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16  Assorted items / General musical discussion / Re: Vienna on: July 15, 2019, 01:48:21 am
Vienna in 1914 was the culturally vibrant capital of a vast multi-national empire. Many of the composers prominent in Vienna in the first two decades of the 20th century were born in parts of that empire lost in 1919. Mahler himself, though from a German-speaking family, was born in Bohemia. Franz Schmidt was born in what is now known as Bratislava in Slovakia. Reznicek was of of mixed Czech-Romanian ancestry.

In 1919 most of that empire was "lost": not just Hungary, but Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, Galicia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia. What was left was the tiny German rump which became the Austrian Republic. And of course Vienna did remain a cultural, musical centre but many of the composers who remained were Jewish and many of these found employment across the political border in Weimar Germany. By 1939 most of them had fled from Nazi persecution: Hans Gal, Erich Korngold, Ernst Krenek, Arnold Schoenberg, Ernst Toch, Karl Weigl, Egon Wellesz, Alexander von Zemlinsky and others. Alban Berg died in 1935, Franz Schmidt in 1939, Anton von Webern in 1945.

The Vienna of 1945 was a very different city than in 1914. And you are of course quite correct in saying that very few Austrian composers who survived the tumultuous decades between and who continued to work after 1945 are "household names" to the average concert-goer. This is not however surprising however striking it may be.
17  Assorted items / Commercial recordings (vintage, new and forthcoming) / Re: Lyrita? on: July 14, 2019, 12:12:43 am
Symphonies Nos.3 and 5 were scheduled for June and Nos. 12 and 13 for November. That was the plan🙄

18  Downloads by surname / Only direct links / Re: Missing Links on: July 12, 2019, 08:23:11 pm
Thank you! Do you have the movement tempos? If not, I'll see if I can obtain them for you.

No, I am afraid I don't.
19  Assorted items / Commercial recordings (vintage, new and forthcoming) / Re: Lyrita? on: July 11, 2019, 09:19:42 pm
The end of June (2019) has come and gone. A new Daniel Jones CD from Lyrita still seems not to be on the horizon......

Surprise, surprise....this has not gone unnoticed by me ::)

Yes, June has come and gone and so, apparently, will July.

I have been sorely tempted to point this out on the Musicweb noticeboard. The last time I pointed out the non-appearance of promised cds -some months ago- an obviously annoyed Antony Smith of Nimbus (Lyrita) went public in stating that the next Daniel Jones cd would be issued in June and the final instalment of the symphonic series in November. He evidently feels no great need to say why this promise is not being fulfilled.

I have said this before but I shall repeat: record companies have loyal customers who wait for promised releases. There may well be perfectly sound reasons for a delay in issuing these but if I ran a record company I would feel under some obligation to keep in touch with my customers and explain the delay. Amazon has grown exceedingly rich. It doesn't need to apologise for a delay in delivery. I was promised the delivery of a book today. I got an emailed apology for it not being delivered and a new date. That is good customer relations!
20  Assorted items / Commercial recordings (vintage, new and forthcoming) / Re: Joseph Holbrooke from CPO on: July 11, 2019, 03:42:50 pm
I cannot but agree with what John has just written :)
21  Downloads by surname / Only direct links / Re: Missing Links on: July 11, 2019, 01:54:46 pm
Did your upload of the Larsson Cello Concerto include movement and performer information? Also, is this the Concertino for Cello and Strings, or the Cello Concerto?

The Concertino for Cello and strings (1954-56) is 9 minutes long. The upload is of the Cello Concerto (1946-47) performed by Guido Vecchi and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Stig Westerberg.
22  Assorted items / Commercial recordings (vintage, new and forthcoming) / Re: Joseph Holbrooke from CPO on: July 10, 2019, 12:32:50 am
A rave review,on Musicweb,of the new Cpo,Holbrooke cd! :)

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2019/Jul/Holbrooke_sy3_5550412.htm

It is indeed an extremely enthusiastic review and it is perfectly proper that you draw our attention to it.

I do note two things however: one, the strange use of the phrase "overwhelmingly soporific" in reference to the last movement of the symphony and secondly (and more importantly) the clear indication that the reviewer is unfamiiar with Holbrooke's other music. This latter is an unfortunately common feature of reviews on Musicweb. My contention is that the music on the new cd does not match early Holbrooke. In addition rather too often the reviewer admits to not having heard alternative versions of pieces when these are available.
23  Downloads by surname / Only direct links / Re: Missing Links on: July 06, 2019, 01:13:22 pm
I have re-uploaded the Lars-Erik Larsson Cello Concerto to the Swedish Music thread in the Downloads section.
24  Downloads by surname / Only direct links / Re: Swedish Music on: July 06, 2019, 01:11:40 pm
https://www.mediafire.com/file/550p24y4548pzxf/larsson-le-vc-con-1.mp3/file

https://www.mediafire.com/file/640y8xcym8tk3x0/larsson-le-vc-con-2.mp3/file

https://www.mediafire.com/file/hl4zdksl4dcnt2n/larsson-le-vc-con-3.mp3/file

Re-upload of Lars-Erik Larsson Cello Concerto as requested: Guido Vecchi and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Stig Westerberg.
25  Assorted items / Commercial recordings (vintage, new and forthcoming) / Re: New Dutton CDs for May - Vaughan Williams, Braunfels, Arne and Elgar on: June 28, 2019, 08:54:58 pm
You seriously tempt me to buy this cd!
26  Downloads by surname / Only direct links / Re: Swedish Music on: June 24, 2019, 01:57:21 pm
http://www.mediafire.com/file/7cy3mwiwmypzr29/Dag_Wiren%252C_%25E2%2580%259DDen_elaka_drottningen%25E2%2580%259D%252C_balettmusik_%25281960%2529._%25282011.12.16br%2529.mp3/file

A re-upload of Dag Wiren's Ballet "The Wicked Queen"
27  Assorted items / Individual composers / Anthony Hedges (1931-2019) on: June 23, 2019, 04:01:59 pm
I note the death of a British composer who has suffered serious neglect: Anthony Hedges.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/hedges/index.htm

Hedges's Symphony No.1 is available in our British Music Archive. His Symphony No.2 has never been performed.

Hedges worked at the University of Hull and this "regional isolation" certainly seems to have worked to his disadvantage. He was the sort of composer championed by the late Bryden Thomson but since Thomson's death very few conductors have had the interest, dedication and influence to get music by these composers performed by BBC regional orchestras.
28  Assorted items / Commercial recordings (vintage, new and forthcoming) / Re: Joseph Holbrooke from CPO on: June 21, 2019, 05:53:11 pm
I respect the views of those who have enjoyed the new disc. I also appreciate the observations about Holbrooke's orchestration. There is indeed much to enjoy in the music.

The problem for me is related to expectations of the Symphony. If a work is called a symphony and if it is in essence a programme symphony then I expect it to deliver. Obviously that does not necessarily mean in the classical definition of symphonic form but at least as a work of real substance. Strauss's Alpine Symphony or RVW's London Symphony or Sinfonia Antarctica deliver genuine power, substance and programmatic evocation.

Sadly, I think Holbrooke aims too high. The fact that the work was alternatively titled suggests some confusion in the composer's own mind which ships and which time he is thinking of. The cd cover picture does depict warships of World War One and given the date of composition of the symphony it seems clear that we are being invited to think of the vessels of that time. If that is the case then the first movement in particular needs to conjure up vistas of imposing power and strength and that it fails to achieve to my ears. The music is attractive and pleasant and certainly demonstrates the skill in orchestration already mentioned. And had Holbrooke more modest designs and expectations both of himself and for his listeners then, as a Suite, the work would work perfectly well. But, as a programme symphony I feel that it fails to achieve the drama, the power, the evocative magic that other composers might have achieved with a similar subject.

I derive absolutely no pleasure from my sense of disappointment with the work. Holbrooke's earlier compositions, and in particular those inspired by Poe, the Gothic melodrama, work extremely well. He achieves what he sets out to do. I am just not convinced that in this symphony he did so. Perhaps I expected too much? Listening to the music freed from the programmatic subtext might well be a better way to tackle the listening experience.

But of course this is a personal response to the music. The enthusiastic response of others should not and will not be diminished by my reservations.
29  Assorted items / General musical discussion / Re: SOME unrecorded British Violin Concertos, 1943-2009 on: June 20, 2019, 11:48:40 am
A more "restrained" response would be helpful😉You will, I hope, note the inclusion of the violin concerto by a certain Bourgeois
30  Assorted items / General musical discussion / SOME unrecorded British Violin Concertos, 1943-2009 on: June 19, 2019, 06:52:04 pm

Can I begin by emphasising that this is not a definitive list and that it is very much a personal selection.

The recent news of the recording of the William Wordsworth Violin Concerto provided the incentive for this list of 23 unrecorded violin concertos.

1943: Stanley Bate No.2
          Ruth Gipps
1947-50:Stanley Bate No.3
1948: Sir Eugene Goossens Phantasy Concerto
1950: Grace Williams
1952: Franz Reizenstein
1953-54:Peter Racine Fricker No.2 (Rhapsodia Concertante)
1954: John Joubert
1958: Arnold Cooke
1959: John McCabe No.1 "Sinfonia Concertante"
          Robert Simpson
1960: Alun Hoddinott No.1
1966: Daniel Jones
1969: Robert Still
1972: Iain Hamilton No.2 "Amphion"
1978: Arthur Butterworth
1980: John McCabe No.2
1992: William Mathias
1995: Alun Hoddinott No.2 "Mistral"
1992: Wilfred Josephs
2002: Derek Bourgeois
2003-04:Hugh Wood No.2
2009: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies No.2 "Fiddler on the Shore"

(There are of course others by composers like Denis ApIvor, Ronald Stevenson, Malcolm Lipkin and David Ellis.)
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