Cyril Scott

Started by tjguitar, May 03, 2007, 09:08:19 PM

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cilgwyn

There really are some truly arresting sounds in the Piano Trio No 1. (I haven't got to the other works yet!) For example,those 'chinese' sounds from the piano in the second movement. It's simply chock full of interesting sonorities and ear tickling sounds. Wonderful. And a real feeling of momentum. You're always going somewhere. It's works like this that make me think that,at his best,Scott's chamber music is as worthwhile as that of,say,Bax! First recordings,too. Ridiculous,really.


vandermolen

Quote from: cilgwyn on January 31, 2017, 07:42:35 AM
I've put this on now. I know you like this one.


Yes, great cover image too.
"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).

cilgwyn

Indeed! :) I think my favourite piece on the cd is the Piano Trio No 1. Remarkable that such good music should have been ignored for so long. Incidentally,when I was a younster one of my ambitions was to become a lighthouse keeper!! ::)

My Cyril Scott jam continues with his piano music. I played the piano sonatas,yesterday. This 2cd set today. I may be alone in this,but I find some of his piano music quite fascinating. Full of interesting ideas and sounds and,imo,very pleasant to listen to while reading,writing or......whatever?!!





vandermolen

I also had a lighthouse Keeper fantasy. Love the pianist's name!  8)
"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).

cilgwyn

The disappearances at Flannan Isle only made me want to be one even more! ;D


cilgwyn

With respect to his piano music. A particularly appeal of Scott,if you like his music,is his penchance for exotic places and subject matter. Of course these places were very remote and mysterious at the time. No package tours! Unsurprisingly,they're closer to the fantasy of the original Lost Horizon (a favourite movie of mine) the mysterious monks and pagodas in those old Rupert the Bear Books or the jungle of those old cliffhanger serials,than the actual places they are supposed to evoke;but all the more fun for it! I particularly like some of the suites. Especially the longer ones.

cilgwyn

My Cyril Scott marathon continues! ??? ;D


Scion7

Quote from: vandermolen on February 01, 2017, 05:31:29 AM
Love the pianist's name!  8)



Ok, my tasteless off-centered / wrong-gender post is now over.
Carry on.
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Oates

Quote from: Dundonnell on January 30, 2008, 03:07:47 AM
Cyril Scott's other concerti-for Oboe, Harpsichord, Violin/Cello, for example-will remain unrecorded for now.

Well, actually the Harpsichord and Oboe concerti have been recorded now!

cilgwyn

Ony Volume 5 to go and I'll have listened to all the Dutton,Chandos and Naxos cds of his chamber and instrumental music!! Phew! They seem to get better as they go on imo! So far,I've never experienced the urge to press stop on the remote,or eject on the mini hi-fi,which means I'm actually enjoying listening to this,not just forcing myself to listen through a pile of cds by a 'neglected' composer (although,not on cd,apparently?) like a contestant on one of those Japanese endurance shows. I actually find some of this music just as enjoyable as Bax and Ireland. I wouldn't say Scott is better though. Just different! The piano music is particularly fascinating. It's so varied,and I do love that escapist music about faraway places that composers used to come up with in the early years of the last century. I also like the artwork chosen for some of those earlier Dutton releases. This is a particularly good example.


cilgwyn

Vol 5,now. The last volume in the Dutton Complete piano music series. The music seems to get more and more interesting and enjoyable as the series progresses,imho. I might need a break from Cyril Scott now,though! Maybe some Mozart operas? I haven't decided yet.





cilgwyn

The 1974 D'Oyly Carte recording of Iolanthe,with dialogue,actually!!


vandermolen

The Sonata Lirica is very good - a dreamy, poetic and captivating score. In fact I enjoyed the whole Dutton CD so thanks cilgwyn for alerting us to it.
"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).

cilgwyn

Thank goodness! I was a bit worried when I heard you'd splashed out on it;thinking you might not enjoy it! I thought this was a stand out in my Cyril Scott chamber and piano marathon. Not hugely profound,I suppose;but I thought that it had melodic and lyrical profile which stood out from the crowd. The first bars just seem to draw you in. It's also nice,compact,and knows when to stop. The violin part really did it for me,though. It really teases the ear! The entire cd is ear candy throughout! I also like the artwork! (The Chandos cd was another stand out!)

Scion7

#114
While Chandos and Dutton/Epoch, among others, have brought a great splash of his music out on CD, there seems to have been a slowing-down of late for Cyril Scott releases.
As far as I have researched, the following pieces are still not available:

Orchestral
===========================
Lyric Suite, Op. 6 (1900)
Heroic Suite, Op. 7 (c. 1900)
Christmas Overture (c. 1900)
Aglavaine et Sélysette, overture, Op. 21 (c. 1902)
Rhapsody for orchestra No. 1, Op. 32 (1904)
Philomel, for cello and orchestra (c. 1925)
Double concerto for violin, cello and orchestra (1926)
The Melodist and the Nightingale, for cello and orchestra (1929)
Concertino for two pianos and orchestra (1931)
Double concerto for two violins and orchestra (1931)
Passacaglia Festevole, for two pianos and orchestra (c. 1935)
Ode descantique, for string orchestra (c. 1940)
Hourglass Suite, for chamber orchestra (c. 1949)
Concerto for oboe and strings (1946)
Concertino for bassoon, flute and strings (1951)
Sinfonietta for organ, harp and strings (1962)
Egypt, ballet suite (1913)
Britain's War March (orch. Version) (1914)

Chamber
=============================
Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 3 (c. 1899)
String Quartet, Op. 12 (c. 1900)
Sextet for piano and strings, Op. 26 (c. 1903, rev. 1914 as Quintet,
  -performed and later withdrawn)
String Quartet, Op. 28 (c. 1903)
String Quartet in F major, Op. 31 (c. 1904)
String Quintet No. 1 (1919)
Divertimento for String Quartet, 1920;
Quintet for flute, harp, violin, viola and cello (1926)
Sonatina, for solo guitar (c. 1927) (commissioned by Andrés Segovia)
Idyll, solo violin (1928)
String Trio No. 1 (1931)
String Trio No. 2 (1949)
Piano Quintet No. 2 (1952)
String Quintet No. 2 (1953)
Piano Trio No. 3 (1957)
String Quartet No. 3 (1961)
Flute Sonata (1961)
Trio Pastorale for flute, cello and piano (1961)

Ballet
==============
The Incompetent Apothecary (1923)
Karma (1924)
Masque of the Red Death (1930)

Incidental music
=======================
    Othello (1920)
    Return to Nature (1920)
    Smetse Smee (c. 1925–26)
    Susannah and the Elders (1937)

Choral
======================
Nativity Hymn (R. Crashaw), chorus, orch, 1913;
La belle dame sans merci (J. Keats), Bar, chorus, orch, 1916;
The Ballad of Fair Helen of Kirkconnel (trad.), Bar, orch, 1925;
Rima's Call to the Birds (W.H. Hudson), S, orch, 1933;
Mystic Ode (A. Lundy, C. Scott), chorus, orch, 1933;
Let us Now Praise Famous Men, chorus, orch, 1935;
Ode to Great Men (Scott), T, orch, 1936;
Hymn of Unity (Scott), solo vv, chorus, orch, 1947;

^ a few of these, such as the Oboe Concerto, are on Youtube in live performances

The piano music:  huge chunks of those compositions have been issued on several CD's, but about a dozen are still unreleased.

He composed over 100 songs.  Which of these are available I didn't look into.

If there are any orchestral or chamber pieces I've missed,
please feel free to note it.

I believe some scores were destroyed in WWII, so that's that.

When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Scion7

I personally would love to have the majority of those issued in me lifetime, but that hope - like the Titanic of his (early work) Disaster at Sea, is doomed.
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

vandermolen

#116
Quote from: Scion7 on December 03, 2022, 08:40:30 PMWhile Chandos and Dutton/Epoch, among others, have brought a great splash of his music out on CD, there seems to have been a slowing-down of late for Cyril Scott releases.
As far as I have researched, the following pieces are still not available:

Orchestral
===========================
Lyric Suite, Op. 6 (1900)
Heroic Suite, Op. 7 (c. 1900)
Christmas Overture (c. 1900)
Aglavaine et Sélysette, overture, Op. 21 (c. 1902)
Rhapsody for orchestra No. 1, Op. 32 (1904)
Philomel, for cello and orchestra (c. 1925)
Double concerto for violin, cello and orchestra (1926)
The Melodist and the Nightingale, for cello and orchestra (1929)
Concertino for two pianos and orchestra (1931)
Double concerto for two violins and orchestra (1931)
Passacaglia Festevole, for two pianos and orchestra (c. 1935)
Ode descantique, for string orchestra (c. 1940)
Hourglass Suite, for chamber orchestra (c. 1949)
Concerto for oboe and strings (1946)
Concertino for bassoon, flute and strings (1951)
Sinfonietta for organ, harp and strings (1962)
Egypt, ballet suite (1913)
Britain's War March (orch. Version) (1914)

Chamber
=============================
Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 3 (c. 1899)
String Quartet, Op. 12 (c. 1900)
Sextet for piano and strings, Op. 26 (c. 1903, rev. 1914 as Quintet,
  -performed and later withdrawn)
String Quartet, Op. 28 (c. 1903)
String Quartet in F major, Op. 31 (c. 1904)
String Quintet No. 1 (1919)
Divertimento for String Quartet, 1920;
Quintet for flute, harp, violin, viola and cello (1926)
Sonatina, for solo guitar (c. 1927) (commissioned by Andrés Segovia)
Idyll, solo violin (1928)
String Trio No. 1 (1931)
String Trio No. 2 (1949)
Piano Quintet No. 2 (1952)
String Quintet No. 2 (1953)
Piano Trio No. 3 (1957)
String Quartet No. 3 (1961)
Flute Sonata (1961)
Trio Pastorale for flute, cello and piano (1961)

Ballet
==============
The Incompetent Apothecary (1923)
Karma (1924)
Masque of the Red Death (1930)

Incidental music
=======================
    Othello (1920)
    Return to Nature (1920)
    Smetse Smee (c. 1925–26)
    Susannah and the Elders (1937)

Choral
======================
Nativity Hymn (R. Crashaw), chorus, orch, 1913;
La belle dame sans merci (J. Keats), Bar, chorus, orch, 1916;
The Ballad of Fair Helen of Kirkconnel (trad.), Bar, orch, 1925;
Rima's Call to the Birds (W.H. Hudson), S, orch, 1933;
Mystic Ode (A. Lundy, C. Scott), chorus, orch, 1933;
Let us Now Praise Famous Men, chorus, orch, 1935;
Ode to Great Men (Scott), T, orch, 1936;
Hymn of Unity (Scott), solo vv, chorus, orch, 1947;

^ a few of these, such as the Oboe Concerto, are on Youtube in live performances

The piano music:  huge chunks of those compositions have been issued on several CD's, but about a dozen are still unreleased.

He composed over 100 songs.  Which of these are available I didn't look into.

If there are any orchestral or chamber pieces I've missed,
please feel free to note it.

I believe some scores were destroyed in WWII, so that's that.


An interesting and helpful list. The PC No.1 (especially in the wonderful Herrmann/Ogden recording) is a great favourite as is 'Neptune'. There is a fine Chandos CD of chamber music as well.
"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).

Scion7

One problem is the confusion on how compositions are listed - the New Grove, the offial-ish Scott website, etc., sometimes don't agree.  What is needed is a good, scholarly up-to-date biography.  Hope one is in the works by somebody ...
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

relm1

I also like his Cello Concerto - I think it's on an album with Bax but going off memory. 

vandermolen

Quote from: relm1 on December 05, 2022, 05:34:22 AMI also like his Cello Concerto - I think it's on an album with Bax but going off memory. 
Quote from: relm1 on December 05, 2022, 05:34:22 AMI also like his Cello Concerto - I think it's on an album with Bax but going off memory. 
Yes, I agree, it's a fine, dreamily atmospheric work. Thanks for the recommendation.
"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).