I have posted lately about Cyril Scott’s Overture: Princess Maleine. I have conceded that it is unlikely that it will be heard in its original form. However, out of interest I have copied out three contemporary reviews of the work when it received its first performance at the Proms. These reviews are of more than academic interest as a number of the criticisms have been features of debate on Scott’s music over the years (vagueness and ‘mannered’). My last contribution to this sequence of posts will be a brief resume of the plot of the play. The...
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
The Golden Age of Light Music Great British Composers Volume 1Guild Light Music GLCD5195 For full track listing please see Guild Light Music WebpageWhat better way of opening the proceedings than with Eric Coates masterpiece (and I do not use that word lightly) the ‘London’ Suite. I understand that many folk may regard this work as hackneyed. I accept that there will be enthusiasts for RVW’s superb ‘London’ Symphony and for Edward Elgar’s...
Sunday, June 23, 2013
I was delighted to hear Paul Lewis’ miniature for string orchestra on Classic FM the other day. Rosa Mundi (The Rose of the World) was composed in 2003. However, glancing at some contemporary reviews, I noticed that not everyone is as impressed with this work as I am. The American Record Guide, for February 2007 suggests that Rosa is the ‘weakest work’ on the Naxos compilation disc English String Miniatures Volume 6. The reason adduced...
Thursday, June 20, 2013
A few days ago I mentioned in a post the new CD release from Dutton Epoch [CDLX7302] of orchestral music by Cyril Scott, including his overture to Pélleas and Melisande. Further notice was made of the same composer’s Overture: Princess Maleine. This overture has a complex history. Seemingly, it was originally composed in 1902 but was not performed until a Promenade Concert on 22 August 1907. It was dedicated to Scott’s friend from his days in Frankfurt, Clemens von Frankenstein. The work was subsequently withdrawn. Some five year later, the Overture...
Monday, June 17, 2013
Recently I posted a listing of music by Eric Coates available on the Guild Light Music Series. I decided to do the same exercise for Haydn Wood. Luckily for the collector or enthusiast, many of the numbers listed below appear on one CD which Guild dedicated to the music of Haydn wood (GLCD 5121). The other major sources of works by this composer are the two Marco Polo CDs (8. 223605& 223402), The Violin Concerto has been released on Dutton Epoch CDLX7245and the fine Piano Concerto on Hyperion CDA67127There are a number of works listed below...
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Caprice, Op. 35 (2001) The Stourhead Follies: Four Romantic Impressions, Op. 4 (1984) Three Short Pieces, Op. 5 (1986) Impromptu: ‘The Nightingale and The Rose’, Op. 8 (1996) Portrait of Janis, Op. 9 (2000) Sonata: In Memoriam D.S.C.H., Op. 1 (1975) Graham J. Lloyd (piano) NAXOS 8.573156 Ian Venables has justly gained a reputation as being one of the most important composers of vocal music of our time. He has contributed an impressive array of songs...
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
I was investigating the first performance of Phyllis Tate’s London Fields suite which was first given at the BBC Light Music Festival of 1958. A review of this work will be the subject of a future posting on this Blog. However the Festival itself makes an interesting study. It was sponsored by the BBC and London County Council. There were a series of Saturday concerts beginning on 31 May of that year and continuing at weekly intervals until 5 July. It is the list of novelties that will interest enthusiasts of both English music in general and light...
Saturday, June 8, 2013
The Cotswold Hill Tune is one of those compositions that is in many ways arch-typical. It represents one of the finest tributes to Fred. Delius as well as being a superb example of string writing in the so-called ‘pastoral’ mood. It is important to recall that Delius had encouraged Orr’s “early efforts” and had shown them to Peter Warlock.C.W. Orr was born in Cheltenham in 1893: he was not a child prodigy. In fact, it was not until he was in his early twenties that he began a musical career. His military service was curtailed by his health...
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
It surprises me that Alan Rawsthorne’s Cortèges is even less well known than most of his works. I listened to this work again after many years and was suitably impressed. In spite of some negative criticism in the Musical Times this work is a striking essay that impresses by the skill of its form and the variety of instrumentation. The title was queried by the contemporary MT reviewer “Why in French?” I am not sure- perhaps the composer wanted to emphasise the ‘funereal’ as well as the ‘triumphant’ – which would be less obvious...
Sunday, June 2, 2013
One of the most exciting CD releases of 2013 (so far, and for me) is the Dutton Epoch [CDLX7302] recording of Cyril Scott’s early, romantic Piano Concerto in D, Op.10 (1900) the Cello Concerto, Op.19 (1902) and the Overture: Pélleas and Mélisande, Op.3 (1900). However it is something that Lewis Foreman states in the liner notes that caught my eye. After discussing Scott’s Pélleas, he suggests that it is ‘interesting to compare Scott...with John Ireland... [who was also] fascinated by the symbolist plays of Maurice Maeterlinck.’ Ireland wrote an...
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