The British Composers Thread

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

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Mark

Quote from: Dundonnell on October 26, 2007, 06:30:46 PM
Rawsthorne always strikes me as more of an English Hindemith, I have to say. His music is skillfull and fastidious but lacks a certain element of warmth-as if he was just a little wary of letting emotion come too near the surface of the music. That said, the symphonies and concerti are all worth listening to and persevering with. The 1st symphony is particularly vigorous, the 2nd (with soprano solo) is warmer than most Rawsthorne, and the 3rd, though a little more 'difficult' has a very fine central slow movement.
It is often forgotten that Rawsthorne too(like Bliss) composed some big choral pieces-the Medieval Diptych for baritone and orchestra(1962), 'Carmen Vitale' for soprano, chorus and orchestra(1963) and the Cantata "The God in the Cave"(1967) but the 1960s was not a good decade for the more traditional British composers as rampant modernism swept concert halls and the BBC. These choral works are not available on CD yet.

A composer whose music I respect but would not go so far as to say love.

An apt summary. I'm unfamiliar with Hindemith, but I can concur with the remainder of your post.

vandermolen

#81
This is a classic/historic CD of British music, conducted by Constant Lambert (there is a companion disc with Lambert's own music featured).  The CD below features an excellent (historic) performance of "Symphonic Studies" by Rawsthorne which is, perhaps, his greatest work.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Constant-Lambert-Conductor-Peter-Warlock/dp/B00000JWM4/ref=sr_1_2/202-9347871-3364610?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1193478872&sr=1-2

"The Curlew" by Peter Warlock is a hauntingly poetic and melancholy song cycle by an interesting composer who eventually committed suicide

There is a good modern recording of Symphonic Studies on Naxos.
"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).

Mark

What was Warlock's real name? I always forget.

Dundonnell

Quote from: Mark on October 27, 2007, 02:33:25 AM
What was Warlock's real name? I always forget.

Philip Heseltine(as in the former Deputy Prime Minister, Michael, but not related-as far as I know!)

Mark

Just read some exciting news in this month's Gramophone: the Lyrita label has joined the fold over at eMusic. Terrific news for those of us who regularly download from that site. For me, it means I can 'risk' a purchase of the Ma recording of Finzi's Cello Concerto without risking very much at all. :D

Montpellier

Great - except I looked on emusic and can't find a way in (to see what they've got) without signing up/registering which I'm reluctant to do until I know what I'm registering into.  Do you happen to know how I can get to their catalogue?

Thanks.

Mark

Quote from: Anancho on October 27, 2007, 05:15:29 AM
Great - except I looked on emusic and can't find a way in (to see what they've got) without signing up/registering which I'm reluctant to do until I know what I'm registering into.  Do you happen to know how I can get to their catalogue?

Thanks.

Try this link: http://www.emusic.com/genre/279.html

Montpellier

Many thanks for that.  Looks an easy site to use. 


Mark

Quote from: Anancho on October 27, 2007, 07:11:51 AM
Many thanks for that.  Looks an easy site to use. 



It's superb. I've got the Connoisseur 100 subscription, meaning I can (and do) download 100 tracks each month for just £19.99. That's insanely good value for downloads, and results in hauling in anywhere up to 14 albums every 30 days. :D In the last 12 months, I've grabbed around 180 CDs worth of music, I reckon.

Mark


Dundonnell

Quote from: Mark on October 27, 2007, 02:58:19 PM
Thought I'd link to this from the old forum:

Early 20th Century English Composers

Fascinating reading! Although I have only just started reading the posts on the old thread I have read the contributions regarding the Havergal Brian symphonies.

As I think that I said before, I was at school with and was/am a close friend of Malcolm MacDonald, THE authority on Brian and the author of the splendid three volume set on Brian's symphonies. As teenagers we were fascinated by Brian(ok, maybe we were slightly odd teenagers!!) and talked endlessly about his music. I still have a copy of Malcolm's first list of all Brian's works, compiled when he was about 17. My own(incredibly modest) contribution was to have a letter published in 'The Scotsman' newspaper at around the same age demanding that Brian be performed in Edinburgh by the (then) SNO....as if!!!

While a young schoolteacher I often bemused my classes by recording radio broadcasts of obscure classical music on a reel-to-reel taperecorder
at the back of the classroom while the pupils were working! In that way I managed to acquire tapes of most of Brian's symphonies as they were broadcast by the BBC in the 1970s(through the inspired commitment and dedicated support of the composer Robert Simpson who worked for the BBC until he quit in disgust!).

OH for a machine which would allow me to resurrect these tapes-stored in my attic!!!

I certainly have favourites amongst the symphonies- Nos.1-4, 6, 7-10, 16 for example, but I also rather liked No.14(which Malcolm always considered one of the weakest, if not the weakest, Brian symphony). Yes, it is popmpous but I happen to like pompous music :)

Marco Polo...WHY did you stop?? Why don't you re-start the series? After all, the label-or at least its 'cheaper sister' Naxos-has gone on to record VERY obscure repertoire since then! How many 19th century violin concertos do they intend to record?? If they can start a Luis Freitas Branco series(Portugese symphonist pre Joly Braga Santos) then SURELY they can return to HB??

Sorry.....I could ramble away about Havergal Brian for hours as I did when I was 17/18 :)

Mark

Quote from: Dundonnell on October 27, 2007, 03:31:05 PM
As I think that I said before, I was at school with and was/am a close friend of Malcolm MacDonald ...

The guy who reviews for BBC Music magazine as Calum MacDonald? Tell him from me that when he likes a CD, so do I. I'm no fan of reviewers in general, but I've come to trust his even-handed judgement and good musical sense. :)

Guido

Quote from: jurajjak on October 25, 2007, 03:44:18 PM
I'd be very interested in a further discussion of Bliss.  Since I first heard it about 3 years ago, I've been obsessed with Morning Heroes, probably his greatest work.  Does he have any other works that are equally good?  I know Rout, the Color Symphony, some of the film scores (i.e., Things to Come), Checkmate, the oboe quintent, and a couple other pieces, and while much of it is excellent, I haven't found another Bliss masterpiece on the level of Morning Heroes.  Does anyone know his opera The Olympians?  Apparently there is one obscure (live) recording.

andrew


I adore Bliss music, and perhaps my three favourite orchestral works are contained on this CD:

http://www.amazon.com/Bliss-Cello-Concerto-Music-Strings/dp/B00000147T/ref=sr_1_2/002-1405439-7612854?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1193527543&sr=8-2

My review is the 'Finzi and Barber fan' one. Hard to believe I wrote that two years ago!

Here's what I said about the Bliss cello concerto on another thread from the old forum

http://www.good-music-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,10655.msg318310.html#msg318310
Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away

Montpellier

Quote from: Mark on October 27, 2007, 07:22:03 AM
It's superb. I've got the Connoisseur 100 subscription, meaning I can (and do) download 100 tracks each month for just £19.99. That's insanely good value for downloads, and results in hauling in anywhere up to 14 albums every 30 days. :D In the last 12 months, I've grabbed around 180 CDs worth of music, I reckon.

So this looks almost too good to be true.  Do I read it correctly that for a subscription of, as a starter, £8.99 I can download 30 albums (ie clicking the tab beneath the list that says "download all") or do I just get 30 tracks?   

Thank you for drawing this too my attention.   It looks good.  Some interesting modern/avant garde work there. 

Mark

Quote from: Anancho on October 27, 2007, 03:59:05 PM
So this looks almost too good to be true.  Do I read it correctly that for a subscription of, as a starter, £8.99 I can download 30 albums (ie clicking the tab beneath the list that says "download all") or do I just get 30 tracks?  

Thank you for drawing this too my attention.   It looks good.  Some interesting modern/avant garde work there. 

For £8.99, it's 30 tracks. Don't forget to use this link when you sign up, not the one I gave you earlier. This way, you'll get a 14-day free trial with 25 free tracks which are yours to keep even if you cancel at the end of the trial period (but believe me, you won't want to do that ;D). So what you'll get are 55 downloads in your first month, just for signing up for the £8.99 a month package. Cool, huh? And guess what? You can cancel at any time - though think carefully about this: by sticking with your subscription plan, you can re-download any purchased tracks repeatedly for free. Handy if your PC fails. ;) Cancel, and you lose this option (though your original purchases remain unaffected).

Dundonnell

Quote from: Mark on October 27, 2007, 03:38:24 PM
The guy who reviews for BBC Music magazine as Calum MacDonald? Tell him from me that when he likes a CD, so do I. I'm no fan of reviewers in general, but I've come to trust his even-handed judgement and good musical sense. :)

The very same.

Guido

Do the artists get the same amount of royalties?
Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away

Mark

Quote from: Guido on October 27, 2007, 04:18:35 PM
Do the artists get the same amount of royalties?

You talking about eMusic? Yes: it's a well-established, legitimate business that doesn't leave copyright holders out of pocket, AFAIK. Of course, that means the record labels do okay out of it ... ::)

Quote from: Dundonnell on October 27, 2007, 04:18:14 PM
The very same.

Kudos. 8)

Montpellier

#98
Quote from: Mark on October 27, 2007, 04:26:23 PM
You talking about eMusic? Yes: it's a well-established, legitimate business that doesn't leave copyright holders out of pocket, AFAIK. Of course, that means the record labels do okay out of it ... ::)

I doubt Richard Itter and Wyastone/Nimbus would enter something that denies them their money back.  I'm not sure who is going to underwrite the Lyrita reissues that flop, probably Mr Itter.   But the contract with Wyastone did include "...In order to satisfy international demand for the label Wyastone and Lyrita have agreed to introduce simultaneously, physical product which will be widely distributed, available directly and via the Internet, and a downloading facility." (from an email reply to me about certain reissues).  So...good on them.

Edit....I'll probably sign up once the next batch of Lyritas comes out.  I have two CDs on pre-order at the moment (Baines and Frank Bridge) and want to support MDT and their low prices...and the hope they'll continue to distribute this label until the catalogue is complete.  Strange that MDT don't do Dutton though....

vandermolen

Quote from: Dundonnell on October 27, 2007, 03:31:05 PM
Fascinating reading! Although I have only just started reading the posts on the old thread I have read the contributions regarding the Havergal Brian symphonies.

As I think that I said before, I was at school with and was/am a close friend of Malcolm MacDonald, THE authority on Brian and the author of the splendid three volume set on Brian's symphonies. As teenagers we were fascinated by Brian(ok, maybe we were slightly odd teenagers!!) and talked endlessly about his music. I still have a copy of Malcolm's first list of all Brian's works, compiled when he was about 17. My own(incredibly modest) contribution was to have a letter published in 'The Scotsman' newspaper at around the same age demanding that Brian be performed in Edinburgh by the (then) SNO....as if!!!

While a young schoolteacher I often bemused my classes by recording radio broadcasts of obscure classical music on a reel-to-reel taperecorder
at the back of the classroom while the pupils were working! In that way I managed to acquire tapes of most of Brian's symphonies as they were broadcast by the BBC in the 1970s(through the inspired commitment and dedicated support of the composer Robert Simpson who worked for the BBC until he quit in disgust!).

OH for a machine which would allow me to resurrect these tapes-stored in my attic!!!

I certainly have favourites amongst the symphonies- Nos.1-4, 6, 7-10, 16 for example, but I also rather liked No.14(which Malcolm always considered one of the weakest, if not the weakest, Brian symphony). Yes, it is popmpous but I happen to like pompous music :)

Marco Polo...WHY did you stop?? Why don't you re-start the series? After all, the label-or at least its 'cheaper sister' Naxos-has gone on to record VERY obscure repertoire since then! How many 19th century violin concertos do they intend to record?? If they can start a Luis Freitas Branco series(Portugese symphonist pre Joly Braga Santos) then SURELY they can return to HB??

Sorry.....I could ramble away about Havergal Brian for hours as I did when I was 17/18 :)


Interesting post. Totally agree about Marco Polo/Naxos Havergal Brian Series. The Ivanovs series on Campion has also evidently run into the sands. My favourite Brian symphonies (of the ones I know) Nos 1,3,6-10, 16,22.
"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).