Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986)

Started by Catison, April 09, 2007, 09:54:47 AM

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vandermolen

#140
July 14, 2013, 12:18:45 AM Last Edit: July 14, 2013, 01:06:34 AM by vandermolen
Quote from: pencils on July 13, 2013, 02:18:56 PM

I am also delighted to find people who love Rubbra. After Vaughan Williams, I would put him at the very pinnacle of English composers. I actually bought my Chandos set of symphonies blindly after a recommendation that suggested he was another VW. I have never been sorry, and particularly favour symphonies 3 & 4. Big thumbs up for Rubbra.

I am also fascinated to see so many others of my favourite composers listed in this quoted post! VW, Tubin, Holmboe, Bruckner, Shostakovich.... I am poking around in Miaskovsky atm, to my great delight  ;D

Coincidentally I'm listening to Rubbra's 10th Symphony at the moment and had forgotten how good it is. It features on a fine old Chandos CD with the charming Farnby Improvisations an 'A Tribute' (to Vaughan Williams) - a lovely CD.

I'll be very interested to hear what you make of Miaskovsky - we have similar tastes. I'd recommend the Cello Concerto + symphonies 3,5,6, 11,15, 16 (great funereal slow movement), 17,21,24 and the valedictory no 27.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

pencils

#141
July 14, 2013, 02:10:20 AM
Once I am in front of a pc in a couple of hours, I shall be plugged into Miaskovsky for a good while  8) ... we do have lots of similar taste. I have been reading your posts in my new role of Padawan learner.

Will give you some feedback in a bit  :D

vandermolen

#142
July 14, 2013, 04:16:14 AM
Quote from: pencils on July 14, 2013, 02:10:20 AM
Once I am in front of a pc in a couple of hours, I shall be plugged into Miaskovsky for a good while  8) ... we do have lots of similar taste. I have been reading your posts in my new role of Padawan learner.

Will give you some feedback in a bit  :D

Had to look up 'Padawan'.

So, may The Force be with you!  :)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

pencils

#143
July 14, 2013, 04:46:44 AM
Quote from: vandermolen on July 14, 2013, 04:16:14 AM
Had to look up 'Padawan'.

So, may The Force be with you!  :)

Thank you, Master VandermObiWan.

vandermolen

#144
July 14, 2013, 10:00:03 AM
Quote from: pencils on July 14, 2013, 04:46:44 AM
Thank you, Master VandermObiWan.

:)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Ken B

#145
May 07, 2014, 04:37:16 PM Last Edit: May 08, 2014, 11:14:29 AM by Ken B
I am finally getting around to giving the Rubbra quartets the attention they deserve.

1 is a wonderful quartet, dark, serious, and intense. I have two recordings, Maggini and Smithson Sterling. The Maggini have better sound, and seem to be the critical favourite, but I prefer the Smithson Sterling. They have a go for the throat quality lacking in the Maggini.

On to number 3. Will report back at some point.

Klaze

#146
May 08, 2014, 10:40:21 AM
Quote from: Ken B on May 07, 2014, 04:37:16 PM
I am finally getting around to giving the Rubbra quartets the attention they deserve.

1 is a wonderful quartet, dark, serious, and intense. I have two recordings, Maggini and Smithson. The Maggini have better sound, and seem to be the critical favourite, but I prefer the Smithson. They have a go for the throat quality lacking in the Maggini.

On to number 3. Will report back at some point.

I liked the Rubbra String quartets and will soon give them another hearing. I've got the Dante recordings on Dutton. Did you mean the Sterling quartet, instead of Smithson, by the way? Anyway, interesting, I wasn't even aware there was an additional recording besides the Maggini quartet.

Ken B

#147
May 08, 2014, 11:14:52 AM
Quote from: Klaze on May 08, 2014, 10:40:21 AM
I liked the Rubbra String quartets and will soon give them another hearing. I've got the Dante recordings on Dutton. Did you mean the Sterling quartet, instead of Smithson, by the way? Anyway, interesting, I wasn't even aware there was an additional recording besides the Maggini quartet.
I did. Fixed.

amw

#148
May 08, 2014, 06:24:20 PM
I have the Magginis' recording of No. 2 which I quite like, though I have to be in a certain mood for Rubbra, and when I am in that mood I usually go for the orchestral works. Will try 1, 3 and 4 at some point though.

vandermolen

#149
October 21, 2014, 01:53:31 PM
Great new release. Both recordings from the 1950s and No 5 is the old EMI version. No 6, however, is completely new to the catalogue - a much more intense performance than any other I have heard:
[asin]B00NC4QLKE[/asin]
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Moonfish

#150
March 04, 2015, 11:57:02 PM
*bump*
Great thread!  :)
"Every time you spend money you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want...."
Anna Lappé

Christo

#151
March 05, 2015, 12:30:25 AM
Quote from: vandermolen on July 14, 2013, 12:18:45 AMCoincidentally I'm listening to Rubbra's 10th Symphony at the moment and had forgotten how good it is. It features on a fine old Chandos CD with the charming Farnby Improvisations an 'A Tribute' (to Vaughan Williams) - a lovely CD.

In my better moments I even consider it Rubbra's finest symphony.  :)
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

vandermolen

#152
March 05, 2015, 10:57:24 AM
Quote from: Christo on March 05, 2015, 12:30:25 AM
In my better moments I even consider it Rubbra's finest symphony.  :)

And you could be right. It is a kind of synthesis of his music.  :)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

calyptorhynchus

#153
March 05, 2015, 11:47:01 AM
Seeing Rubbra at the top of the list reminds me to ask this question.

I have the Dutton CD of the String Quartets 1, 3, but I'm not very taken with them. Are Quartets 2 and 4 similar, or are they different in some way that makes it a good idea for me to pick up the second disk?
'Many men are melancholy by hearing music, but it is a pleasing melancholy that it causeth.' Robert Burton

'...is it not strange that sheepes guts should hale soules out of mens bodies?' Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing

snyprrr

#154
March 06, 2015, 05:07:51 PM
Quote from: calyptorhynchus on March 05, 2015, 11:47:01 AM
Seeing Rubbra at the top of the list reminds me to ask this question.

I have the Dutton CD of the String Quartets 1, 3, but I'm not very taken with them. Are Quartets 2 and 4 similar, or are they different in some way that makes it a good idea for me to pick up the second disk?

I think 4 might be the highpoint? mellower/more "spiritual"? He's not as pastoral as one would have perhaps hoped (as I did),... he can get thorny, just not as much as most others.

I think you'd like Arnold's No.2,... maybe even the Alwyn 2...

Maestro267

#155
February 14, 2016, 01:48:55 AM
Posting here to acknowledge the 30th anniversary of Edmund Rubbra's passing today. I'll be spinning a symphony or two in his honour today.

vandermolen

#156
February 14, 2016, 11:30:30 PM
Quote from: Maestro267 on February 14, 2016, 01:48:55 AM
Posting here to acknowledge the 30th anniversary of Edmund Rubbra's passing today. I'll be spinning a symphony or two in his honour today.
Thanks for alerting us to this. Will aim to play a Rubbra symphony myself today. Maybe no 6 or 8.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

#157
February 21, 2016, 09:08:14 PM Last Edit: February 21, 2016, 09:23:20 PM by vandermolen
Quote from: Maestro267 on February 14, 2016, 01:48:55 AM
Posting here to acknowledge the 30th anniversary of Edmund Rubbra's passing today. I'll be spinning a symphony or two in his honour today.
Listening to Symphony 8 (Homage a Teihard de Chardin) now - one of his most magical scores. The last movement is especially moving (as I find with Symphony 7).
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Zeus

#158
January 25, 2017, 08:31:08 AM Last Edit: January 25, 2017, 03:04:04 PM by Judge Fish

I'm surprised to see this album hasn't been mentioned yet...

Rubbra: Chamber Music & Songs with Harp
Tracey Chadwell/Danielle Perrett/Timothy Gill
Lyrita




This is an amazing album, easily one of the best I bought in 2016. I'm guessing it's a re-issue but I'm not certain.

UPDATE: It's a re-issue; first released on ASV in 1998.

Easily approachable without being trite, etc.

Highly recommended to both Rubbists and non-Rubbists. 
"There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love. There are simply different ways of doing it." – Emmanuel Radnitzky (Man Ray)

vandermolen

#159
January 25, 2017, 02:35:24 PM
Quote from: Judge Fish on January 25, 2017, 08:31:08 AM
I'm surprised to see this album hasn't been mentioned yet...

Rubbra: Chamber Music & Songs with Harp
Tracey Chadwell/Danielle Perrett/Timothy Gill
Lyrita




This is an amazing album, easily one of the best I bought in 2016. I'm guessing it's a re-issue but I'm not certain.

UPDATE: It's a re-issue; first released on ASV in 1998.

Easily approachable without being trite, etc.

Highly recommended to both Rubbists and non-Rubbists.
I was a friend of the Harpist Danielle at university. I once had to help transport her harp for a concert.  8)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).
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