Charles Villiers Stanford

[vers la flamme]

The 6th symphony is definitely a good choice for what to listen to next. I posted enthusiastically about it last year when I first heard it.

Including, I think, a recommendation to me in another thread where I was asking about little known late romantic symphonies. Somehow this resulted in me purchasing the 3rd on disc instead of the 6th, but I'll be getting the 6th in the mail soon enough and I'll let you know what I think!

The nautical song cycles I mentioned have a more unique sound, very British, almost reminding me of Arthur Sullivan, perhaps (I don't know anything about 19th century British music so maybe this touchstone is off). Perhaps it's the English lyrics that give me this impression, but they definitely sounded more English than the 3rd symphony, which reminded me of something like Mendelssohn's Scottish symphony filtered through Brahms and Dvorák. It was an enjoyable listen however with some memorable moments, and it excited me to hear more of Stanford's music.

[Albion]

Including, I think, a recommendation to me in another thread where I was asking about little known late romantic symphonies. Somehow this resulted in me purchasing the 3rd on disc instead of the 6th, but I'll be getting the 6th in the mail soon enough and I'll let you know what I think!

The nautical song cycles I mentioned have a more unique sound, very British, almost reminding me of Arthur Sullivan, perhaps (I don't know anything about 19th century British music so maybe this touchstone is off). Perhaps it's the English lyrics that give me this impression, but they definitely sounded more English than the 3rd symphony, which reminded me of something like Mendelssohn's Scottish symphony filtered through Brahms and Dvorák. It was an enjoyable listen however with some memorable moments, and it excited me to hear more of Stanford's music.

The slow movement of Symphony No.6 is sublime, are as those of the 1894 and 1911 Piano Concertos. Otherwise Symphonies 3, 4 and 5 all contain wonderful music but No.7 is pretty dry (likewise the 1899 Violin Concerto and the 1888 Suite for Violin and Orchestra, although Jeremy Dibble's re-orchestration of the 1918 Violin Concerto proves it to be a lovely work). This is a splendid disc, mostly focussed on fairly late Stanford:

[Albion]

For the major orchestral works, other than Concertos, I'd go for Lloyd-Jones (Naxos) in the Symphonies and Handley (Chandos) in the Irish Rhapsodies. The Handley Irish Rhapsody performances have been collated and repackaged twice (where you can enjoy them as a sequence) and the earlier one is preferable as you get the Concert Piece for Organ and Orchestra, the "Oedipus Rex" Prelude and the Clarinet Concerto:



the 1911 Piano Concerto and the "Down Among the Dead Men" Variations can be had as a stand-alone disc...

[vers la flamme]

Favorite discs featuring Stanford's choral music? I can't stop listening to "The Blue Bird" after Roasted Swan showed it to me the other day. Nor can I stop listening to the 3rd symphony! This composer's music is really speaking to me at the moment, for some unknown reason.