Frederick Delius

[madaboutmahler]

And it seems GMG's own Daniel (Madaboutmahler) will be embarking on his Delian journey soon. Smart move asking for the 18-CD EMI 150th Anniversary set. A treasure trove of great, and rare, performances.

I will be indeed, and am very excited to!!

[Mirror Image]

Listened to Del Mar's recording of Delius 'miniatures' last night and what exquisite performances these are.

[Mirror Image]

Not sure if I posted about Requiem yet, but here's a write-up:

Fenby thought Delius' Requiem "the most depressing choral work I know." Begun in September 1913 after a Norwegian holiday, it grew in response to the Great War and was dedicated, at its conclusion in 1916, "To the memory of all young Artists fallen in the war." Like the Mass of Life, it suggests a religious work which its text emphatically discountenances. Delius was an atheist, and his Requiem -- which he referred to as his "Pagan Requiem" -- hymns the nullity of death, life's fleeting beauties, and offers in consolation a vision of returning springtime. But where the Mass of Life sets the most magically evocative pages of Nietzsche's Also sprach Zarathustra, the Requiem's text, the work of Delius' friend Heinrich Simon, editor of the Frankfurter Zeitung, is hortatory, hectoring, and doctrinaire in tone. Delius' initial impulse, and what he extracted from Simon, was nothing less than sober -- indeed, heavy-handed -- satire on religion. The first movement opens with the chorus intoning, "Our days here are as one day, for all our days are rounded in a sleep, they die and ne'er come back again," to which the baritone demands, "Why then dissemble we with a tale of falsehoods?" Remarkably, Delius matches this with music of somber grandeur laced with elegiac piquancy. The development of the thought is interrupted by cacophonous choral shouts of "Hallelujah" and "La il Allah" whose import is made explicit by the baritone's "And the highways of earth are full of cries, the ways of the earth bring forth Gods and idols." Delius' initial intention to parody religious music is revealed in a letter of October 10, 1913, to Ernest Newman -- "If you had to characterise the four principal religions in music -- which religious melodies used in the several religious ceremonies would you choose?" In the upshot, the notion was discarded, probably for the best. The third movement celebrates the power of love, the fourth lauds the "the man who can love life, yet without base fear can die," and the last -- one of the most musically visionary Delius ever penned -- evokes springtime's eternal renewal. By 1981, in an appendix to Delius as I Knew Him, Fenby allowed, "This musical expression, in the Requiem, of Delius' courageous attitude to life in rejecting organized faiths may well be rated by future generations as second only to the Danish Arabesque as one of his most characteristic and commendable masterpieces." Albert Coates conducted the Requiem's premiere at Queen's Hall, London, on March 23, 1922.

[Article taken from All Music Guide]

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

The Requiem is one of my favourite pieces. Meredith Davies is unsurpassed here in my opinion (better than both Hickox and Groves). I think Delius had a religion - Life. And his celebration of Life is in my view very positive.

[Mirror Image]

The Requiem is one of my favourite pieces. Meredith Davies is unsurpassed here in my opinion (better than both Hickox and Groves). I think Delius had a religion - Life. And his celebration of Life is in my view very positive.

Delius' full on embrace and love of life is what gave his music such a unique sound. I'll have to whip out Davies and listen to it. I remember the performance being excellent, but Davies was great in Delius anyway. His A Village Romeo & Juliet is still my top pick due to its urgency and more immediate sonics.

You will have to listen to A Village Romeo & Juliet as soon as possible, Johan. By the way, I'm sure if I asked you, but have you heard Koanga?

[Mirror Image]

I'm listening to Barbirolli's Appalachia right now. Pure magic!

[Mirror Image]

Re-listened to Davies' Requiem performance and enjoyed very much. It's quite interesting Eric Fenby called this work "the most depressing choral work I know." I find it incredibly beautiful. I think I'll listen to Groves' Mass tonight.

[Mirror Image]

Listened to the Violin Sonatas again last night (Little/Lane). These are such exquisite works. I have not heard, or own, the Naxos recording of these works, but I have my suspicions about the performances. I doubt they will stand next to the Little/Lane performances. Anyone here heard this Naxos recording:

[asin]B0027DQHLO[/asin]

[springrite]

Listened to the Violin Sonatas again last night (Little/Lane). These are such exquisite works. I have not heard, or own, the Naxos recording of these works, but I have my suspicions about the performances. I doubt they will stand next to the Little/Lane performances. Anyone here heard this Naxos recording:

[asin]B0027DQHLO[/asin]

This one may or may not be good. But after the Little/Lane (mainly Little) recording, and if you have that one, there is really no reason to spend money on another.

[Mirror Image]

This one may or may not be good. But after the Little/Lane (mainly Little) recording, and if you have that one, there is really no reason to spend money on another.

Yeah, I own the Little/Lane recording (the original on Conifer). Little and Lane are both strong Delius champions. I haven't seen any reviews for the Naxos recording.

[Mirror Image]

I went on NML and listened to some of this Naxos recording in question and it actually sounded quite good. I do not think, however, that the violinist has as strong of a musical presence as Tasmin Little. I do think the pianist sounded really good, but Piers Lane's accompaniment seemed more idiomatic to the music and the audio quality on the Little/Lane recording has a nice touch of ambience to give the music a more ethereal kind of quality, which completely suits the music. The Naxos sonics are much more immediate, which isn't a bad thing, but not what I'm accustomed to hearing in Delius recordings. The Little/Lane continues to soar right over top of the other performances I've heard.

[mahler10th]

Here are the real-time notes I made whilst listening to the Delius Piano Concerto...twice (two different performances) - this might also be a fair reflection of what goes on in me when listening to music and might be cross referenced  to the 'Classical Music and emotions' thread.

First Hearing:  Halfway between pure romanticism and thoughtful impressionism.   

Second Hearing: Richly conversational piano with two voices, one a beautiful and thoughtful feminine voice and the other a less heard masculine voice, which is always argumentative. Sometimes it argues almost like two pianos rather than one.  There's some fantastically inventive 'musical' use of the Horn.  Moments of pure joy erupt, but they are gone all to quickly, consumed by some bickering which never gets resolved.  It then becomes introspective, considering all that has gone before, it (the piano) really is thinking about things here, like wondering how it can get over its own wonder, sometimes finding the answer in totally unfulfilled rapture.  But wait, just hold it right there, there is some major emphasis going on, something in the rapture after all, and here it is!!!  ...wow...  but the rapture goes, and we're left with uncertain memories of it ever existing.  But they're real memories, and they re-awaken to dance before our eyes! We ourselves are woke up at the end by a near Royal flourish, and for 5 seconds after this we are trying to recover our jaws from where they've dropped to below our knees... 

I like this.   

[Mirror Image]

Gentlemen, we have a Delian in the making.

[Mirror Image]

I've been revisiting Koanga this afternoon. Absolutely spectacular! Music doesn't get much better than this!

[Mirror Image]

For my 18000th post, I wanted to express my love for Songs of Sunset. My goodness what a glorious work. What are everyone's favorite performances? Johan? Cilgwyn?

I like Eric Fenby's a lot. Of course, there's Hickox on Chandos. Groves' is pretty good. I've really developed a soft spot for Holten's on Danacord.

[Mirror Image]

This afternoon I've been revisiting the Delius Collection set on Heritage (original released separately on Unicorn Records) and I'm really digging Fenby's conducting on Dance Rhapsody No. 2. I personally think he did a smashing job throughout the entire set as did Del Mar and Handley.

[huntsman]

Since I've starting a bit of a Delius marathon and only a few people on GMG care anything about Delius' music, I'll keep my posts pertaining to his music on this thread.

Just a thought John, but if you do this, far fewer new converts - like myself - will be exposed to the music, or indeed the enthusiasm that you engender. 

[Mirror Image]

Just a thought John, but if you do this, far fewer new converts - like myself - will be exposed to the music, or indeed the enthusiasm that you engender. 

You're right, Paul! I need to spread the love a bit more. Don't worry "Operation Delius" is underway.

[Brian]

So let's recap some of Delius' innovations in music:

1. Used the first wordless chorus --- (1897's Koanga which predates Debussy's Nocturnes by two years)
2. Wrote the first African-American opera, Koanga (1887 -- predates Gershwin's Porgy & Bess by thirty something years)
3. Used blues and Negro spiritual music in a classical context (Florida Suite, 1887) for the first time, which again predates Gershwin
4. Used American folksongs (Yankie Doodle) and other marching band tunes and collided these together creating an unheard kind of dissonance which predated Charles Ives (American Rhapsody 1896 later reworked as Appalachia)

The reason why none of these innovations have been acknowledged by scholars and critics is because of politics, which, unfortunately, still exist in classical music.

Wouldn't the first African-American opera be Treemonisha (1910) by Scott Joplin, who was an actual African-American person? We don't call Dvorak's Ninth an African-American symphony, after all (nor do we call Porgy and Bess an African-American opera, in some ways). And I believe Louis Moreau Gottschalk had a head start on Delius for blues, spirituals, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, folksons, and band tunes, although not the dissonance.

[huntsman]

I'm still on page 15 of this thread, but I suddenly wondered if anyone has created a Time-Line for the works of Delius? You know, what was written when, etc?