The British Composers Thread

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

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 3 Guests are viewing this topic.

André

#400
Quote from: vandermolen on February 14, 2018, 10:09:35 AM
Now, don't all respond at once! (Are we allowed to use sarcasm on GMG Forum? - as a teacher I was banned from doing so (not personally) so maybe I'm making up for lost time.)
Anyway, I was under instructions to clear my CDs out of my daughter's room before she returns after a year+ in Ukraine and I thought that I'd use the opportunity to rationalise (hahaha) my CD collection by giving some away to charity shops (mainly those I'd purchased two or three times without realising it). Anyway, I came across a CD of music by Philip Spratley (great name for largely unknown living British composer). I assumed that I'd impulse bought it and not enjoyed it and put it in the charity box - and then I thought maybe I should just listen to a bit of it again and, to my amazement, I thought that the music was excellent! Especially Symphony 3 'Sinfonia Pascale' inspired by three modern stained glass windows that the composer came across on the visit to a rebuilt church in Jerusalem. All I can say is that I've played it, with increasing enjoyment, about five times over the past two days. In fact I've put together a mini 'CD Concert' for myself, beginning with Atterberg's 'The River' - another recent discovery, through this forum, and then playing Philip Spratley's 'Sinfonia Pascale'. It is 'modern' though tonal and reminded me a bit of Daniel Jones (cilgwyn - are you there?) but maybe with greater urgency. It also, at times reminded me of Scandinavian composers whose music I admire like Englund. It has a very exciting and inspiriting ending which had me on the end of my seat:
[asin]B00GIZY3KO[/asin]

Thanks for the advocacy, Jeffrey! I have had the disc for some time now but only opened it this week.

Very good music from a composer who definitely has an original voice. The music that I found most immediately appealing is the Cargoes Suite. The beautiful theme from the first movement is straight out of Delius (Florida Suite, Daybreak), but it has its own personality. As a whole (close to 20 minutes) it would make a wonderful concert opener. The Helpston Fantasia is that familiar british specialty, the folk dances and songs fantasia. Very nice work with an amiable, bucolic mien.

The symphony is a very different proposal. Cast in 3 largish movements of equal proportions, it's a serious piece of work, now turbulent, now gloomy. Gone are the maritime and countryside vistas of the previous works, replaced by abstract but vividly picturesque displays of orchestral strife. Spratley writes in full sentences and paragraphs - nothing is epigrammatic, elliptic or merely allusive (like Simpson for example). The music is imposing, majestic, like a pared down, modern equivalent of Bax. Very catchy. Now, where are his first two symphonies ?

calyptorhynchus

"Very good music from a composer who definitely has an original voice."

I must have got a different disk in my CD case then, I wasn't impressed at all! The music was very short-breathed, lacking in inspiration and rooted in nothing at all really. Didn't get many stars from me.

Time and again on this forum I have to think de gustibus non est disputandum.
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

SymphonicAddict

Someone's crap is another's treasure or viceversa  :D ;)

Irons

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.

kyjo

Quote from: André on June 22, 2019, 10:36:43 AM
Thanks for the advocacy, Jeffrey! I have had the disc for some time now but only opened it this week.

Very good music from a composer who definitely has an original voice. The music that I found most immediately appealing is the Cargoes Suite. The beautiful theme from the first movement is straight out of Delius (Florida Suite, Daybreak), but it has its own personality. As a whole (close to 20 minutes) it would make a wonderful concert opener. The Helpston Fantasia is that familiar british specialty, the folk dances and songs fantasia. Very nice work with an amiable, bucolic mien.

The symphony is a very different proposal. Cast in 3 largish movements of equal proportions, it's a serious piece of work, now turbulent, now gloomy. Gone are the maritime and countryside vistas of the previous works, replaced by abstract but vividly picturesque displays of orchestral strife. Spratley writes in full sentences and paragraphs - nothing is epigrammatic, elliptic or merely allusive (like Simpson for example). The music is imposing, majestic, like a pared down, modern equivalent of Bax. Very catchy. Now, where are his first two symphonies ?

I also very much enjoyed Spratley's 3rd Symphony, thanks to Jeffrey (haven't listened to the other works on the disc yet). It's a serious, often granitic work yet not without moments of vivid color and I found it more approachable than, say, most of Brian or Simpson.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

vandermolen

Quote from: kyjo on June 23, 2019, 07:11:37 AM
I also very much enjoyed Spratley's 3rd Symphony, thanks to Jeffrey (haven't listened to the other works on the disc yet). It's a serious, often granitic work yet not without moments of vivid color and I found it more approachable than, say, most of Brian or Simpson.
Glad you enjoyed it Kyle.  :)
Along with the granitic orchestral works by Robin Walker I think that it is my favourite of those Toccata releases.

'Chacun a son gout'

"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).

calyptorhynchus

I see that BBC Radio 3 is broadcasting the premiere of Martin Yates completion of Robin Mitford's Symphony No.2 in a concert on 2 July at 2pm UK time.

Some of you will have the Mitford Violin Concerto on disk and that is quite a pleasant work. (Personally I find his work as I said, pleasant, without being compelling, but any friend of Finzi is a friend of mine!)
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

relm1

Derek Bourgeois was a very fine British composer.  One of my favorite 20th/21st century composers. 

André

Alwyn
Arnold
Delius
Elgar
Jones
Kinsella
Turnage
Vaughan Williams
Walton

In the no 10 spot: Bantock, Bax, Bliss, Holst... :P

SymphonicAddict

Quote from: André on June 28, 2019, 05:08:44 PM
Alwyn
Arnold
Delius
Elgar
Jones
Kinsella
Turnage
Vaughan Williams
Walton

In the no 10 spot: Bantock, Bax, Bliss, Holst... :P

I guess you intended to post it on the Polling Station, didn't you?  :P

Roasted Swan

Quote from: calyptorhynchus on June 28, 2019, 02:43:47 PM
I see that BBC Radio 3 is broadcasting the premiere of Martin Yates completion of Robin Mitford's Symphony No.2 in a concert on 2 July at 2pm UK time.

Some of you will have the Mitford Violin Concerto on disk and that is quite a pleasant work. (Personally I find his work as I said, pleasant, without being compelling, but any friend of Finzi is a friend of mine!)

Robin MiLford.....

vandermolen

Quote from: Roasted Swan on July 02, 2019, 01:44:33 PM
Robin MiLford.....

I happened by chance to hear this premiere performance of Robin Milford's Symphony 2 in the car today. I thought it sounded a pleasant work at the start rather in the spirit of Finzi, Moeran and Dyson but was totally unprepared for the slow movement which I found very darkly moving and eloquent, making me tear up at one point. I do hope that Dutton release it on CD. I think that Vaughan Williams thought very highly of the Symphony. Milford had a very sad life.
"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).

calyptorhynchus

Yes Milford, not Mitford, it's coming to a bad pass when you don't even notice Autocorrect!

I listened to the symphony too and was also pleasantly moved by the slow movement. I liked the other movements too; it's not often you get a symphony that is genuinely light-hearted without being trivial. I will listen to it again before it disappears, and hope a recording ensues.
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

relm1

Quote from: vandermolen on July 02, 2019, 01:50:15 PM
I happened by chance to hear this premiere performance of Robin Milford's Symphony 2 in the car today. I thought it sounded a pleasant work at the start rather in the spirit of Finzi, Moeran and Dyson but was totally unprepared for the slow movement which I found very darkly moving and eloquent, making me tear up at one point. I do hope that Dutton release it on CD. I think that Vaughan Williams thought very highly of the Symphony. Milford had a very sad life.

What is the Milford No. 2?  It isn't listed here in his site.  http://www.robinmilfordtrust.org.uk/robins-workd

Christo

Quote from: relm1 on July 03, 2019, 07:17:10 AM
What is the Milford No. 2?  It isn't listed here in his site.  http://www.robinmilfordtrust.org.uk/robins-workd
The radio broadcast of the world premiere of this Symphony No. 2 from 1933 is still here (BBC Concert Orchestra, Martin Yates conducting; introduction starting at 1:23'00): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0006ffy
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: Christo on July 03, 2019, 07:50:48 AM
The radio broadcast of the world premiere of this Symphony No. 2 from 1933 is still here (BBC Concert Orchestra, Martin Yates conducting; introduction starting at 1:23'00): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0006ffy

Thanks for link. Listening now, and liking it.

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

vandermolen

Interesting new release. I'm hearing 'Lamia' by Dorothy Howell at the Proms in a couple of week's time:
"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).

Biffo

Quote from: vandermolen on August 05, 2019, 02:25:35 AM
Interesting new release. I'm hearing 'Lamia' by Dorothy Howell at the Proms in a couple of week's time:

Some interesting pieces, just downloaded it from Chandos. Now listening to Cowen's Reverie as a taster.

kyjo

Reposted from the "pieces that have blown you away recently" thread:

Just made a most wonderful discovery - the tone poem Aurora by William Lloyd Webber (yes, the father of the much more famous Andrew and Julian). This is sensuous, incandescent music depicting the Roman goddess of the dawn. The main theme that appears a minute or so into the piece is a glorious gift of a melody that has staying power. This is a relatively brief but stunning piece which makes me regret that he mostly wrote small-scale works.

https://youtu.be/S-DRoD4Jh2A

It's featured on this Chandos disc:

[asin]B000007MY2[/asin]
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Irons

#419
Quote from: vandermolen on August 05, 2019, 02:25:35 AM
Interesting new release. I'm hearing 'Lamia' by Dorothy Howell at the Proms in a couple of week's time:

Intrigued by this, Jeffrey. Yet another composer to win a Cobbett prize for a "Phantasy". Walter Cobbett does not receive the acclaim due to him for his promotion and support of British chamber music.

Fascinating to read of Howell's connection with Elgar on her Wiki page.

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