Frederick Delius

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

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Leo K.

Quote from: Mirror Image on February 09, 2013, 07:15:00 PM
Leo K., how is your Delius listening going? Have you listened to any of that outstanding Delius Collection yet? I've been digging out some of Handley's older recordings both on EMI (Classics for Pleasure releases) and Chandos and I've been enjoyed them thoroughly. His Florida Suite and North Country Sketches are some of the best on record I've heard. I think Handley was a good Delian in the respect that he had an ear for the form and shape of the music which give many conductors problems. It's trying to find the ongoing 'musical narrative' in Delius that remains a challenge.

I am enjoying the Delius Collection immensely, there is so much new music to listen and ponder, loving every minute of it! Song of the High Hills is one of the best experiences on earth.

My newest Delius acquisitions are more of Beecham's Delius...bought Appalachia and Sea Drift. So far I've been into Sea Drift but will get to Appalachia very soon. Sea Drift has such amazing choral writing, if one of the great vocal pages in the XX century. Interesting, another Whitman text setting! At times, I hear a 'transcendentalism' tone like I hear in Charles Ives, it's fascinating. I love this work. The poem of Walt Whitman is beautiful. And Delius knows how to create the ambiance of desolation, the desperate solitude of the bird, the indifferent movement of the sea. The last part, "o past, o happy life", in spite of the tonality of E major has such a quiet sadness that when I listened to it,  I stay long minutes under that powerful emotion, even after the end of the work (the end of Mahler's Das Lied von Der Erde always creates the same effect on me). 

Mirror Image

#361
Quote from: Leo K. on February 10, 2013, 05:43:05 AM
I am enjoying the Delius Collection immensely, there is so much new music to listen and ponder, loving every minute of it! Song of the High Hills is one of the best experiences on earth.

My newest Delius acquisitions are more of Beecham's Delius...bought Appalachia and Sea Drift. So far I've been into Sea Drift but will get to Appalachia very soon. Sea Drift has such amazing choral writing, if one of the great vocal pages in the XX century. Interesting, another Whitman text setting! At times, I hear a 'transcendentalism' tone like I hear in Charles Ives, it's fascinating. I love this work. The poem of Walt Whitman is beautiful. And Delius knows how to create the ambiance of desolation, the desperate solitude of the bird, the indifferent movement of the sea. The last part, "o past, o happy life", in spite of the tonality of E major has such a quiet sadness that when I listened to it,  I stay long minutes under that powerful emotion, even after the end of the work (the end of Mahler's Das Lied von Der Erde always creates the same effect on me).

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying that set. It's really fantastic. The Song of the Hills is still trying to weave it's magic on me. I haven't completely warmed up to it, but, like Johan said earlier in the thread, it has some gorgeous sections. Sea Drift is a work I enjoy, but don't listen to very often. I really like his vocal/choral music though like Idyll, Requiem, Songs of Farewell, Songs of Sunset, Mass of Life, An Arabesque, and Cynara (although Delius didn't finish this work and it was completed by Eric Fenby).

Appalachia is great. What performance(s) do you own of this work? It's a huge set of variations on an old slave song. The orchestration is truly wonderful here (but isn't this always the case with Delius :)). There are some beautiful lyrical sections scattered throughout the work and I'm thinking especially of a Lento movement where it's almost as if an aural slice of heaven has entered into your ears.

Have you heard any of the string concerti yet, Leo? Please do give these a listen.

cilgwyn

'The Song of the High Hills' is a bit controversial,even amongst Delians. I gather,Beecham didn't like it much. It's not my favourite work by Delius,but I like it & there really isn't anything else like it in English music. It certainly doesn't sound Elgarian,Baxian,or anything like Vaughan Williams. In some ways it seems closer to a French composer like,the underrated,imho, D'indy (at his VERY best) who also composed music inspired by nature and........ mountains!! It certainly doesn't sound like Debussy or Ravel. In fact,come to think of it,it just sounds like Delius! ;D But not the 'On hearing the First Cuckoo of Spring Delius! This is more rarified,even pantheistic. It has some loud,surging climaxes,a bit like 'Life's Dance',which is one of my favourite Delius compositions (not a 'fan' favourite,I know,but I like it! :)) but less strenuous!

Mirror Image

Quote from: cilgwyn on February 10, 2013, 08:00:00 AM
'The Song of the High Hills' is a bit controversial,even amongst Delians. I gather,Beecham didn't like it much. It's not my favourite work by Delius,but I like it & there really isn't anything else like it in English music. It certainly doesn't sound Elgarian,Baxian,or anything like Vaughan Williams. In some ways it seems closer to a French composer like,the underrated,imho, D'indy (at his VERY best) who also composed music inspired by nature and........ mountains!! It certainly doesn't sound like Debussy or Ravel. In fact,come to think of it,it just sounds like Delius! ;D But not the 'On hearing the First Cuckoo of Spring Delius! This is more rarified,even pantheistic. It has some loud,surging climaxes,a bit like 'Life's Dance',which is one of my favourite Delius compositions (not a 'fan' favourite,I know,but I like it! :)) but less strenuous!

I've heard The Song of the High Hills many times. I plan on listening to it again tonight. By the way, good to have you back, cilgwyn. :) I could always use more support for Delius on GMG. I like Life's Dance that's got to be a pretty difficult work to play well with all those high-energy string syncopations. What are some of your favorite works by Delius?

North Star

Watched the document tonight, good stuff - made me reach for some Delius from YT:
I can see more Delius in my future...
https://www.youtube.com/v/pSGdns9tlyw
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

cilgwyn

Quote from: Mirror Image on February 10, 2013, 08:58:34 AM
I've heard The Song of the High Hills many times. I plan on listening to it again tonight. By the way, good to have you back, cilgwyn. :) I could always use more support for Delius on GMG. I like Life's Dance that's got to be a pretty difficult work to play well with all those high-energy string syncopations. What are some of your favorite works by Delius?
I recently acquired 'Koanga' & Groves recording of 'The Mass of Life'. These have been hard to get for a while. Anyway,to cut a long story short ;D (I told it a few pages ago) I was stunned at how glorious these works are.
Favourites include Eventyr,Brigg Fair,the Dance Rhapsodies,North Country Sketches,Appalachia......almost everything really,excerpt the Concerto's,which I must have another shot at. (I'll use the program button next time,maybe they'll 'click' with me?!) I feel that Delius was at his weakest when he was writing in this form. Having said that,I really do need another more attentive listen. Also,I'm afraid I'm not so keen on 'Sea Drift',partly because I don't like unhappy endings! :(  Of course,that would apply to 'A Village Romeo & Juliet';but that one only gets gloomy right at the end! And what an ending!!! I think it's probably the greatest English opera before Peter Grimes;although Savitri,Brian's 'The Tigers' & VW's underrated operas are all pretty wonderful,unless you're a fussy newspaper critic!!
By the way,have you heard the old emi recording? It's recently been reissued. I have the Mackerras recording. Also,what do you think of Ralph Holmes in the Violin Concerto? I know him of course via his performance of Brian's Violin Concerto;still the finest version ever. He really understood the piece;although the one on the recent Dutton cd is very good!

Mirror Image

Quote from: North Star on February 10, 2013, 12:21:50 PM
Watched the document tonight, good stuff - made me reach for some Delius from YT:
I can see more Delius in my future...
https://www.youtube.com/v/pSGdns9tlyw

Excellent news, Karlo! Keep on listening and don't hesitate to come back and tell us of your findings.

Mirror Image

#367
Quote from: cilgwyn on February 10, 2013, 02:12:41 PM
I recently acquired 'Koanga' & Groves recording of 'The Mass of Life'. These have been hard to get for a while. Anyway,to cut a long story short ;D (I told it a few pages ago) I was stunned at how glorious these works are.
Favourites include Eventyr,Brigg Fair,the Dance Rhapsodies,North Country Sketches,Appalachia......almost everything really,excerpt the Concerto's,which I must have another shot at. (I'll use the program button next time,maybe they'll 'click' with me?!) I feel that Delius was at his weakest when he was writing in this form. Having said that,I really do need another more attentive listen. Also,I'm afraid I'm not so keen on 'Sea Drift',partly because I don't like unhappy endings! :(  Of course,that would apply to 'A Village Romeo & Juliet';but that one only gets gloomy right at the end! And what an ending!!! I think it's probably the greatest English opera before Peter Grimes;although Savitri,Brian's 'The Tigers' & VW's underrated operas are all pretty wonderful,unless you're a fussy newspaper critic!!
By the way,have you heard the old emi recording? It's recently been reissued. I have the Mackerras recording. Also,what do you think of Ralph Holmes in the Violin Concerto? I know him of course via his performance of Brian's Violin Concerto;still the finest version ever. He really understood the piece;although the one on the recent Dutton cd is very good!

Koanga and Mass of Life (a work that finally has clicked for me) are both outstanding as is A Village Romeo & Juliet. Outstanding writing fro vocals, chorus, and orchestra. The concerti have never given me a hard time because I experience similar emotions when listening to the Violin Sonatas. The thing with Delius is form of the work is irrelevant because his music is more like, to use a cliched analogy, like a painting. You have the main idea of the work and then everything else are little byways and add decoration to that main idea.

I own four Delius box sets: the one on EMI (18-CDs), Decca (8-CDs), the Beecham EMI (6-CDs) and the Heritage (7-CDs), but before these sets were released I had a pretty substantial collection of individual recordings, but these box sets make up the bulk of the collection now. I do like Holmes' performance of the VC, but I like Tasmin Little's first recording with Mackerras much better, but both are different in feel and interpretation. The Piano Concerto I have always preferred Piers Lane/Mackerras on EMI. The Double Concerto with Little/Wallfisch/Mackerras is also the best I've heard in this work.

Mirror Image

cilgwyn, do give the Violin Concerto another listen and please listen more attentively. The work is full of haunting lyricism. In fact, on this Tasmin Little documentary watch the short clip of the VC starting at 8:17 and ending at 8:40 -

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

For me, this is the part of the concerto that holds it altogether and finally reveals Delius' broken heart and this longing for a time, a place, or possibly someone he knows will never be there with him again.


Mirror Image

Quote from: Mirror Image on February 04, 2013, 03:40:41 PM
To our resident Delians, does anyone else own Bo Holten's series on Danacord? It's a fantastic series:







I'm hoping to do some reviews on Amazon since none of these recordings except for the Norwegian Masterworks and Danish Masterworks have been reviewed. I think Holten is a natural Delian. Quite comfortable in this most unique idiom. I'd love for him to record more Delius but the American Masterworks recording claims to be his last in the series. :(


Leo K.

Thanks for the links John, this thread is one of the best composer threads, it's got history and recording info, an all around go to for Delius fans.

Haven't seen the doc yet, I'm hoping I can download it straight into my computer before it disappears.

Mirror Image

Quote from: Leo K. on February 11, 2013, 03:48:37 PM
Thanks for the links John, this thread is one of the best composer threads, it's got history and recording info, an all around go to for Delius fans.

Haven't seen the doc yet, I'm hoping I can download it straight into my computer before it disappears.

Thanks, Leo. :) I figured while I'm on GMG might as well make my time on here useful rather than pick fights with some of the other hens. ;) :D I'm hoping Scots John leaves the documentary up and running. Last time I checked it, a couple of days ago, it was still running fine. Please, please watch it as soon as you can. It contains a lot of valuable information for the Delius newbie.

Mirror Image

Another Delian masterpiece, Songs of Sunset:

Composed in 1907, Songs of Sunset belongs to Delius' most opulent period, coming after his testament, A Mass of Life (1905), and conceived in the same incandescent burst which brought forth Brigg Fair, the Dance Rhapsody No. 1, In a Summer Garden, Fennimore and Gerda, and Cynara. In fact,Cynara was originally sketched as part of Songs of Sunset, but outgrew its plan to become an independent composition which Delius did not complete until some two decades later. Both works set poems by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900), and are laced with nostalgia for the bohemian life Delius led from the early 1880s into the late 1890s -- the age of Beardsley, Wilde, Strindberg, Munch, Gauguin, and the young Ravel. Indeed, the luxuriant weariness of the Songs of Sunset is meant to be heard against Cynara's call for "madder music and for stronger wine," and its notorious profession of constancy -- "I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion."

Scored for soloists, mixed chorus, and large orchestra, these evocations of passion and lost youth set the lone personal voice among melting choral paeans to nature's mirroring moodiness. The first of the Songs of Sunset is, appropriately, "A song of the setting sun!" which brings "All too soon . . . the cynic moon." Upon this choral scene painting, the baritone breaks in to plead "Cease smiling, Dear! A little while be sad," joined by a contralto (or soprano) voice in a duet -- "O red pomegranate of thy perfect mouth!" -- yet lamenting "the reach of time and chance and change, / And bitter life and death, and broken vows, / That sadden and estrange." Chorus and orchestra call up "The pale amber sunlight" of autumn in a classic instance of late Romanticism's "dying fall," a poignant celebration of sweetness in decay presaging the inevitable farewell. "Exceeding sorrow / Consumeth my sad heart!" the contralto cries in a sustained aria of mourning. In the baritone's answering lullaby, "By the sad waters of separation," she is already a distant memory -- "Hardly can I remember your face." A sensuously winsome chorale conjuring of the buzz and hum of springtime, in "See how the trees and the osiers blithe," is rounded by the contralto and baritone lamenting separately that "the spring of the soul / Cometh no more for you or for me." In the baritone's final solo, he muses that "I was not sorrowful, I could not weep, / And all my memories were put to sleep." Rain and shadow fall together -- "I was not sorrowful, but only tired / Of everything that ever I desired." At last, "the evening came, / And left me sorrowful, inclined to weep / With all my memories that could not sleep." In this quiet series of recognitions the work's emotional high point is reached. The chorus enters with a muted hymn, an atheist's ode to décadence -- "They are not long, the days of wine and roses, / Out of a misty dream our path emerges for a while, then closes / Within a dream."

In marked contrast to the religious works which were the staple of choral festivals at the time, Songs of Sunset still bears the seeds of controversy. After conducting a performance by its dedicatees, the Elberfeld Choral Society, Delius' German champion, Hans Haym, wrote that "this is not a work for a wide public, but rather for a smallish band of musical isolates who are born decadents and life's melancholics."

This work was premiered by (not yet Sir) Thomas Beecham at Queen's Hall, London, June 16, 1911.

[Article taken from All Music Guide]

Mirror Image

A review I wrote on Amazon earlier tonight on Handley's recording of Florida Suite and North Country Sketches on Chandos:

Let me first say that it still amazes me after all of these years Delius' music is found unfashionable and tedious to many listeners, but there are still many of us out there that consider him one of the greatest of the 20th Century. One reason why some listeners have trouble with Delius I suppose comes from the fact that his music doesn't follow an formal guidelines. In other words, it's quite a stream-of-consciousness, rhapsodic type of compositional style that doesn't quite quite give itself to listeners so easily and from what I've read this music is quite difficult to pull off well. But one of the most important aspects in Delius' music is the shaping of the musical line and, with this in mind, his music needs a completely sympathetic conductor and one that understands his harmonic language. This is where Vernon Handley steps in.

There is no shortage of performances of either of these works. They have been performed by Hickox, Groves, Mackerras, Beecham, Lloyd-Jones, Holten, etc. What makes these particular performances stand out for me is Handley's excellent attention to, again, the musical line in the music. Many Delius conductors have a tendency to wallow in the lushness of the music, which I suppose can be beautiful in some ways, but this music needs a conductor to give it some kind of shape and form which Handley excels at doing. Both performances of "Florida Suite" and "North Country Sketches" are given outstanding performances from the Ulster Orchestra. The sound is top-notch. This recording was released in 1986.

A little about each work:

Florida Suite -

This work was composed around 1887 I believe during his conservatory days in Leipzig and it's an early work of Delius' when he was still under the influence of Grieg, Chopin, and Wagner, but what makes this unmistakably Delian is it's incorporation of Negro folk melodies and the overall bluesy quality of some of the musical phrasings like the "Near the Plantation" movement for example. This type of innovation predates Gershwin, Jazz, and is something that Delius is never given credit for. Also, this work predated Dvorak's famous "Symphony No. 9, From the New World" by some six years with it's blending of "American" folk music, although Dvorak never actually quoted Native American music in his symphony. What makes the "Florida Suite" stand besides the inventiveness of its' fusion of desperate musical elements is the sheer beauty and simplicity of that the entire work projects to the listener. Some may find this work trite or whatever criticism they want to throw at it, but I think these are the same people that don't want to accept the music's ingenuity.

North Country Sketches -

Composed in 1914, and clearly in Delius' mature style, this particular work was written on the outbreak of World War I and there's a certain understated sadness to this work to my ears. Each movement represents, in my own view, a different time of the year and the movements are as follows:

1. Autumn
2. Winter Landscape
3. Dance
4. The March of Spring

For me, this one of Delius' finest orchestral works. The orchestration is unbelievably good and the "Winter Landscape" movement in particular captures the season's coldness and gives the impression of a desolate landscape where only the icy chill of the wind can give you a feeling of life. The first movement "Autumn" is just gorgeous with lush harmonies and towards the end some modulations that hint at the "Winter Landscape" movement. "Dance" is a fun movement and I think it exemplifies summertime. The heat from the sun isn't far off and people enjoying themselves outside at a dance party of some kind could be what's implied by this movement. The last movement "The March of Spring" is pretty much what the title suggests: spring is here again. Embrace life and live it with passion. "North Country Sketches" contains some absolutely beautiful harmonies, melodies, rhythms, and I really think it gives the listener another feel for the mastery Delius had over the orchestra.

For the new Delius listener, this is a highly recommendable recording. Most long-time Delians will already have these performances in their collection or at least I hope they do!


cilgwyn

I downloaded the Tasmin Little video last night,after midnight,as I currently (temporarily,hopefully) have a miserly connection! I remember watching a programme about Delius,presented by Tasmin Little,some years ago. I admired her enthusiasm. I remember it was allot better than some of the dumb programmes you get about composers,these days. I actually do have the Tasmin Little/Mackerras performance & Double Concerto and I shall put the VC on,for starters,later tonight. I'll just let my cdr of W.Schuman's Syms 4-6,finish first!! ;D

J.Z. Herrenberg

I saw the same documentary, cilgwyn. John and I discussed it a few pages ago. It's the program where Tasmin Little is trying to find an answer to Delius' 'melancholy turn', connecting it with his experiences in Florida (fathering a child, iirc, which he never saw again).


@John Still busy. But I am going to watch the BBC documentary soon. Life can be too interventionist.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Mirror Image

Quote from: cilgwyn on February 12, 2013, 01:33:43 PM
I downloaded the Tasmin Little video last night,after midnight,as I currently (temporarily,hopefully) have a miserly connection! I remember watching a programme about Delius,presented by Tasmin Little,some years ago. I admired her enthusiasm. I remember it was allot better than some of the dumb programmes you get about composers,these days. I actually do have the Tasmin Little/Mackerras performance & Double Concerto and I shall put the VC on,for starters,later tonight. I'll just let my cdr of W.Schuman's Syms 4-6,finish first!! ;D

It's a fun little documentary, but one that does bring up some unique opinions. My favorite part of this short film was the reaction from Delius Society members in Florida when Tasmin Little told them she believed he fathered a child while staying there. There's no physical evidence that this happened, but there is Grainger's and Fenby's word which accounts for a hell of a lot more than some stranger who never knew him.

Mirror Image

Quote from: J. Z. Herrenberg on February 12, 2013, 01:48:10 PM
@John Still busy. But I am going to watch the BBC documentary soon. Life can be too interventionist.

Look forward to your opinion of the documentary, Johan. Take care.