The British Composers Thread

[Luke]

You are most welcome! Have you got my catalogue of broadcasts?

NO, in my six-year absence I've missed that. If its contains other delicacies like this (I'm listening currently - fascinating stuff) then I am very curious to see more!

The Eric Fogg is VERY pleasant listening but "it won't set the world on fire", nor should it be expected to. I abhor the hegemony which has been constructed for British music and mindlessly repeated, i.e. Elgar-Vaughan Williams-Holst-Walton-Britten, since it blatently ignores virtually the whole of the nineteenth century, most of the twentieth and everything else that came before and after. Potter, Macfarren, Bennett, Sullivan, Mackenzie, Parry, Goring Thomas, Cowen, Stanford, Smyth, Walford Davies, Bantock, Coleridge-Taylor, Hurlstone, Boughton, Holbrooke, Bax, Bliss, Howells, Alwyn, Bate, Arnell, Arnold, etc. There is no musical heritage so rich and so bloody neglected by concert promoters...

I do agree. I must admit that in my book Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Holst and also Bax and Ireland do play quite large roles - they are, after all major figures; their music is powerful and its sources fascinating to a commensurate degree. (Britten and Delius are both present, too, though to a lesser extent; Walton only gets a passing mention.) But although I can't explore everything of your above list, Stanford is obviously an important background figure who gets frequent passing mention; Boughton gets a look in; and Bennett, Parry and Howells all have sections devoted to them, as do Moeran, Havergal Brian (a particularly lengthy one) and Julius Harrison. So I hope I won't be seen as having neglected such figures.

[Roy Bland]

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-are-women-composers-still-disregarded/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/feb/22/dolly-collins-shirley-collins-mass-missa-humana-debut

[Roasted Swan]

One for Albion I suspect!!

I'm doing some research into the music of (Henry) Walford Davies.  He really is a composer who apart from a small handful of pieces has hardly disturbed the slumbers of the record industry at all.  Apart from the (relatively) ubiquitous "Solemn Melody" and of course the RAF March past there is just "Everyman" and a violin work on Dutton, a sonata on EM records and Prospice for voice and quartet on Meridian(?).  But in his day he was certainly well-known - did a lot of radio presenting/was Master of the Kings Music.  His catalogue references quite a bit of orchestral music including symphonies and then of course there is his Peter Pan Quartet - the published music for which seems to have disappeared.....  Any thoughts gratefully accepted?!?! 

I'm not religious but his "God be in my head" is heart-breakingly beautiful.

[Albion]

One for Albion I suspect!!

I'm doing some research into the music of (Henry) Walford Davies.  He really is a composer who apart from a small handful of pieces has hardly disturbed the slumbers of the record industry at all.  Apart from the (relatively) ubiquitous "Solemn Melody" and of course the RAF March past there is just "Everyman" and a violin work on Dutton, a sonata on EM records and Prospice for voice and quartet on Meridian(?).  But in his day he was certainly well-known - did a lot of radio presenting/was Master of the Kings Music.  His catalogue references quite a bit of orchestral music including symphonies and then of course there is his Peter Pan Quartet - the published music for which seems to have disappeared.....  Any thoughts gratefully accepted?!?! 

I'm not religious but his "God be in my head" is heart-breakingly beautiful.

Fully agreed about Davies and his unjustified neglect. I uploaded all of my choral scores to IMSLP about a decade ago, and there is such wonderful stuff in all of them.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Davies,_Walford

The Dutton "Everyman" is deleted (as seems to be the case with most of their catalogue), but it really needs a better recording anyway. I'd like to see "Noble Numbers", "Ode on Time" and the "Song of St Francis" recorded especially (how likely is that?). Here's Symphony No.2 (1911), it's damn good...

https://www.mediafire.com/file/uanqlrqwbsbeh9i/Davies%252C_Walford_-_Symphony_No.2_in_G%252C_Op.32_%25281911%2529.mp3/file

I have no religion either (other than to worship at the local cheap off-licence), but Davies' "God be in my head" is simply gorgeous, as is Dyson's setting in "Quo Vadis". His "A Short Requiem" (1915) is worth getting to know as well...

https://www.mediafire.com/file/ui6lthzwzp8t6k0/Davies%252C_Walford_-_A_Short_Requiem_%25281915%2529.mp3/file

[Roasted Swan]

Fully agreed about Davies and his unjustified neglect. I uploaded all of my choral scores to IMSLP about a decade ago, and there is such wonderful stuff in all of them.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Davies,_Walford

The Dutton "Everyman" is deleted (as seems to be the case with most of their catalogue), but it really needs a better recording anyway. I'd like to see "Noble Numbers", "Ode on Time" and the "Song of St Francis" recorded especially (how likely is that?). Here's Symphony No.2 (1911), it's damn good...

https://www.mediafire.com/file/uanqlrqwbsbeh9i/Davies%252C_Walford_-_Symphony_No.2_in_G%252C_Op.32_%25281911%2529.mp3/file

I have no religion either (other than to worship at the local cheap off-licence), but Davies' "God be in my head" is simply gorgeous, as is Dyson's setting in "Quo Vadis". His "A Short Requiem" is worth getting to know as well...

Oooh - thankyou for the Symphony - how/what is it "like"?  I hate using the "sounds like" description but its a helpful starting point!  On a similar tack - I wish a better recording of Somervell's Thalassa Symphony had been made.  Those Cameo recordings from Malta are tantalising in terms of repertoire but just too second rate as performances to do the music justice I think...

PS - who are the performers on the Walford Davies?

[Albion]

Oooh - thankyou for the Symphony - how/what is it "like"?  I hate using the "sounds like" description but its a helpful starting point!  On a similar tack - I wish a better recording of Somervell's Thalassa Symphony had been made.  Those Cameo recordings from Malta are tantalising in terms of repertoire but just too second rate as performances to do the music justice I think...

PS - who are the performers on the Walford Davies?

The Walford Davies No.2, Elgarian without the angst, is a broadcast from the 2013 English Music Festival

Symphony No.2 in G, Op.32 (1911)
BBC CO/ Martin Yates (24/5/2013, br. 24/6/2013)

and here is an alternative broadcast of Somervell's "Thalassa" (apologies for the sound quality):

https://www.mediafire.com/file/pknk875qhx5ghbi/Somervell_-_Symphony_in_D%252C_Thalassa_%25281912%2529.mp3/file

Symphony in D, Thalassa (1912)
Ulster O/ Adrian Leaper (br. 22/11/1991)

[DaveF]

Fully agreed about Davies and his unjustified neglect. I uploaded all of my choral scores to IMSLP about a decade ago, and there is such wonderful stuff in all of them.

We sang his Mag & Nunc in E flat in my church choir last year, from an edition on CPDL - possibly not yours, sadly.  Remarkable stuff, a bit too difficult for us - let's just say it doesn't spend much of its time in E flat.  There doesn't seem to be a recording of that anywhere.

[Albion]

We sang his Mag & Nunc in E flat in my church choir last year, from an edition on CPDL - possibly not yours, sadly.  Remarkable stuff, a bit too difficult for us - let's just say it doesn't spend much of its time in E flat.  There doesn't seem to be a recording of that anywhere.

I'll try and dig one out for you if I can, but so far I've drawn a blank. It's a pity that Priory didn't include it in their "Mag & Nunc" series. It's a substantial setting and certainly deserves recording (it's quite equal to the Stanford and Howells settings), as does so much of Davies' choral music.

https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/0/01/Davies_Evening_Service_E_flat.pdf

[Roasted Swan]

The Walford Davies No.2, Elgarian without the angst, is a broadcast from the 2013 English Music Festival

Symphony No.2 in G, Op.32 (1911)
BBC CO/ Martin Yates (24/5/2013, br. 24/6/2013)

and here is an alternative broadcast of Somervell's "Thalassa" (apologies for the sound quality):

https://www.mediafire.com/file/pknk875qhx5ghbi/Somervell_-_Symphony_in_D%252C_Thalassa_%25281912%2529.mp3/file

Symphony in D, Thalassa (1912)
Ulster O/ Adrian Leaper (br. 22/11/1991)

Thankyou so much!  I used to conduct an amateur orchestra and I got the Thalassa Symphony out for a sight reading session once.  Too hard really for that orchestra but the Elegy in memoriam of Scott and his fellow antarctic explorers is genuinely fine

[Albion]

Thankyou so much!  I used to conduct an amateur orchestra and I got the Thalassa Symphony out for a sight reading session once.  Too hard really for that orchestra but the Elegy in memoriam of Scott and his fellow antarctic explorers is genuinely fine

I've got a very high opinion of Somervell (Hyperion, now owned by Universal, have done him proud with the VC, the PC and the "Normandy" variations). I'm sure I've got some more of his stuff lurking around somewhere. The Elegy in "Thalassa" is definitely the highlight of the score. It seems to fit rather oddly amongst the other movements, but that's how it is. Oh, here's something...

https://www.mediafire.com/file/33yt6ofg9kl9rhi/Somervell_-_Christmas_%25281926%2529.mp3/file

 

[relm1]

Yesterday I was at a performance of Britten's War Requiem.  Not sure if this should go here, or in Britten's thread or Pieces that have Blown you Away.  Anyway, this was the first time I heard this piece (which I adore) in a concert, and it was so moving.  I teared up a few times.  I know the words and I know the music but hadn't previously linked the two as much as I did in this concert.  That final F major was so deeply moving even though it was pppp.  It felt so hard earned.  The conductor left us with silence for so long adding to the effect.  Wow was this powerful and deeply affecting.  The chamber ensemble surrounded the conductor.  Then to depress me further, today I saw "All's Quiet on the Western Front" (2022) which I'll never forget and talk about in the films you've recently seen thread.

[Roasted Swan]

I'll try and dig one out for you if I can, but so far I've drawn a blank. It's a pity that Priory didn't include it in their "Mag & Nunc" series. It's a substantial setting and certainly deserves recording (it's quite equal to the Stanford and Howells settings), as does so much of Davies' choral music.

https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/0/01/Davies_Evening_Service_E_flat.pdf

Just finished listening to the recording of Walford Davies' 2nd Symphony - a genuinely enjoyable and impressive work - certainly one that bears performing and hearing.  I would more Parry-ish rather than Elgarian - well orchestrated (great heroic ending) and attractively crafted.  It makes me wnt to hear more of his larger scores for sure.

[Albion]

Just finished listening to the recording of Walford Davies' 2nd Symphony - a genuinely enjoyable and impressive work - certainly one that bears performing and hearing.  I would say more Parry-ish rather than Elgarian - well orchestrated (great heroic ending) and attractively crafted.  It makes me want to hear more of his larger scores for sure.

Certainly it's more RCM fodder than free-wheeling ingenuity. Dutton were due to record it with Martin Yates but pulled out. It's got such a lot of sweep and vigour, although the structure is odd as it's bereft of a proper slow movement (still, who cares about that? There are more than enough tedious slow movements to go round already). Virtually all of HWD's scores are extant (mainly at the RCM) so there's no excuse not to mount a revival (other than having to bloody pay for it)... 

[Roasted Swan]

Certainly it's more RCM fodder than free-wheeling ingenuity. Dutton were due to record it with Martin Yates but pulled out. It's got such a lot of sweep and vigour, although the structure is odd as it's bereft of a proper slow movement (still, who cares about that? There are more than enough tedious slow movements to go round already). Virtually all of HWD's scores are extant (mainly at the RCM) so there's no excuse not to mount a revival (other than having to bloody pay for it)... 

I've been working on a photocopy of the/a manuscript of Davies' "Peter Pan suite for string quartet" (or Quartette as it says on the score).  Checking the online-viewble manuscripts from the RCM I've realised that this score is NOT in Davies' own hand - it seems to be a fair copy with some corrections ammendations in Davies' writing.  This work was published but when I contacted Novellos (years ago now) they had no record of it at all.  This manuscript is not part of the RCM collection either.  Rather an interesting piece - writtten in 1909 so after the Barrie play was staged to huge acclaim but before the now more familiar book version was published.  Its actually a rather sophisticated piece of writing.

[Albion]

I've been working on a photocopy of the/a manuscript of Davies' "Peter Pan suite for string quartet" (or Quartette as it says on the score).  Checking the online-viewble manuscripts from the RCM I've realised that this score is NOT in Davies' own hand - it seems to be a fair copy with some corrections ammendations in Davies' writing.  This work was published but when I contacted Novellos (years ago now) they had no record of it at all.  This manuscript is not part of the RCM collection either.  Rather an interesting piece - writtten in 1909 so after the Barrie play was staged to huge acclaim but before the now more familiar book version was published.  Its actually a rather sophisticated piece of writing.

In my experience, Novello (and most other music publishers) are just so bloody hopeless, ignorant of repertoire and plain incompetent: De Wolfe "lost" most of York Bowen's major late works including Symphony No.3 (I went down to London with Gareth Vaughan and challenged them about this fiasco), Novello threw out annotated scores by Gounod, Dvorak and Coleridge-Taylor and OUP junked the first (and only) edition of RVW's "The Poisoned Kiss". Shambolic doesn't even begin to describe it...

 

[calyptorhynchus]

Just been listening to these, very enjoyable.

[Roasted Swan]

I don't think there is a thread dedicated to "Light" Music which I for one love to bits.  The other day I was looking at various posts on http://landofllostcontent.blogspot.com/ (if people interested in British music have not looked there its always an interesting read) and the composer Matthew Curtis was mentioned.

If ever a composer lived "out of his time" it is Curtis.  He writes in an idiom that really does recreate/celebrate the Golden Age of British Light Music between the Wars.  But this is not just 'pastiche' Eric Coates or Curzon or Binge (OK I know he's post-War!) etc, this is music in that style but with its own personality - even if the piece titles recall the earlier style too.  Curtis appears to be essentially self-taught & seems to have funded (I guess) 5 CD's of his own music played by the reliable Gavin Sutherland and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.



For those times you don't always want to be listening to 80 minutes explorations of the dark recesses of a composer's soul this is lovely stuff.  The Blog was written about "Christmas Rush" - OK its not that time of year but what a fun piece very much in the vein of the "Knightsbridge March" etc.  Worth a listen.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv1X_ZQIN8g

[Papy Oli]

For those times you don't always want to be listening to 80 minutes explorations of the dark recesses of a composer's soul this is lovely stuff.  The Blog was written about "Christmas Rush" - OK its not that time of year but what a fun piece very much in the vein of the "Knightsbridge March" etc.  Worth a listen.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv1X_ZQIN8g

Ha, fun one indeed RS, thanks!     

[Roy Bland]

Is he?
https://matthewcurtis.com/

[Roasted Swan]

Is he?
https://matthewcurtis.com/

No - that Mattew Curtis is a tenor.  Here's a Wikipage for the composer;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Curtis_(composer)