The British Composers Thread

Started by Mark, October 25, 2007, 12:26:56 PM

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vandermolen

Quote from: Roasted Swan on October 31, 2022, 05:51:25 AM
Over the last few days I've been enjoying this;



Williams sings these very well indeed - but the novelty is he is also the arranger of all of the songs included.  As arranger he is pretty good - nothing vastly imaginative and in fact he does tend to too much going on and quite a bit of unecessary harmonic "filling out".  But nothing bad - and much very good.  The discoveries for me were Ruth Gipps "The Pulley" and even more so Rebecca Clarke's "The Seal man".  Two stunning songs but the latter is top notch.  Poignant to hear two songs by composers (other than Butterworth) who were lost in WW1 - Farrar and Browne - both genuine talents....
Look like a most enjoyable CD. I think very highly of Roderick Williams.
"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).

kyjo

Quote from: vandermolen on October 31, 2022, 11:06:40 AM
Look like a most enjoyable CD. I think very highly of Roderick Williams.

+1 A splendid singer with a marvelously wide-ranging repertoire.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Roasted Swan

On another thread Albion made the fair and accurate point about the Dutton label letting so many of its fine discs lapse into an OOP limbo.  Here is a perfect example



This is a tremendous disc both musically and artistically.  Howell did have a modest fame during her lifetime but is barely known now.  This is/was the only disc wholly devoted to her music - other odds and ends turn up as various couplings on Hyperion and the like and they are very good.  Strikingly attractive music I think - perhaps struggling for a completely individual voice but certainly derserving to be heard and enjoyed.....

Albion

Quote from: Roasted Swan on December 31, 2022, 12:01:24 AMOn another thread Albion made the fair and accurate point about the Dutton label letting so many of its fine discs lapse into an OOP limbo.  Here is a perfect example



This is a tremendous disc both musically and artistically.  Howell did have a modest fame during her lifetime but is barely known now.  This is/was the only disc wholly devoted to her music - other odds and ends turn up as various couplings on Hyperion and the like and they are very good.  Strikingly attractive music I think - perhaps struggling for a completely individual voice but certainly derserving to be heard and enjoyed.....

The Piano Concerto on Hyperion (CDA 68130) and the tone poem Lamia (Chandos CHAN 10981) are certainly both worth having, especially in the excellent performances that they receive...
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)

vandermolen

Quote from: Albion on December 31, 2022, 03:14:26 AMThe Piano Concerto on Hyperion (CDA 68130) and the tone poem Lamia (Chandos CHAN 10981) are certainly both worth having, especially in the excellent performances that they receive...

I heard Lamia live at the Proms - an excellent work.
"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).

Irons

Quote from: Roasted Swan on December 31, 2022, 12:01:24 AMOn another thread Albion made the fair and accurate point about the Dutton label letting so many of its fine discs lapse into an OOP limbo.  Here is a perfect example



This is a tremendous disc both musically and artistically.  Howell did have a modest fame during her lifetime but is barely known now.  This is/was the only disc wholly devoted to her music - other odds and ends turn up as various couplings on Hyperion and the like and they are very good.  Strikingly attractive music I think - perhaps struggling for a completely individual voice but certainly derserving to be heard and enjoyed.....

With the high production costs and sales stretching over an extended period for large scale orchestral works Dutton's business plan makes little sense. Strike while the iron is hot otherwise it will be gone! Fortunately I have the Howell disc, but I don't have the Carwithen one of film music which I am enjoying immensely on YT and yes, OOP. 
You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

Albion

Quote from: Irons on January 01, 2023, 01:29:07 AMWith the high production costs and sales stretching over an extended period for large scale orchestral works Dutton's business plan makes little sense. Strike while the iron is hot otherwise it will be gone! Fortunately I have the Howell disc, but I don't have the Carwithen one of film music which I am enjoying immensely on YT and yes, OOP.

Thankfully, intrepid souls take the time and trouble to upload many OOP recordings to Youtube or other flatforms along with immensely valuable and rare broadcasts: this is music that should always be available for people to explore, even if the labels and broadcasters don't really seem to care about it...

 ::)
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)

Roasted Swan

QuoteThankfully, intrepid souls take the time and trouble to upload many OOP recordings to Youtube or other flatforms along with immensely valuable and rare broadcasts: this is music that should always be available for people to explore, even if the labels and broadcasters don't really seem to care about it...

 ::)

To the bolded text - the very fact that this repertoire was ever recorded/released proved that the labels and the BBC do/did care!  If they then don't sell in the quantities that the labels require then that fault lies with us the consumers.  Part of the reason that the survival of the BBC as a public service broadcaster is vital is that it can produce work that is not "viable" in a financial/business sense but of great artistic merit instead......

Albion

#1128
Quote from: Roasted Swan on January 01, 2023, 04:17:04 AMTo the bolded text - the very fact that this repertoire was ever recorded/released proved that the labels and the BBC do/did care!  If they then don't sell in the quantities that the labels require then that fault lies with us the consumers.  Part of the reason that the survival of the BBC as a public service broadcaster is vital is that it can produce work that is not "viable" in a financial/business sense but of great artistic merit instead......

I think that the past tense is more appropriate. The days of large-scale BBC studio-recorded broadcasts are gone due to escalating costs and general apathy, Carlton Classics foundered in the 1990s and Lyrita has slowed down considerably with their Itter transcriptions. Other companies manage to prosper with a mix of the usual and the unusual releases, and keep their catalogue available in one form or another (usually download or CDR). At one point the BBC offered to fling wide open its archive for consumption but they quickly gave up on that idea...
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)

Roasted Swan

#1129
These are composers (and a disc) that have been mentioned and praised fairly often on this forum;



and rightly so - they are a pair of excellent works quite beautifully performed and recorded.  But this morning while I was listening to Hadley's "The Trees so high" I was struck by a particular thought.  This is a symphony in all but name with a choral + soloist last movement; has there ever been such a substantial work - its runs well over 30 minutes - that is in effect derived from folksong.  I'm not talking about any number of dance suites or rhapsodies (lovely though they might be) but an extended work that dives deep beyond a simple orchestral version of attractive folk tunes.  Delius' Brigg Fair goes part the way but is half the length.  None of the usual suspects/big name British composers based a big work on a single melody/mood like this - perhaps Delius' Appalachia is as close as it gets but the variation form there makes the overall effect more objective whereas this Hadley work is powerfully expressive......

vandermolen

Quote from: Roasted Swan on January 17, 2023, 07:42:13 AMThese are composers (and a disc) that have been mentioned and praised fairly often on this forum;



and rightly so - they are a pair of excellent works quite beautifully performed and recorded.  But this morning while I was listening to Hadley's "The Trees so high" I was struck by a particular thought.  This is a symphony in all but name with a choral + soloist last movement; has there ever been such a substantial work - its runs well over 30 minutes - that is in effect derived from folksong.  I'm not talking about any number of dance suites or rhapsodies (lovely though they might be) but an extended work that dives deep beyond a simple orchestral version of attractive folk tunes.  Delius' Brigg Fair goes part the way but is half the length.  None of the usual suspects/big name British composers based a big work on a single melody/mood like this - perhaps Delius' Appalachia is as close as it gets but the variation form there makes the overall effect more objective whereas this Hadley work is powerfully expressive......
'The Trees So High'is a masterpiece IMO as is Sainton's orchestral 'Nadir'on another Hadley/Sainton Chandos CD.
"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).

Roasted Swan

I've been enjoying 2 discs from this Simon Rattle box;



I'm not crazy about everything in this set - the Gerontius is not my favourite version for example - but the ones I've listened to today are genuinely excellent.  They were;



Grainger is still too easily dismissed as the folky-quirky-Aussie chap who wrote Country Gardens.  I reckon this Rattle disc is the best one-stop shop for some of his finest music receiving excellent performances.  Better as such than the still fine Chandos/Grainger edition equivalents.  Rattle is very good throughout - I like the symphonic winds style of the Lincolnshire Posy - what a great piece it is.  The big revelation are Grainger's orchestrations of Ravel's Pagodes and Debussy's La Vallee des cloches.  The fusion of original piano works with a modernist/gamelan-like sound world is just gorgeous

The 2 Vaughan Williams cycles sound beautiful in their orchestral versions too with both Robert Tear (On Wenlock Edge) and Thomas Allen (Songs of Travel) in fine voice - again Rattle is very engaged.  The set version tops up the disc with the Arnold Guitar Concerto and a short Knussen showpiece as fun fillers


Roasted Swan

Quick heads up - Dutton Vocalion are running one of their random sales from their website.  Nothing much new from the last one but still a good opportunity to pick up quite a few of their British chamber music recordings some down to just £1.99.  Some orchestral as well and also a few of their non British releases Braunfels Goddard Widor etc.  Flat postage of £3.00 (in the UK) to add regardless of number of discs makes this a good offer if the discs appeal....

Irons

Quote from: Roasted Swan on February 05, 2023, 02:38:13 AMQuick heads up - Dutton Vocalion are running one of their random sales from their website.  Nothing much new from the last one but still a good opportunity to pick up quite a few of their British chamber music recordings some down to just £1.99.  Some orchestral as well and also a few of their non British releases Braunfels Goddard Widor etc.  Flat postage of £3.00 (in the UK) to add regardless of number of discs makes this a good offer if the discs appeal....

A double CD of Bliss conducting Bliss is worth £1.99 of anyone's money! I do not know Benjamin Dale from Adam but last year I took a punt - and at 1.99, why not?- at his complete music for Violin and Piano. A CD that has given much pleasure.
You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

vandermolen

Quote from: Roasted Swan on January 27, 2023, 06:06:55 AMI've been enjoying 2 discs from this Simon Rattle box;



I'm not crazy about everything in this set - the Gerontius is not my favourite version for example - but the ones I've listened to today are genuinely excellent.  They were;



Grainger is still too easily dismissed as the folky-quirky-Aussie chap who wrote Country Gardens.  I reckon this Rattle disc is the best one-stop shop for some of his finest music receiving excellent performances.  Better as such than the still fine Chandos/Grainger edition equivalents.  Rattle is very good throughout - I like the symphonic winds style of the Lincolnshire Posy - what a great piece it is.  The big revelation are Grainger's orchestrations of Ravel's Pagodes and Debussy's La Vallee des cloches.  The fusion of original piano works with a modernist/gamelan-like sound world is just gorgeous

The 2 Vaughan Williams cycles sound beautiful in their orchestral versions too with both Robert Tear (On Wenlock Edge) and Thomas Allen (Songs of Travel) in fine voice - again Rattle is very engaged.  The set version tops up the disc with the Arnold Guitar Concerto and a short Knussen showpiece as fun fillers


Interesting, I wasn't aware of that set. I don't think that Rattle rates Vaughan Williams very highly as he has recorded hardly any of his music (although I may be wrong). Having said that, I rate that disc of orchestrated song cycles very highly. The problem I have with the Dream of Gerontius is that I don't like the work.  :o
PS I agree about the Grainger disc and those Ravel and Debussy orchestrations.
"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).

Roasted Swan

Quote from: Irons on February 05, 2023, 11:57:15 PMA double CD of Bliss conducting Bliss is worth £1.99 of anyone's money! I do not know Benjamin Dale from Adam but last year I took a punt - and at 1.99, why not?- at his complete music for Violin and Piano. A CD that has given much pleasure.

I went for the Dale too - we'll have to compare impressions!  The Bliss conducts Bliss is very good - the old Decca-sourced recordings.  I liked the look of the Bainton/Clifford string quartets too.....

vandermolen

#1136
Re: Dutton Sale
+1 for the Bliss but more for A Colour Symphony, Introduction and Allegro, and Things to Come (including, my favourite section, 'Machines' which is bizarrely missing from many other recordings) than for The Beatitudes (complete with Hammond organ).
"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).

aukhawk

Quote from: vandermolen on February 06, 2023, 12:33:24 AMInteresting, I wasn't aware of that set. I don't think that Rattle rates Vaughan Williams very highly as he has recorded hardly any of his music (although I may be wrong). Having said that, I rate that disc of orchestrated song cycles very highly. The problem I have with the Dream of Gerontius is that I don't like the work.  :o
PS I agree about the Grainger disc and those Ravel and Debussy orchestrations.

He conducted a socially-distanced 5th Symphony during the 2020 Proms.

vandermolen

Quote from: aukhawk on February 06, 2023, 03:02:14 AMHe conducted a socially-distanced 5th Symphony during the 2020 Proms.
Good to know - thanks.
"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).

Roasted Swan

Quote from: aukhawk on February 06, 2023, 03:02:14 AMHe conducted a socially-distanced 5th Symphony during the 2020 Proms.

very well received I seem to recall too.......