Given that we're living in the '20s, my interest has been piqued regarding musical works of the decade a century prior. I wanted to make a thread to discuss major works written between 1920 and 1930, to discuss trends and themes shared by composers of this decade, and good performances of said works.
Currently listening to the 1921 original version of Varèse's Ameriques. What a piece! For me it seems both ahead of its time (calling to mind the symphonies of Witold Lutoslawski of 50+ years later) and very of its time, not out of place among composers like Schoenberg or Stravinsky.
What are some of your favorite works from the 1920s? A few others that come to mind are Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, Berg's Wozzeck, Lyric Suite, and Kammerkonzert, Stravinsky's Les Noces, Sibelius's Symphony No.7, etc.
One of the best operas of any era: Cardillac, by Paul Hindemith.
https://www.youtube.com/v/9Y79Z5ehKmc
Anotjer lover of Cardillac here!
Quote from: vers la flamme on October 23, 2020, 12:55:11 PM
Given that we're living in the '20s, my interest has been piqued regarding musical works of the decade a century prior. I wanted to make a thread to discuss major works written between 1920 and 1930, to discuss trends and themes shared by composers of this decade, and good performances of said works.
Currently listening to the 1921 original version of Varèse's Ameriques. What a piece! For me it seems both ahead of its time (calling to mind the symphonies of Witold Lutoslawski of 50+ years later) and very of its time, not out of place among composers like Schoenberg or Stravinsky.
What are some of your favorite works from the 1920s? A few others that come to mind are Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, Berg's Wozzeck, Lyric Suite, and Kammerkonzert, Stravinsky's Les Noces, Sibelius's Symphony No.7, etc.
Pierrot was actually 1912. Just saying.
Carl Nielsen has 4 important works composed in this decade, being his Symphony No. 5 the most outstanding one (1921–22). Also his Symphony No. 6 (1924-25), Flute Concerto (1926) and Clarinet Concerto (1928).
Leos Janacek also composed his best works in these years: Sinfonietta (1926), The Cunning Little Vixen (1921-23), The Makropulos Affair (1923-25), From the House of the Dead (1927-28), String Quartet No. 1 (1923), String Quartet No. 2 (1928) and Glagolitic Mass (1926-27).
Béla Bartók: String Quartet No. 3 (1927) and String Quartet No. 4 (1928).
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on October 23, 2020, 02:29:26 PM
Carl Nielsen has 4 important works composed in this decade, being his Symphony No. 5 the most outstanding one (1921–22). Also his Symphony No. 6 (1924-25), Flute Concerto (1926) and Clarinet Concerto (1928).
Leos Janacek also composed his best works in these years: Sinfonietta (1926), The Cunning Little Vixen (1921-23), The Makropulos Affair (1923-25), From the House of the Dead (1927-28), String Quartet No. 1 (1923), String Quartet No. 2 (1928) and Glagolitic Mass (1926-27).
Béla Bartók: String Quartet No. 3 (1927) and String Quartet No. 4 (1928).
Excellent.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 23, 2020, 02:20:14 PM
Pierrot was actually 1912. Just saying.
Thanks for the correction; I was thinking it was one of those Schoenberg works whose opus number corresponded to the year in which it premiered, like the 5 Piano Pieces op.23 of 1923. So I change my Schoenberg nominations to the Serenade op.24 (1923) and the Variations op.31 (1926).
Quote from: vers la flamme on October 23, 2020, 12:55:11 PM
What are some of your favorite works from the 1920s?
FHavergal Brian's Symphony No.1 in D minor (
The Gothic)
Sarge
Quote from: vers la flamme on October 23, 2020, 03:19:19 PM
Thanks for the correction; I was thinking it was one of those Schoenberg works whose opus number corresponded to the year in which it premiered, like the 5 Piano Pieces op.23 of 1923. So I change my Schoenberg nominations to the Serenade op.24 (1923) and the Variations op.31 (1926).
Excellent! Love the
Serenade!
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on October 23, 2020, 03:40:59 PM
FHavergal Brian's Symphony No.1 in D minor (The Gothic)
Sarge
Cheers,
Sarge!
Just to add something different than a classic composer, consider:
George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue from 1924 - performed by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra w/ George on the piano; of course, orchestrated by Ferde Grofé - Dave
Bela Bartok - while all six string quartets are major works, critically, the two most important have always been:
String Quartet No.3, Sz. 85, BB 93 (1927)
String Quartet No.4, Sz. 91, BB 95 (1928)
. . . the 'most important string quartets since Beethoven' epithet for these six pieces is well-deserved.
Quote from: SonicMan46 on October 23, 2020, 04:33:55 PM
Just to add something different than a classic composer, consider:
George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue from 1924 - performed by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra w/ George of the piano; of course, orchestrated by Ferde Grofé - Dave
Good choice. You've inspired me to put this on:
(https://img.discogs.com/-zB0fuscVT7cdWhtvCHlpcG_PBc=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-6087129-1547458794-6418.jpeg.jpg)
Quote from: SonicMan46 on October 23, 2020, 04:33:55 PM
Just to add something different than a classic composer, consider:
George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue from 1924 - performed by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra w/ George of the piano; of course, orchestrated by Ferde Grofé - Dave
Fun piece!
I was actually plan ing to mention Lady, be Good by Gershwin. And Irving Berlin wrote some wonderful tunes that decade.
In the "something different" vein, Kurt Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper.
Hindemith: Kammermusik. Sorry to mention Hindemith again, but it was a good decade for him.
The roaring twenties!
A great mix of jazz, singing machines, locomotives , football games, religious ecstasy, sex,
the invention/presentation of the ondes Martenot, Art Déco, drugs and alcohol!
Darius Milhaud: La création du monde (1922-1923)
Alexander Mosolov: Iron foundry, Honegger: Pacific 231, Knudage Riisager: T DOXC, Poeme mécanique, Op. 13 (1926),
Martinu: Half time, Le jazz
Prokofiev: Le pas d'acier, Stravinsky : Les noces
Carl Ruggles: Men and mountains, Suntreader, Angels, Portals, Copland : Organ symphony
Honegger's Judith and Le roi David, Roussel's Psaume LXXX
Poulenc: Les biches
Puccini: Turandot
Janacek: Symphonietta and Glagolitic mass
And from the Low Countries:
Willem Pijper's 2nd and 3rd symphonies
Matthijs Vermeulen: 2nd and 3rd symphonies
Some that come to mind:
Manuel de Falla: El retablo de Maese Pedro (1923)
Alfredo Casella: La giara (1924)
Ernst Krenek: Jonny spielt auf (1927)
Georges Enesco: Sonata No. 3 for violin and piano in A minor "dans le caractère populaire roumain", op. 25 (1937)
Igor Stravinsky: Pulcinella (1920)
Sibelius - Symphonies 6 & 7
Berg - Wozzeck, Lyric Suite, Kammerkonzert
Janacek - From the House of the Dead, The Makropulos Affair, The Cunning Little Vixen, Káťa Kabanová, Glagolitic Mass, Sinfonietta, String Quartets
Bartok - Piano Concerto No. 1, String Quartets 3 & 4, Out of Doors, Piano Sonata, Violin Sonatas 1 & 2
Faure - Barcarolle 13, Nocturne 13, Cello Sonata 2, String Quartet, Piano Trio
Stravinsky - Pulcinella, Trois mouvements de Petrouchka, Oedipus rex
Webern - Symphony
Schoenberg - Variations for Orchestra, String Quartet No. 3
Prokofiev - Piano Concerto 2, Piano Sonata 5, Symphonies 2 & 3 (greatness questionable)
Ravel - Tzigane, Cello Sonata, Violin Sonata, La Valse, Bolero (greatness questionable)
Vaughan Williams - Symphony 3
Schulhoff - String Quartets 1 & 2, Flammen (greatness questionable)
Great list...but Petrouchka is from 1911.
Quote from: ritter on October 24, 2020, 06:12:18 AM
Great list...but Petrouchka is from 1911.
Meant Trois mouvements de Petrouchka. Revised original.
Quote from: Todd on October 24, 2020, 06:26:17 AM
Meant Trois mouvements de Petrouchka. Revised original.
Excellent. Great choice!
Quote from: Daverz on October 23, 2020, 11:49:52 PM
Hindemith: Kammermusik. Sorry to mention Hindemith again, but it was a good decade for him.
It was, indeed!
So I'll mention his shock-opera triptych:
Das Nusch-Nuschi,
Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen &
Sancta Susanna.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 24, 2020, 06:59:08 AM
It was, indeed!
So I'll mention his shock-opera triptych: Das Nusch-Nuschi, Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen & Sancta Susanna.
Excellent choice! Sancta Susanna packs a punch !
Miaskovsky: Symphony No.6
Vaughan Williams: Sancta Civitas/A Pastoral Symphony
Walton: Viola Concerto
Bax: Symphony No.3 and Symphony No.2
Prokofiev: Symphony No.3
Sibelius: Tapiola
Bliss: A Colour Symphony
Quote from: vandermolen on October 24, 2020, 12:58:52 PM
Miaskovsky: Symphony No.6
Vaughan Williams: Sancta Civitas/A Pastoral Symphony
Walton: Viola Concerto
Bax: Symphony No.3 and Symphony No.2
Prokofiev: Symphony No.3
Sibelius: Tapiola
Bliss: A Colour Symphony
A fine selection, like a lot of the already mentioned too.
Also:
Foulds: Dynamic Triptych
Szymanowski: Stabat Mater, King Roger
Poulenc: Aubade, Concert Champetre
Harty: Piano Concerto
Villa-Lobos wrote all of his Choros cycle in the 1920s.
And let's not forget Ferrucio Busoni's magnum (even if incomplete) opus Doktor Faust (1925)
"I wanted to make a thread to discuss major works written between 1920 and 1930, to discuss trends and themes shared by composers of this decade, and good performances of said works." - dixit Vers la flamme.
Making lists isn't difficult, "discuss trends and themes" is harder....
Maybe this quote from Abigail Pogson, MD of Sage Gateshead , can inspire us to elaborate a bit?
....Last month at Sage Gateshead we had a series of events called The Roaring Twenties. It was a look back at what was happening musically a century ago – that time when musical forms were blasting out of their long-standing moulds and recording stepped up alongside live music to put us on a trajectory to where we are now – when pretty much every single person on the planet hears music every single day.
In the 1920s, music roared like a lion. But it was not alone – an incredible creative explosion defines our recollection of the decade. At the same time the world was going through rapid economic, social and political change – the plates were shifting. The arts and artists were fuelled by and responded to this with bold, ambitious and often unsettling work. It was as if the arts and culture were crucial to making sense of and reflecting the rollercoaster pace of change. Will the arts and culture do the same in the 2020s?
Milhaud's Création du monde was the work that came first to my mind. It isn't a work I listen to often, but after almost 100 years it still manages to intrigue and delight me.
On a trip to the United States in 1922, Milhaud heard "authentic" jazz for the first time, on the streets of Harlem, which left a great impact on his musical outlook.
"It was in 1919, immediately after the war, that the first jazz band was heard in Paris. To us it was a musical event of genuine importance. Music had long been under the domination of the impressionist school. Poetry was the predominating element. Jazz came to us as a good shock—like a cold shower when you have been half asleep with ennui."
Orchestration: 2 flutes, oboe, 2 clarinets, alto saxophone, bassoon, horn, 2 trumpets, trombone, timpani (3 normal, 2 small), bass drum with cymbal, metal block, wood block, cymbals, snare drum, tabor (tambourin), tenor drum, tambourine (tambour de basque), piano, and strings
And yes, I made it easy for myself and searched the internet for information.
Darius Milhaud's infatuation with jazz began in 1920, at a concert given in London by an American band. Two years later he was in New York, haunting the dance halls and theaters of Harlem. As the composer would recall, "In some shows the singers were accompanied by flute, clarinet, trumpets, trombone, a complicated percussion section played by one man, piano, and string quartet." Among the shows was Liza (by Maceo Pinkard, immortalized as the composer of "Sweet Georgia Brown" and, for Al Jolson, the infamous "Mammy"), whose instrumentation Milhaud adapted for La création du monde, which was written for and first performed by the Ballet Suédois in 1923 in Paris, to a scenario by the Swiss poet and novelist Blaise Cendrars on an African creation myth. The ballet began with three African gods of creation on the stage conjuring trees and animals into being with rituals and spells. Male and female dancers emerged as the deities created humankind; the ballet ended with a solitary couple left on the stage after group dances representing desire and mating. The French cubist painter Fernand Léger - himself interested in primitive African art - designed the sets.
The saxophone theme of the introduction and the following section - led by the double-bass - are among the most original uses to which Baroque form has been put, a jazz prelude and fugue, reaching a spectacularly chaotic climax: Dixieland run amok. The two preceding themes are quietly restated, giving way to a meditative oboe melody that suggests at once the blues and the shepherds' music of the composer's native Provence; then another brisk dance launched by strings and piano; a cheeky clarinet concertino; then a rackety recollection of the fugue, and a lyrical coda which brings this brightly inventive, prototypical work of "classical jazz" to a quiet close.
-- Herbert Glass, a former critic-columnist for the Los Angeles Times, is English-language annotator and editor for the Salzburg Festival. He contributes to numerous periodicals in the U.S. and Europe.
I love this 1959 (mono) recording : Milhaud conducting the Orchestre du Théâtre des Champs Elysées.
https://youtu.be/LfHjKfHefbk
Quote from: pjme on October 25, 2020, 02:57:02 AMMaking lists isn't difficult, "discuss trends and themes" is harder....
Because trends and themes among widely divergent works and styles don't really exist. Trends and themes are artificial intellectual constructions tacked on after the fact.
Quote from: Todd on October 25, 2020, 04:45:19 AM
...trends and themes among widely divergent works and styles don't really exist. Trends and themes are artificial intellectual constructions tacked on after the fact.
So trends and themes among similar works and styles do really exist, then?
One could argue from this point that discussing trends and themes means looking at things that are similar and possibly also at things that differ from them. Perhaps the twenties were a time of widely divergent works and styles, that being a theme of the 1920s....
As for artificial intellectual constructions, I would note two things, one, that intellectual constructions are all of them artificial, that is they come into being by acts of will among thinking beings. (It's natural for humans to make things, houses, dams, works of art, intellectual constructions.) And two, that a list is,
a natura, an intellectual construct.
Quote from: some guy on October 25, 2020, 05:15:36 PM
So trends and themes among similar works and styles do really exist, then?
One could argue from this point that discussing trends and themes means looking at things that are similar and possibly also at things that differ from them. Perhaps the twenties were a time of widely divergent works and styles, that being a theme of the 1920s....
As for artificial intellectual constructions, I would note two things, one, that intellectual constructions are all of them artificial, that is they come into being by acts of will among thinking beings. (It's natural for humans to make things, houses, dams, works of art, intellectual constructions.) And two, that a list is, a natura, an intellectual construct.
People are obviously perfectly free to write pages and pages about trends and themes. Have at it.
Quote from: MusicTurner on October 24, 2020, 01:37:31 PM
A fine selection, like a lot of the already mentioned too.
Also:
Foulds: Dynamic Triptych
Szymanowski: Stabat Mater, King Roger
Poulenc: Aubade, Concert Champetre
Harty: Piano Concerto
Thank you!
+1 for the Foulds - a great work and for Symanowski and Harty. I don't know Poulenc so well but I love the Organ Concerto but that, of course, is not relevant to this thread. I do like the Concert Champetre though.
Let me add: Gershwin 'An American in Paris' (1928) - my favourite of his compositions.
This is a slightly diffuse(!) addition to this thread (because the music is from the Weimar Republic so it runs on into the 30's) - but in case people have missed it I strongly recommend these sets from CPO - the "spirit" of this experimental music very much springs from the 1920's;
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51GVencJ%2B8L._AC_.jpg)(https://lite-images-i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d00001e02b2a2993e3c1e628e0096c783)
(https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2732fdb73554740b71abb0c3b75)
Quote from: Roasted Swan on October 26, 2020, 12:18:10 AM
This is a slightly diffuse(!) addition to this thread (because the music is from the Weimar Republic so it runs on into the 30's) - but in case people have missed it I strongly recommend these sets from CPO - the "spirit" of this experimental music very much springs from the 1920's;
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51GVencJ%2B8L._AC_.jpg)(https://lite-images-i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d00001e02b2a2993e3c1e628e0096c783)
(https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2732fdb73554740b71abb0c3b75)
What an interesting looking series.
All right, stop, enough, enough! We were all born 100 years too late :'( :'( :'( I can't believe that anyone, apart from the few incorrigible (and admirable) optimists among us (Some Guy), will predict similar riches from the 2020s.
I don't know if this is a "trend", and it's a feeling I've yet to back up with much research, but was the UK having a decade off in the 1920s? Elgar had fallen silent, VW seemed to spend most of the decade on operas which are now largely unknown, Britten, Tippett and Walton were too young (although Britten's Hymn to the Virgin, written at the age of 14, is a little gem), Brian was probably scratching a living from proofreading and journalism... Perhaps we had heard what was going on across the Channel and had all retreated to our cottages with roses round the doors and stuffed wool in our ears. Bridge, perhaps? - I'm sure his last 2 quartets must date from the '20s.
Quote from: Roasted Swan on October 26, 2020, 12:18:10 AM
This is a slightly diffuse(!) addition to this thread (because the music is from the Weimar Republic so it runs on into the 30's) - but in case people have missed it I strongly recommend these sets from CPO - the "spirit" of this experimental music very much springs from the 1920's.
Thanks, excellent suggestions. Will investigate these recordings.
Makes me think of Jaroslav Jezek : http://orelfoundation.org/composers/article/jaroslav_jezek
Pianoconcerto (1927): https://youtu.be/RRcK3OLEqmw
and Erwin Schulhof's equally riotous Pianoconcerto (1923)
https://youtu.be/zzaYotn9hbQ
Quote from: pjme on October 26, 2020, 03:39:02 AM
Thanks, excellent suggestions. Will investigate these recordings.
Makes me think of Jaroslav Jezek : http://orelfoundation.org/composers/article/jaroslav_jezek
Pianoconcerto (1927): https://youtu.be/RRcK3OLEqmw
and Erwin Schulhoff's equally riotous Pianoconcerto (1923)
https://youtu.be/zzaYotn9hbQ
+1. Most of Jezek's important works seem to be from the 30s though. And I've recently digged more into Schulhoff, there's a lot of good stuff from him.
I'd like to add Holst's 'Egdon Heath' (1927), arguably his finest work and Holst's own favourite.
I think that it might have been influenced by Sibelius's 'Tapiola', written the previous year.
I knew you'd find something British, Jeffrey. What was the third member of the 1934 Club (Delius) up to that decade?
Kodaly was in fine form in the 1920's:
Stage works
Háry János, Op. 15 (1926)
Székelyfonó (The Spinning Room) (1924–1932)
Orchestral
Háry János Suite (1926)
Dances of Marosszék (1929; orchestration of the 1927 piano set)
Chamber or instrumental
Szerenád (Serenade) for 2 Violins and Viola, Op. 12 (1920)
Marosszéki táncok (Dances of Marosszék, piano, 1927)
Choral
Psalmus Hungaricus, Op. 13 (1923)
I must admit, though, that my favorite work by him, Sonata for Solo Cello, was written in 1915. :)
PD
Yes, PD, Kodaly, another good find - and so is Holst's Egdon heath. Just like Sibelius they stayed at the artistically more "serious" side of that quickly changing era.
As for the British composers, possibly Constant Lambert's The Rio grande (1927) alines well with the more extravagant, unorthodox aspects of that period: it combines influences of jazz, South-American rythms, plenty of percussion.
From Wiki:
Lambert noted in a 1928 article:
The chief interest of jazz rhythms lies in their application to the setting of words, and although jazz settings have by no means the flexibility or subtlety of the early seventeenth-century airs, for example, there is no denying their lightness and ingenuity ... English words demand for their successful musical treatment an infinitely more varied and syncopated rhythm than is to be found in the nineteenth-century romantics, and the best jazz songs of today are, in fact, nearer in their methods to the late fifteenth-century composers than any music since.
Music critic Christopher Palmer said of this piece that
Lambert would be the first to concede, today, that some of the harmonic and rhythmic clichés he decried in others had slipped into his own work. Yet, for all that, The Rio Grande retains a pristine quality. Now hard, now soft, it sparkles and glitters one moment, then seduces us the next with the kind of bluesy urban melancholy to be found in deeper, richer measure in a quite different context in Summer's Last Will and Testament. It is above all the work of a poet, and Lambert's poetic sensibility has ensured the survival of his best music. The free-fantasy form is simplicity itself: first section (allegro) – cadenza for piano and percussion – slow central section, in the style of a nostalgic tango – recapitulation – tranquil coda.
The poem refers to a river in Brazil, although there is no Brazilian river called Rio Grande. :D :D :D
https://youtu.be/rGmIfkoZbZQ
Now it's time for Ballet mécanique (1923-24) by George Antheil.
Quote from: DaveF on October 26, 2020, 04:52:44 AM
I knew you'd find something British, Jeffrey. What was the third member of the 1934 Club (Delius) up to that decade?
I don't listen to that much Delius Dave but, of the works that I like (In a Summer Garden, North Country Sketches, Piano Concerto, Requiem) none of them were composed in the 1920s
Quote from: vandermolen on October 26, 2020, 04:35:20 AM
I'd like to add Holst's 'Egdon Heath' (1927), arguably his finest work and Holst's own favourite.
I think that it might have been influenced by Sibelius's 'Tapiola', written the previous year.
I do like Egdon Heath. Hadn't heard that about the Tapiola influence; I'll have to look into that now as you've piqued my curiosity!
PD
Two thoughts come to mind of the period, jazz and the aftermath of the Great War. My choice is cheating (only slightly) as composed 1929-30 but historically significant. Memories of the Great War must have been raw during the 20's and Frank Bridge's Oration echoed that.
Quote from: pjme on October 24, 2020, 01:18:49 AM
The roaring twenties!
A great mix of jazz, singing machines, locomotives , football games, religious ecstasy, sex,
the invention/presentation of the ondes Martenot, Art Déco, drugs and alcohol!
Darius Milhaud: La création du monde (1922-1923)
Alexander Mosolov: Iron foundry, Honegger: Pacific 231, Knudage Riisager: T DOXC, Poeme mécanique, Op. 13 (1926),
Martinu: Half time, Le jazz
Prokofiev: Le pas d'acier, Stravinsky : Les noces
Carl Ruggles: Men and mountains, Suntreader, Angels, Portals, Copland : Organ symphony
Honegger's Judith and Le roi David, Roussel's Psaume LXXX
Poulenc: Les biches
Puccini: Turandot
Janacek: Symphonietta and Glagolitic mass
And from the Low Countries:
Willem Pijper's 2nd and 3rd symphonies
Matthijs Vermeulen: 2nd and 3rd symphonies
Le pas d'acier is truly great!
Has nobody mentioned Shostakovich's 1st Symphony?
Quote from: aukhawk on October 26, 2020, 10:53:42 AM
Has nobody mentioned Shostakovich's 1st Symphony?
I think not, but yeah, that's a great choice. One of my favorite symphonies of his.
Numbers 2 and 3 as well, and The Nose.
Quote from: some guy on October 26, 2020, 03:08:33 PM
Numbers 2 and 3 as well, and The Nose.
Of the symphonies and the opera, the opera is clearly the strongest work. Though, of course, I like 'em all.
Quote from: DaveF on October 26, 2020, 02:24:03 AM
All right, stop, enough, enough! We were all born 100 years too late :'( :'( :'( I can't believe that anyone, apart from the few incorrigible (and admirable) optimists among us (Some Guy), will predict similar riches from the 2020s.
I don't know if this is a "trend", and it's a feeling I've yet to back up with much research, but was the UK having a decade off in the 1920s? Elgar had fallen silent, VW seemed to spend most of the decade on operas which are now largely unknown, Britten, Tippett and Walton were too young (although Britten's Hymn to the Virgin, written at the age of 14, is a little gem), Brian was probably scratching a living from proofreading and journalism... Perhaps we had heard what was going on across the Channel and had all retreated to our cottages with roses round the doors and stuffed wool in our ears. Bridge, perhaps? - I'm sure his last 2 quartets must date from the '20s.
Bliss came into his own in the 20's -
1920 - Rout
1921 - A Colour Symphony & Melee Fantasque
1923 - Li-Po song cycle
1926 - Introduction & Allegro for Orchestra / Hymn to Apollo
1927 - Oboe Quintet
1928 - Pastoral
1930 (but working on it before...) Morning Heroes - the crowning glory of his decade of developing genius
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 26, 2020, 03:56:15 PM
Of the symphonies and the opera, the opera is clearly the strongest work. Though, of course, I like 'em all.
Yeah,
The Nose is a stunner.
:D
https://www.youtube.com/v/YotMwwixPsw
https://www.youtube.com/v/nD_oW9pb3O8
Wish I had seen William Kentridge's production!
Last year june, I saw "The head & the load" in Amsterdam. beautiful, moving, informative.
Quote from: some guy on October 26, 2020, 03:08:33 PM
Numbers 2 and 3 as well, and The Nose.
2 and 3 don't qualify, according to the thread title - 'Great works ...'
Nitpicking! :P
Quote from: Roasted Swan on October 26, 2020, 04:20:29 PM
Bliss came into his own in the 20's -
1920 - Rout
1921 - A Colour Symphony & Melee Fantasque
1923 - Li-Po song cycle
1926 - Introduction & Allegro for Orchestra / Hymn to Apollo
1927 - Oboe Quintet
1928 - Pastoral
1930 (but working on it before...) Morning Heroes - the crowning glory of his decade of developing genius
Yes, Bliss, of course, the missing link between the worlds of Elgar and Walton (not that they are so far apart anyway). I've checked, and Delius composed almost nothing in the 1920s, between the collapse of his health around 1918 and the arrival of Eric Fenby to work with him in 1929.
Rout is such a lovely work full of joy, melody and orchestral colors.
Bliss saw it as an experiment, together with Madame Noy and rhapsody. Très "chic" and "en vogue"!
https://youtu.be/qreJPHyquMo
I quote from the Lyrita booklet:
"Rout - the term is used in the sense of popular revelry. Bliss wanted to evoke the sound of a carnival overheard at a distance. He gave the soprano(musically just part of the orchestra) a medley of made-up words to sing, scraps of song of the kind that might reach a listener watching from an open window. And carnival for Bliss meant, "Petrushka", what else?"
beautiful illustration on the score aswel:
(https://d29ci68ykuu27r.cloudfront.net/items/21283592/cover_images/cover-large_file.png)
Quote from: Roasted Swan on October 26, 2020, 04:20:29 PM
Bliss came into his own in the 20's -
1920 - Rout
1921 - A Colour Symphony & Melee Fantasque
1923 - Li-Po song cycle
1926 - Introduction & Allegro for Orchestra / Hymn to Apollo
1927 - Oboe Quintet
1928 - Pastoral
1930 (but working on it before...) Morning Heroes - the crowning glory of his decade of developing genius
+1, especially for The Oboe Quintet, Morning Heroes, Melee Fantasque and the Colour Symphony.
On the basis of works that were being worked on before the end of the decade, but only completed in 1930, I'd have suggested Gavril Popov's extraordinary 1st Symphony.
Quote from: vers la flamme on October 26, 2020, 03:03:02 PM
I think not, but yeah, that's a great choice. One of my favorite symphonies of his.
I like it as well.