Serendipity

[Mark]

The act of making fortunate or unexpected discoveries quite by accident.

Ever happened to you in terms of discovering a composer, a work, a recording or an artist? It's happened to me a lot, and it happened again this afternoon.

While rummaging through the racks in a charity shop, I spied one of those multi-CD sampler sets you can buy from book clubs and the like. This was a five-disc compilation from the Reader's Digest, entitled: Treasury of Great British Music, and filled with lots of typically British classical pieces. I bought it only because I saw it had a version of Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis which I knew I'd not heard. But it wasn't that which hit me when I got the set home and played one of its discs. It was a recording of another RVW chesnut, 'The Lark Ascending'.

I've long idolised Nigel Kennedy's 17-minute version of this with the CBSO under Rattle. But this version strips that recording of its laurels. It's performed by soloist Jonathan Carney (never heard of him till today) with the RPO under Christopher Seaman. Three minutes shorter than the Kennedy/Rattle recording, it's absolutely 'alive'. I really never expected to hear a finer version of this work, and now here I am, glad that I went into a charity shop which I often forget about when I'm strolling through town.

Serendipity, indeed.

[karlhenning]

. . . soloist Jonathan Carney (never heard of him till today)

He plays a very fine Nielsen Violin Concerto on a Naxos disc.

[knight66]

I have not heard the name Christopher Seaman for many years, I guess he would be about 60 or 65 now. I did some performances in chorus for him in Scotland. He was ultra pleasant in a frightfully 1940s kind of public school way. He knew what he wanted in the music, but I don't recall any of his concerts.

As to the subject in hand.....too many instances to recount. This is why I like going to concerts with one piece I don't know as it has often been that piece that I took home with me.

Mike

[Boris_G]

Alas, a lot of my CDs are currently in storage, but one entirely accidental discovery was of Jolivet's Epithalame, as performed by Rundfunkchor Stockholm conducted by Eric Ericson (EMI) - still IMHO the very best performance on disc. I'd originally come across it on a compilation album which I'd bought for Ravel's Trois Chansons, Debussy's Chansons de Charles Orleans and some Poulenc: the Jolivet was like a breath of fresh air, such was the beauty of the music and the stunning virtuosity of Eric Ericson's choir. Definitely a recording looking out for on ebay (EMI, typically, have deleted it...)

[Guido]

Mark - I know this is a weird question, but what is the exact track length of that version. I have a version on my itunes that I imported ages ago from a friend's CD, but I didn't record the naem of the artist. The one I have is 14:38 long. Cheers!

[Mark]

Mark - I know this is a weird question, but what is the exact track length of that version. I have a version on my itunes that I imported ages ago from a friend's CD, but I didn't record the naem of the artist. The one I have is 14:38 long. Cheers!

14:51 - so I doubt it's the same version. Mind you, I've got several versions scattered across many discs. Perhaps you can upload yours and I can check it against what I have when I get time?

[knight66]

I have just heard Spohr's Fourth Symphony on the radio. What a delight, like a lost Mendelssohn symphony. It even has a march in it that is redolent of Mendelssohn's Wedding March.

Mike