Frank Bridge

Started by tjguitar, May 04, 2007, 05:29:57 PM

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tjguitar

I was listening to The Sea (Vernon Handley/Ulster Orchestra on Chandos 'Works of the Sea' Compilation) today..love it!


I also have the Naxos/James Judd CD of the work w/ a few other pieces such as Summer and Enter Spring which I like.


Does anyone else listen to Bridge?

Bogey

I have this and enjoy it:

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

tjguitar

#2
Quote from: Bogey on May 04, 2007, 05:37:03 PM
I have this and enjoy it:



Ah, thats the one I have, well, I have the recently reissued one which tacked on one of Stanford's Irish Rhapsodies at the end:




It's good music.

Bogey

Have not explored his music any further....I enjoyed the above piece, so it was probably due to just too many other new (to me) composers/pieces on my radar.
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Nunc Dimittis

Quote from: Bogey on May 04, 2007, 05:37:03 PM
I have this and enjoy it:



That CD was my first exposure to Bridge.  I bought it for the Bax and the Britten, but was taken in by Bridge's piece the first time I heard it.  I have since explored quite a bit of his music.  For those new to his music, beware, his music falls into three phases:  impressionistic, English pastoral and in his later years, very knotty and harmonically adverturous.  That last period is pretty much anything written after WWI.
"[Er] lernte Neues auf jedem Schritt seines Weges, denn die Welt war verwandelt, und sein Herz war bezaubert." - Hesse

johnQpublic

Quote from: Nunc Dimittis on May 04, 2007, 08:19:57 PMFor those new to his music, beware, his music falls into three phases:  impressionistic, English pastoral and in his later years, very knotty and harmonically adventurous.  That last period is pretty much anything written after WWI.

While I'm not sure there's three phases (I see two) I would agree that the final phase is more modern and may surprise/disappoint the conservative listener....and yet it's his most interesting one for me.

vandermolen

"The Sea", "Enter Spring" and "Oration" are all masterpieces.  The latter two, in particular, should be much better known.  "Oration" is a haunting lament for the fallen of World War One (including friends of the composer), it contains a most beautifully consoling epilogue (apparently an afterthought), which, for me, is one of the great moments in all music.

I've just ordered a new Dutton release of Bridge conducting "The Sea" which I'm looking forward to hearing.

The CD below is a fine introduction to Bridge and contains both "The Sea" and "Enter Spring" in good performances.  There are a number of CD versions of "Oration" but it may be worth waiting for Lyrita to issue their excellent recording in the next year.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bridge-Orchestral-Works-Frank/dp/B00000C2J6/ref=sr_1_2/202-5432101-9636610?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1178393331&sr=1-2
"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).

sound67

Quote from: Captain Haddock on May 05, 2007, 11:36:03 AM
"The Sea", "Enter Spring" and "Oration" are all masterpieces. 

Indeed they are. Another is his quasi-Piano Concerto "Phantasm". Mind though that "The Sea" is an earlier work and rather different from Bridge's later masterpieces, which tend to be more demanding.

Bridge also wrote some fine music for string quartet, and good songs, too.

Thomas
"Vivaldi didn't compose 500 concertos. He composed the same concerto 500 times" - Igor Stravinsky

"Mozart is a menace to musical progress, a relic of rituals that were losing relevance in his own time and are meaningless to ours." - Norman Lebrecht

tjguitar

QuoteAnother is his quasi-Piano Concerto "Phantasm"

Do you recommend any recordings of this?


QuoteThere are a number of CD versions of "Oration" but it may be worth waiting for Lyrita to issue their excellent recording in the next year.

Do you know when this planned for release? Also when it was recorded? I'm guessing this is one of those Lyrita's that was only available on LP?


springrite

Quote from: sound67 on May 05, 2007, 11:48:51 AM
Bridge also wrote some fine music for string quartet, and good songs, too.


Yes indeed. The Fantasy Trio, Piano Quintet are masterpieces that were my introduction to Bridge. Vanessa's favorite is The Sea. My current favorite is Oration.

sound67

Quote from: tjguitar on May 05, 2007, 11:53:35 AM
Do you recommend any recordings of this?

There are several recordings, but my favorite (Kathryn Stott/Vernon Handley) has long been out of print. Apparently, the only one still available is one of the entries in Richard Hickox' series of Bridge orchestral works from Chandos:



I doubt that it could rival Stott/Handley, but Shelley is a fine pianist so it shouldn't be bad.

Thomas
"Vivaldi didn't compose 500 concertos. He composed the same concerto 500 times" - Igor Stravinsky

"Mozart is a menace to musical progress, a relic of rituals that were losing relevance in his own time and are meaningless to ours." - Norman Lebrecht

71 dB

I have 2 works by Frank Bridge:

Piano Quintet - Allan Schiller/Coull String Quartet [ASV]
Lament - Capella Istropolitana/Adrian Leaper [Naxos]

I have to say I have never really explored this composer. ::)
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gomro

Quote from: tjguitar on May 04, 2007, 05:29:57 PM
I was listening to The Sea (Vernon Handley/Ulster Orchestra on Chandos 'Works of the Sea' Compilation) today..love it!


I also have the Naxos/James Judd CD of the work w/ a few other pieces such as Summer and Enter Spring which I like.


Does anyone else listen to Bridge?

For years I've realized that I need to look into this composer more completely, but just never have done so. The only work I've ever heard by him was a piece for piano and orchestra titled Phantasm; more tone poem than concerto, it was a wonderful thing. But, as I said, I just haven't followed it up...not sure why, maybe because I don't have unlimited funds and I'm always finding other things to look into. The curse of the eclectic music lover.

vandermolen

#13
Quote from: tjguitar on May 05, 2007, 11:53:35 AM
Do you recommend any recordings of this?


Do you know when this planned for release? Also when it was recorded? I'm guessing this is one of those Lyrita's that was only available on LP?



Re: Oration

No mention yet from Lyrita about this although I'll try to find out as they helpfully respond to enquiries. The whole back catalogue should be reissued over the next 16 months I think. The recording must be late 70s or early 80s (my LP is somewhere in the attic!) but the performer was Julian Lloyd Webber with the LPO and Nicholas Braithwaite.

If you don't want to wait, the Chandos recording is very good and there was an excellent EMI one (Isserlis/Hickox) which is, unfortunately, long deleted.

The following article is interesting and informative:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/bridge/chapt3.htm


and here is the new Dutton release of Bridge conducting "The Sea"

http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=CDBP9777
"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).

Guido

#14
Here's linka to the old forum threads:
http://www.good-music-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,7542.0.html
http://www.good-music-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,4767.0.html

Isn't that Kathryn Stott CD fantastic?! I adore that origial version of the Walton Sinfonia concertante too. Her playing is superb (the disc can be found second hand on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/203-9370889-7535931?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=bridge+walton+ireland)

I just heard Colin Carr play Oration in Manchester yesterday - he did a brilliant job, the coda being especially moving.

The cello Sonata is one of the finest pieces of chamber music that I have ever heard - The second movement was the first thing he wrote after finding out that all his friends had been killed in a first world war raid. Incredibly sad and beautiful.
Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away

Guido

Also the second Piano trio is amazing.
Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away

vandermolen

Quote from: tjguitar on May 05, 2007, 11:53:35 AM
Do you recommend any recordings of this?


Do you know when this planned for release? Also when it was recorded? I'm guessing this is one of those Lyrita's that was only available on LP?



Oration to be released by Lyrita Feb 2008.
"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).

Sean

Quote from: Guido on May 06, 2007, 09:58:20 AM
Also the second Piano trio is amazing.

This seems to be his keystone work, indeed much more than the rather manufactured Vienese quartets. I bought the Chandos recording coupled with the inebriated Bax trio.

tjguitar

Quote from: Sean on May 08, 2007, 09:57:23 AM
I bought the Chandos recording coupled with the inebriated Bax trio.

I can't seem to find that on Amazon.  Is it OOP?


TJ

Guido

Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away