Frederick Delius

[Karl Henning]

I think it is a misprint for Songs of Surprise.

Not Songs of Surmise?

[cilgwyn]

'Songs of Sunrise'?! Sounds like a job for Dutton Vocalion!

[cilgwyn]

I listened to Beechams recording of 'The Song of the High Hills' again,recently. This is the reissue from the recent emi Beecham box set of 'English music'. I thought this was the most convincing performance of this lovely piece of music I've heard. It kept my attention focused all the way through,unlike some other recordings I can think of. Wonderfully atmospheric,but you have to like mono sound from that period. I know MI doesn't;and to be fair,while in the days of  78's and mono Lps,you probably wouldn't worry about things like that & would probably be just pleased to be able to hear music like this in the comfort of your own home;it does seem a bit peculiar to listen to such glorious music in restricted mono sound,when you can hear this glorious composer in the latest state of the art digital sound!! Mind you,I find these early recordings have qualities which more than compensate for their sonic deficiencies,so I don't really mind. Having said that,I can't deny that it's a great shame that some of Beecham's finest recordings of Delius missed the Stereo era by such a narrow margin!

Still,as MI might point out,there's more to Delius than Beecham. Although,without Beecham's contribution there may have been less Delius!!

[Mirror Image]

I listened to Beechams recording of 'The Song of the High Hills' again,recently. This is the reissue from the recent emi Beecham box set of 'English music'. I thought this was the most convincing performance of this lovely piece of music I've heard. It kept my attention focused all the way through,unlike some other recordings I can think of. Wonderfully atmospheric,but you have to like mono sound from that period. I know MI doesn't;and to be fair,while in the days of  78's and mono Lps,you probably wouldn't worry about things like that & would probably be just pleased to be able to hear music like this in the comfort of your own home;it does seem a bit peculiar to listen to such glorious music in restricted mono sound,when you can hear this glorious composer in the latest state of the art digital sound!! Mind you,I find these early recordings have qualities which more than compensate for their sonic deficiencies,so I don't really mind. Having said that,I can't deny that it's a great shame that some of Beecham's finest recordings of Delius missed the Stereo era by such a narrow margin!

Still,as MI might point out,there's more to Delius than Beecham. Although,without Beecham's contribution there may have been less Delius!!

Well, I never doubted the importance of Beecham. Even though Delius had several conductors who were admirers of his music, it was Beecham that rescued this composer from the dustbins. And for this, he deserves all the praise in the world, but thankfully a newer generation of conductors undertook and stood by Delius' music after Beecham had passed on and these conductors perform Delius their own way as it should be played.

Song of the High Hills is a difficult work to get right, but of more recent performances Holten and Andrew Davis should commended for a job well done. And, yes, mono is a restriction for classical music no matter how 'nostalgic' it may be for a listener to revisit these older recordings, and they do have a certain magic to them, they do not do the music full justice in terms of the being able to hear all the instruments. Thankfully, labels have been very kind of Delius and we have so many great recordings to choose from.

Now, I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment of Andrew Davis' ongoing series on Chandos. Should be excellent.

[cilgwyn]

I like Beecham's recordings but the Beecham cult tends to create some kind of supernatural aura around his actual achievement. For example his celebrated recording of Goldmark's 'Rustic Wedding Symphony'.Supposedly only worth listening to as bestowed with that special Beecham magic that made second rate music sound special. Well,his recording didn't do anything for me and neither did Goldmark! Then I heard Abravanel's recording with the Utah SO. Suddenly,I'm really enjoying it. Presumably Abravanel worked his own special brand of Abravanel 'magic' on it?!
Abracadabra (etc,etc!!)

[Mirror Image]

I like Beecham's recordings but the Beecham cult tends to create some kind of supernatural aura around his actual achievement. For example his celebrated recording of Goldmark's 'Rustic Wedding Symphony'.Supposedly only worth listening to as bestowed with that special Beecham magic that made second rate music sound special. Well,his recording didn't do anything for me and neither did Goldmark! Then I heard Abravanel's recording with the Utah SO. Suddenly,I'm really enjoying it. Presumably Abravanel worked his own special brand of Abravanel 'magic' on it?!
Abracadabra (etc,etc!!)

Well a lot of these conductors like Karajan or Bernstein have these cults where they believe their hero can 'do no wrong.' The reality is they've done wrong and made many mistakes in performances as all conductors have done. They have also large groups of detractors. Thankfully, I try to be objective in my evaluation of a conductor's performance and let the music speak for itself. For me, if the conductor gets in the way of the music, then he's no more a hinderance than a street that has been blockaded.

[Mirror Image]

Revisited Handley's Cuckoo and I'm hearing again why I prefer his performance over the dozens of others I've heard. It's not on the fast side nor is it on the excessively slow side like Barbirolli. It's a happy medium between the two extremes. And to top it off we have Chandos' superb audio quality with the LPO never sounding more inspired. As much as I love the Del Mar performance, I've got to give my highest praise to Handley here.

[Mirror Image]

Has anyone, besides myself , heard any of Bo Holten's Delius recordings? They are absolutely first-rate. Listening to Songs of Sunset right now and this is the best performance I've heard of the four versions I own. Johan, you will love this! I can't praise it highly enough.

[Mirror Image]

Hey Johan, have you listened to A Village Romeo & Juliet or Koanga yet? I know, I know, I ask you this all the time, but whereas you may call this annoying, I call it persistence. A trait we Delians are pretty much inborn with.

[Mirror Image]

Last night when I was revisiting The Walk to the Paradise Garden, towards the middle of this piece, tears started to pour from my eyes. It was at this moment that I realized a person with no love in their lives --- has no life. Without love and a burning passion, we are soulless, useless masses of waste. This is the impression I'm getting more and more with Delius' music. His music stirs so much emotion inside of me and, as I mentioned many times before, it was love on first listen.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Hey Johan, have you listened to A Village Romeo & Juliet or Koanga yet? I know, I know, I ask you this all the time, but whereas you may call this annoying, I call it persistence. A trait we Delians are pretty much inborn with.

Your persistence is commendable. I will try to listen to it one of these days, John. Promise.

Last night when I was revisiting The Walk to the Paradise Garden, towards the middle of this piece, tears started to pour from my eyes. It was at this moment that I realized a person with no love in their lives --- has no life. Without love and a burning passion, we are soulless, useless masses of waste. This is the impression I'm getting more and more with Delius' music. His music stirs so much emotion inside of me and, as I mentioned many times before, it was love on first listen.

Beautiful. Delius certainly taught me to love the things of the Earth more. Especially Christopher Palmer's book about him was a 'sentimental education' for me, in my early twenties.

[Mirror Image]

Your persistence is commendable. I will try to listen to it one of these days, John. Promise.

I really hope you do, Johan. You will absolutely love both operas.

Beautiful. Delius certainly taught me to love the things of the Earth more. Especially Christopher Palmer's book about him was a 'sentimental education' for me, in my early twenties.

I suppose I do have a kinship with Delius in the regard that we both love nature. Lakes, forests, mountains, rivers, etc. all were important part of my upbringing and finding out that Delius loved all of these things really gave me even more appreciation for his music.

[cilgwyn]

Hey Johan, have you listened to A Village Romeo & Juliet or Koanga yet? I know, I know, I ask you this all the time, but whereas you may call this annoying, I call it persistence. A trait we Delians are pretty much inborn with.

I saw your post. I've just put the emi recording of 'A Village Romeo and Juliet'. That glorious surge of music at the opening. I love this opera.

[Mirror Image]

I saw your post. I've just put the emi recording of 'A Village Romeo and Juliet'. That glorious surge of music at the opening. I love this opera.

Indeed, it's a such a fantastic work and one of my favorite operas.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I suppose I do have a kinship with Delius in the regard that we both love nature. Lakes, forests, mountains, rivers, etc. all were important part of my upbringing and finding out that Delius loved all of these things really gave me even more appreciation for his music.

We don't have much nature in the Netherlands. Most of this country is man-made. Delius fills a void for me.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Has anyone, besides myself , heard any of Bo Holten's Delius recordings? They are absolutely first-rate. Listening to Songs of Sunset right now and this is the best performance I've heard of the four versions I own. Johan, you will love this! I can't praise it highly enough.

I think I can listen to Bo Holten's recordings through Spotify... All in good time.

[Mirror Image]

We don't have much nature in the Netherlands. Most of this country is man-made. Delius fills a void for me.

Yes, I would go as far to say he fills a void in all those listeners who admire his music.

[Mirror Image]

I think I can listen to Bo Holten's recordings through Spotify... All in good time.

Yes, I believe you are correct.

[J]

Has anyone, besides myself , heard any of Bo Holten's Delius recordings? They are absolutely first-rate. Listening to Songs of Sunset right now and this is the best performance I've heard of the four versions I own. Johan, you will love this! I can't praise it highly enough.

It's a matter of taste, of course, but the soprano in Holten's Songs of Sunset uses entirely too much vibrato for mine.  It just sounds stilted, - and wrong.  Baker/Shirley-Quirk/Groves are unexcelled in the work IMO (one of the great Delius recordings), and runner-up for me would be Forrester/Cameron/Beecham, (also a  great performance, especially for Beecham's way with the instrumental detail, but I decisively prefer Groves's soloists and choir).  Holten's Danish & Norwegian Masterworks discs I get much pleasure from OTOH, and am anxious to hear what he does with Appalachia (though Hickox will be all but impossible to surpass, I believe). 

BTW, finally I discovered and acquired an inexpensive copy of Palmer's "Portrait of a Cosmopolitan" (a volume I'd perused many times).  It's filled with much "musicological" stuff I feel ho-hum about, but studded with so many insights along the way as to be indispensable.  Still, not my favorite Delius study, which remains  Jahoda's biography, - unscholarly perhaps, but so sympathetic, endearing, and well written it facilitates  imaginative participation in Delius's life and mind like no other (though Fenby's memoir about the last years is compelling in this regard also).  I note Ken Russell's film adaptation of Fenby's book, - "A Song of Summer"  now posted in full on YouTube.  All veteran Delians will have seen this (probably) many times, but recent initiates should have a look.  I find it a perpetually moving portrait of the imperious (but vulnerable) old man.

Finally, my periodic plea to all the Delius scholars of the world for someone to produce the big and definitive "Life" this composer deserves and I covet.  It's such a wonderful romantic-tragic and human story.  Just shocking that no one has taken this up on a scale the voluminous materials for it would ennable.  Johann, - what about you?

[Mirror Image]

To my ears, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Holten's Songs of Sunset. I thought the Groves recording had strange balances between the soloists, chorus, and orchestra. I like an orchestra that's much more forward than pushed back like I hear in Groves, but, as you stated, it's a matter of taste.

As for Appalachia, I prefer Barbirolli and Hickox to Holten, Mackerras, and Andrew Davis. I admire the sheer amount of weight in Barbirolli's performance and the musical pacing and phrasing in Hickox's performance. You can keep the rest.