Frederick Delius

Started by tjguitar, May 14, 2007, 05:44:52 PM

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Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on September 28, 2012, 04:45:22 PM
Truly incredible when you consider that he was born 28 years after he died.

(points to the caption for MI's current avatar)

>:D >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D

:D Error corrected.

springrite

Quote from: Mirror Image on September 28, 2012, 05:24:30 PM
:D Error corrected.

But the error was more interesting. A man came from the future thus his music was not understood. Someone should write a screenplay on this.
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

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Quote from: springrite on September 28, 2012, 05:40:47 PM
But the error was more interesting. A man came from the future thus his music was not understood. Someone should write a screenplay on this.

:P

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Quote from: J. Z. Herrenberg on May 16, 2009, 08:00:15 AM
A Village Romeo and Juliet seems to be Delius's masterpiece in the genre. 'Seems', because I can't personally vouch for it. The only thing I know from this work is the, admittedly sublime, Walk to the Paradise Garden...

I know this quote above was from three years ago, but I do hope you have heard A Village Romeo & Juliet since this post, Johan. I also hope you've heard Fennimore & Gerda and Koanga. The rest of Delius' operas are hard to find and in most cases less than satisfying performances.

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#224
Quote from: J. Z. Herrenberg on May 03, 2012, 01:43:33 PM
If I may offer my own answer - Hickox, in my view, doesn't cut it. Groves has the better soloists and his reading is more passionate. Same goes for Hickox' 'Requiem' - Meredith Davies is superior. There is an ecstasy in these works which a conductor must impart, so that you get a 'lift-off' at the end . For me Hickox fails to do that. But I like his 'Appalachia' a lot, though the soloist's voice at the end isn't to my liking.

I probably will agree with this once I've digged back into A Mass Of Life. I'm starting to favor Barbirolli, Davies, Handley, Mackerras, Del Mar, Sargent, and Groves over Hickox, although let me say, that I still think Hickox has one of the best Appalachia and Brigg Fair performances I've heard on record.

J.Z. Herrenberg

A Village Romeo and Juliet is still on my list of things to listen to, alas. I am in a phase of my life, where listening to music for hours on end sits unhappily with all kinds of things that need doing. But I'll certainly listen to it once I can make time for it... I have the DVD, too. I may watch that soon-ish...
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

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Quote from: J. Z. Herrenberg on September 30, 2012, 10:30:01 PM
A Village Romeo and Juliet is still on my list of things to listen to, alas. I am in a phase of my life, where listening to music for hours on end sits unhappily with all kinds of things that need doing. But I'll certainly listen to it once I can make time for it... I have the DVD, too. I may watch that soon-ish...

Have you heard any of Delius' operas, Johan?

J.Z. Herrenberg

If you regard the ravishing Idyll as an operatic scene - yes.  ;)  Otherwise - no, apart from the immortal Walk to the Paradise Garden of course...
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

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#228
Quote from: Mirror Image on September 27, 2012, 04:24:04 PM
Found a fascinating documentary about Delius which deals with an alleged affair he had with an African-American woman in which he fathered a child while living in Florida. In this documentary, we follow Tasmin Little around as she tries to gather as much information as she can as to why Delius returned to Florida many years later:

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/v/0RocX8MvqcE

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/v/w95C2Vwt-Dc

I watched Part 1 again and those members of the Delius Association of Florida remind me of why I'm not a member of one of these groups. What's with that woman blinking so much? I also didn't like her attitude when Little brought up the possiblity that Delius had a romance and fathered a child. Very dismissive. I believed it happened, but all of this reminded of the first thought I had of his music when I first heard it: it is deeply sad and it projects a yearning that never quite subsides.

J.Z. Herrenberg

Just watched the documentary again. Yes, that reaction of some of those Delius fans in Florida is very telling.


As for the outcome of Tasmin Little's search - I don't know. I remember thinking when I watched this years ago: 'Why should Delius have fathered a love child, couldn't he just have experienced life in that poignant way without the obligatory love story?' But that's my unromantic side speaking. Yearning can spring just as much from the absence of love as from its loss. Like Wagner said about "Tristan und Isolde": Because I have never experienced true love, I'll build a monument for it.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

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Quote from: J. Z. Herrenberg on October 02, 2012, 02:32:07 PM
Just watched the documentary again. Yes, that reaction of some of those Delius fans in Florida is very telling.


As for the outcome of Tasmin Little's search - I don't know. I remember thinking when I watched this years ago: 'Why should Delius have fathered a love child, couldn't he just have experienced life in that poignant way without the obligatory love story?' But that's my unromantic side speaking. Yearning can spring just as much from the absence of love as from its loss. Like Wagner said about "Tristan und Isolde": Because I have never experienced true love, I'll build a monument for it.

Sorry for the late response, Johan. :-[ I do think Little was onto something in her search. I'm thinking of going down to Jacksonville, FL. Here I hope to visit the Delius house located on the University of Jacksonville campus. I would also like to meet some Delius Society members, but I'm sure they'll be hard to track down. It would be nice to talk to someone with a sense of the history of Delius' year and half in Florida. I would love to go down to the St. Johns River and walk where Delius walked and take in the sights and sounds he experienced.

Getting back to Little and her theory, it's very, very possible. Again, there's so much sadness in his music. It's almost a constant. I believe even though he obviously loved Jelka, there was someone else he continued to think about and you can hear it in the works following his stay in Florida. I would love to pinpoint the time of this change in his music. Little mentions it briefly in her documentary. I would love to do a study of this at some point. Since February is the month of love (Valentine's Day), I'm going to try and commit myself to listening to his works during his stay in Florida and just after he met Jelka where he went back to Florida to tidy up some loose ends. Should be interesting.

On another topic, I've been digging these three sets immensely:






Leo K.



I'm really enjoying this CD, of which I'm hearing for the first time. The double concerto is really beautiful, gorgeous melodies and rich shades of instrumentation, I am entranced! This work really takes off! But always introverted in an intense, feverish way.



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Quote from: Leo K. on January 20, 2013, 09:59:10 AM


I'm really enjoying this CD, of which I'm hearing for the first time. The double concerto is really beautiful, gorgeous melodies and rich shades of instrumentation, I am entranced! This work really takes off! But always introverted in an intense, feverish way.

Glad you've enjoyed these works, Leo. Is this your introduction to Delius' music?

J

There's a new Naxos recording out with Appalachia & Sea Drift conducted by Stefan Sanderling.
American Record Guide's reviewer is unenthused by Sanderling's reading of Appalachia (its speedy
tempos and lack of expressive nuance) but thinks better of Sea Drift.

Anyone heard it yet?

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Quote from: J on January 21, 2013, 07:24:02 PM
There's a new Naxos recording out with Appalachia & Sea Drift conducted by Stefan Sanderling.
American Record Guide's reviewer is unenthused by Sanderling's reading of Appalachia (its speedy
tempos and lack of expressive nuance) but thinks better of Sea Drift.

Anyone heard it yet?

Heard it and own it. I didn't think much of it. Hickox/Bournemouth and Mackerras/Welsh National Opera Orch. are my preferred performances. For Sea Drift, Hickox/Terfel/Bournemouth SO is my favorite performance.

Leo K.

Quote from: Mirror Image on January 21, 2013, 07:01:11 PM
Glad you've enjoyed these works, Leo. Is this your introduction to Delius' music?

It nearly is John, but the very first Delius I heard was two days before on Spotify. I found the The Delius Collection 7 CD set, and listened to the first few works on disk 1. Needless to say, I was hooked from the beginning. Deeply touched by what I was hearing. I am very enthusiastic over his music. I can already feel he will be one of my favorite composers as I keep listening. Elgar is becoming that too.




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Quote from: Leo K. on January 22, 2013, 02:29:33 PM
It nearly is John, but the very first Delius I heard was two days before on Spotify. I found the The Delius Collection 7 CD set, and listened to the first few works on disk 1. Needless to say, I was hooked from the beginning. Deeply touched by what I was hearing. I am very enthusiastic over his music. I can already feel he will be one of my favorite composers as I keep listening. Elgar is becoming that too.

[Looks at disc numbers 1 & 7 from The Delius Collection set on Heritage]

Ah, yes. Definitely some fine compositions there. I'm thrilled that you're taking to Delius' music. There's a lot of depth I believe in his music. So much beauty, but there's also a sadness and sense of melancholy that permeates the music.

Please keep us posted on your Delian journey. :)

J.Z. Herrenberg

I am glad, too, Delius has found another convert. As I must have remarked already in one of these pages, I can never understand how it is possible for people to dislike Delius's music, as it is so supremely beautiful.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

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Quote from: J. Z. Herrenberg on January 22, 2013, 02:46:07 PM
I am glad, too, Delius has found another convert. As I must have remarked already in one of these pages, I can never understand how it is possible for people to dislike Delius's music, as it is so supremely beautiful.

The usual remarks I read is that his music meanders, it's boring, and it all sounds the same. Blah, blah, blah...

Leo K.

#239
Delius's music seems to say, "Progress is not an issue for the artist, Being is." Future, but without a promise of a better future or an afterlife, humans should have a hearty satisfaction in the now. The now is rather about accepting the next now. Delius' compositions tell me we can hope for a better NOW, and one of the most evocative aspects of Delius' music is this ability to create moments of Now; moments when music isn't about progress (yet somehow there is progress in the music anyways).