to Bliss' A Colour Symphony (my very first listen to Bliss too) and I love it, what a marvelous, astonishingly beautiful work! The title perfectly described the piece, it was very colourful to say the least, not only for the splendid orchestration and the variety of timbres, but also for the changeable atmospheres depicted; really awe inspiring. The first movement was very enchanting, alternating solemn, contemplative passages, quieter in mood, to others intense and expressive, more majestic; instead, the second movement was very powerful and vivid, definitely fiery and volcanic at times. As opposed, the third movement showed a calm, meditative atmosphere, rather similat to the Andante, slightly melancholic, but also with very floating, lively woodwinds and an extremely energetic middle section; the final fourth movement was hauntingly thrilling, as it sounded quite modern with its changes in rhythms and dynamics, harmonic tensions and dissonant contrasts, as well as with the great timbral exploration, very schoenbergian; in particular the beginning sounded incredibly in the style of the Austrian composer, as the first bars almost gave the impression to follow a dodecaphonic row (I haven't seen the score anyway, so I can't be sure). Surely a stunning symphony.
I appreciated Lloyd-Jones' recording a lot , he was very brilliant in conducting English composers (I usually keep his Holst in hight esteem) and he didn't disappoint me.

Great that you enjoyed this - it is a wonderful work.  Do follow it up with other Bliss too;

Checkmate
Adam Zero
Meditations on a theme of John Blow
Things to Come film score
Morning Heros (if you like choral works)
Cello Concerto

and lots more besides.....

[Lisztianwagner]

Great that you enjoyed this - it is a wonderful work.  Do follow it up with other Bliss too;

Checkmate
Adam Zero
Meditations on a theme of John Blow
Things to Come film score
Morning Heros (if you like choral works)
Cello Concerto

and lots more besides.....

Thank you for recommending those works, I wouldn't mind listening to more from Bliss at all.

[vandermolen]

Thank you for recommending those works, I wouldn't mind listening to more from Bliss at all.

I very much agree with RS's list.

Also, I'd recommend the Oboe Quintet, the Piano Concerto, Hymn to Apollo, Violin Concerto and Concerto for Two Pianos.

[Lisztianwagner]

I very much agree with RS's list.

Also, I'd recommend the Oboe Quintet, the Piano Concerto, Hymn to Apollo, Violin Concerto and Concerto for Two Pianos.

Thank you very much for the suggestions; apart from A Colour Symphony, I've listened to Music for Strings (Lloyd-Jones/ENP) and Morning Heroes (Davis/BBC Symphony) so far, both of them were very beautiful, I liked them a lot; Bliss certainly sounds an interesting composer.

I also checked the score of A Colour Symphony and as a matter of fact, in the fourth movement the viola begins with a twelve-tone row, which anyway is quickly filled up with tonality, so the dodecaphonic experiment ends there, but nonetheless the schönbergian atmosphere remains.

[Roasted Swan]

Thank you very much for the suggestions; apart from A Colour Symphony, I've listened to Music for Strings (Lloyd-Jones/ENP) and Morning Heroes (Davis/BBC Symphony) so far, both of them were very beautiful, I liked them a lot; Bliss certainly sounds an interesting composer.

I also checked the score of A Colour Symphony and as a matter of fact, in the fourth movement the viola begins with a twelve-tone row, which anyway is quickly filled up with tonality, so the dodecaphonic experiment ends there, but nonetheless the schönbergian atmosphere remains.

If you listen to his earliest works - so pre-Colour Symphony he was regarded as something of an experimental composer - this recording has a couple of the fun early works;



Madam Noy, Rout are famously infamous - but are a path Bliss chose not to follow

[vandermolen]

Thank you very much for the suggestions; apart from A Colour Symphony, I've listened to Music for Strings (Lloyd-Jones/ENP) and Morning Heroes (Davis/BBC Symphony) so far, both of them were very beautiful, I liked them a lot; Bliss certainly sounds an interesting composer.

I also checked the score of A Colour Symphony and as a matter of fact, in the fourth movement the viola begins with a twelve-tone row, which anyway is quickly filled up with tonality, so the dodecaphonic experiment ends there, but nonetheless the schönbergian atmosphere remains.

My pleasure. Try to hear the Groves version of 'Morning Heroes' - I prefer it to the Davis performance, especially at the climax of the last movement which is comparatively puny under Davis.

[Roasted Swan]

My pleasure. Try to hear the Groves version of 'Morning Heroes' - I prefer it to the Davis performance, especially at the climax of the last movement which is comparatively puny under Davis.

Yup!

[relm1]

My pleasure. Try to hear the Groves version of 'Morning Heroes' - I prefer it to the Davis performance, especially at the climax of the last movement which is comparatively puny under Davis.

Is the Groves the one with Brian Blessed?  I forget which one I have but remember Brian Blessed is the narrator.

[Roasted Swan]

Is the Groves the one with Brian Blessed?  I forget which one I have but remember Brian Blessed is the narrator.

Nooooooooo!!  Brian Blessed hams his way through the LPO/Harlow Chorus/Michael Kibblewhite version.  I saw the same forces do this live just before/after(?) the sessions for this CD and Robert Hardy was the very good narrator.  MUCH better than Blessed.  John Westbrook is the dignified narrator for Groves (Richard Baker narrates on the Groves "live" version with the BBC SO)