The Art-Music, Literature and Linguistics Forum

A Song of Agincourt & other works

See: https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68283

The Travelling Companion

See: http://www.thestanfordsociety.org/2019/05/23/recording-of-stanfords-the-travelling-companion-to-be-released-in-september-2019

Stanford is not a composer I have had much enthusiasm for over the years.  However, knowing that The Travelling Companion was due to be released on CD this year and on recently becoming acquainted with the excerpts from the excellent 1995 BBC broadcast, I now eagerly await the release of the SOMM CD.

A Song of Agincourt is available on this site but I am not aware of any previous commercial recording.  The medieval song has, of course, been incorporated into works by Dyson, Vaughan Williams and, in my view most stirringly, Walton. Having listened to excerpts on Hyperion's web page, this is a CD I will also purchase.

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What a superb programme!

 :D

I entirely agree with Albion! A very well thought out programme - as one would expect from any involvement of the Stanford expert Jeremy Dibble.
Who would have thought a few years ago that there would be such a revival of Stanford's choral music?

Wonderful news! Now that almost all his orchestral music is recorded (some of it more than once), it's great to see the choral and even operatic music finding its way to us. Maybe The Critic will be available before I'm too old to hear it.

You might be interested to know which purely orchestral music Stanford composed which has NOT been recorded:

1881:      Serenade for orchestra in G major, op.18: 25 minutes   *
1895:      Suite of Ancient Dances for orchestra, op.58: 15 minutes    *
1903:      Four Irish Dances for orchestra, op.89
1908:      Installation March for military band, op.108
1917-18: An Irish Concertino for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, op.161: 19 minutes  *
1921:      Variations for Violin and Orchestra, op.180

In case of the Variations I seem to remember that Albion once wrote that they are available in a version with piano only. On the other hand, I am not sure whether the Irish Concertino for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, Op. 161, has been commercially recorded.

Holger is perfectly correct. I had missed the Irish Concertino, op. 161. I have added it to my list. Many thanks!

I've been an enthusiastic Stanford fan lately (Symphony No. 5, what a wonderful work!) and this new release looks quite promising indeed. Just judging for the striking cover art, the music should be as good as it or better, of course!

Glad to see that Fairy Day has been recorded with the soprano soloist. Lovely though the broadcast recording is, I felt it needed the change of texture which Stanford envisaged. A great programme, it's on my wishlist for the next order!

This Hyperion programme is stunning. When considered in the context of the recent Lyrita release of The Mass "Via Victrix" and "At the Abbey Gate", we now have an amazing conspectus of Stanford's work available to us: from the early concertos (1870s) on Dutton to the sadly-neglected late works there is always much to admire in this composer. The 6 Irish Rhapsodies, the 7 Symphonies, Concertos (4 piano, 3 violin, cello, clarinet), the Requiem and the Stabat mater... Yes, there are still significant gaps to be filled, including the Op.66 Te Deum (1898) but it is good to see his chamber music coming back to life (Hyperion and Somm).

 :)

My copy of the Stanford Hyperion CD arrived yesterday.  The music is most attractive.  Fairy Day and A Song of Agincourt are the highlights for me.

Just as a minor (and probably useless) quibble, the Four irish Dances have been recorded - they were issued in the 1970s on a Rare Recorded Editions LP with an anonymous orchestra conducted by John Foster. I have never heard this - it is a "rare recorded edition" indeed - and its (theoretical) existence does not change the fact that we need a modern recording.

Stanford's The Travelling Companion is available as from yesterday:  https://somm-recordings.com/recording/stanford-the-travelling-companion/

The liner notes including the libretto can be downloaded free from the SOMM web page.  I purchased the CD version though it is available in various formats.

Having been impressed by the extracts broadcast by the BBC in 1995 with Barry Wordsworth, the Royal Opera House and the BBC Concert Orchestra, I was greatly looking forward to this release.  I am not disappointed. I was slightly apprehensive that the opera would orchestrally sound inadequate, as compared to the extracts, given the New Sussex Opera had used a specially prepared reduced orchestral force (mostly strings presumably?).  Whilst my initial impression is the fine Prelude falls slightly short of the fuller sounding 1995 studio performance, the rest of the opera sounds fine and what a delightful piece it is!  The music is lyrical, at times dramatic, sometimes emotionally moving and has several inspired and memorable themes which permeate the score. Having become familiar with certain themes through the extracts, it was a thrill to hear them in Stanford's different permutations.   

The forthcoming Wexford performance of Stanford's first opera The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan is due for a CD release, presumably next year: http://www.thestanfordsociety.org/2019/05/22/the-veiled-prophet-of-khorassan-at-the-wexford-opera-festival-2019/

Perhaps the recent Northern Opera Group's performance of Stanford's Much Ado About Nothing [see: http://www.northernoperagroup.co.uk/much-ado-about-nothing/4594599648 ] might make it to, at least, a privately available CD.  One can only hope. More than a hour of excerpts from this opera (5 in total), from an earlier 2016 performance accompanied by piano, can be accessed from: https://soundcloud.com/northernoperagroup/sets/much-ado-about-nothing-by-charles-villiers-stanford

In the meantime we have The Travelling Companion.  Thoroughly recommended.  :D ;D :) ;)