Lennox Berkeley: Mont Juic,Serenade for Strings,Divertimento,Partita for Chamber Orchestra,Symphony No 3  Lpo/Sir Lennox Berkeley  Lyrita

   

This arrived today! Well,I never thought I would enjoy the music of Lennox Berkeley this much! A very enjoyable music program of music. All very lyrical & approachable. I can now understand people who say that there is a French quality (or feel) to some of his music. A composer like Poulenc does,indeed,spring to mind,at times when listening to this music. (Albeit,I don't mean he sounds,literally,like Poulenc! I'm merely referring to the elegance,economy and polish of the orchestration!) The Mont Juic is rather lovely (and tuneful)!. Berkeley composed the first two movements and Britten the last two. This is Britten in his lighter vein and shows off his mastery of orchestration. This is a lovely piece and should be more popular. I haven't had time to digest all the pieces on this cd yet,but all the music on this cd is very enjoyable. I liked the symphony,too. I'm not a musician,so I can't get into technical details,but it's lyrical,with just the right degree of astringency (less severe than,say,Fricker or Cooke and none of the tortuous string writing you find in allot of Tippett,thank g**!) In fact,listening to this and the emi collected I posted about previously, makes me all the more eager to hear the first two symphonies and and the Concerto for Two Pianos,which appears to be a favourite with people who like LB's music.

One of the few genuinely eerie pieces of music! And,surely,a masterpiece! (Some of Cyril Scott's orchestral music can be a bit spooky! And late Scriabin! ) I actually wondered whether to put it on late one night,because of that! But then it's the frisson it creates! Which is my ghost stories are always best read late at night! (Or after midnight?!) :o
Regarding the position Warlock is in,in that photo. I can't remember the last time I was able to get in a position like that? If I did I probably wouldn't get out of it! They'd have to carry me into the surgery like that!
I didn't know you liked Britten's The Turn of the Screw! By the way,which is your favourite recording of The Curlew?!

Peter Warlock: Collected 78rpm recordings       Divine Art Historic Sound  2 cd's

           

A somewhat enigmatic & mysterious character! This 2 cd set is absolutely,crammed full of fascinating recordings dating between 1925 and 1951. I am particularly fond of his Capriol Suite and his haunting (& genuinely,eerie) song cycle,The Curlew! The set is accompanied by an excellent booklet with lot's of information about the composer,the various recordings and the singers and musician's who perform them. I love these kind of collection's. :)

Thank you! I'll need to listen to that! :)

A Lennox Berkeley Centenary Album:   Horn Trio,op.44 (Dennis Brain/Colin Horsley/Manoug Parikian),Six Preludes (Horsley),Four Poems of St Teresa of Avila (Pamela Bowden: Contralto) Minchinton/ Collegium musicum (London) etc  emi

     

This arrived today! I have no Lennox Berkeley in my collection;but I was aware that some fans of British music enjoy some of his music. The Concerto for Two Pianos seems to be the most popular of his orchestral works. Symphony No 1 or 2 seem to be the next in the (level of) popularity charts! Although,while some prefer No 2 other's prefer No 1! Albeit,in some instances it could more a case of admire than enjoy! Reading that he was the most 'French' of British composers was what piqued my interest,however! And,perhaps more than that,the vintage emi recordings collected on this emi centenary compilation. Dennis Brain,no less! Cyril Smith & Phllis Sellick,Sir David Wilcocks,who conducted some truly,classic recordings of British choral works. Also,Pamela Bowden & Colin Horsley who I have encountered via some Lyrita & emi compilations. I also have a Pearl cd with Katherine Ferrier as the soloist in the 'Four poems of St Teresa of Avila (Kathleen Ferrier & Friends) which also features a hilarious,private recording of Kathleen Ferrier playing the piano & doing comedy,impersonation's at a New York Party!  The Lyrita cd of Mont Juic,Symphony No (et al) is on the way! The other two Lyrita cd's of Symphonies 1 & 2 and the Piano Concertos will have to wait until the price drops several pounds &/or if I like what I hear on the Lyrita cd (that includes Sym 3),anyway? Needless to say,I was pretty sure I would enjoy (or appreciate?) some of the vintage recordings on this emi cd (in glorious mono,I might add?!).

Update!The 'Polka' & two final choral tracks are in stereo! I thought they would be,but it was in tiny print!

Update 2! All the music on the cd is pleasant & predominantly lyrical in expression (as opposed to tuneful!). Nothing gritty or thorny! None of that tortuousness you get in Tippett. The choral pieces really are rather lovely,in the best English tradition. If you like Howells or Dyson,you should enjoy them! The Five Poems for baritone and piano are in a similair vein to those of his friend,Benjamin Britten!

 :o :Bl****! I'd all but given up on them releasing any more (I've got Vols 1 & 2) and they've even recorded the one I would like them to record the most after symphonies 3 & 5! :o
(Apparently,they have a record of taking their time over such releases,so I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised?! ::) ;D) Thanks for the good news,dhibbard,by the way! I won't be purchasing it right-away,though! (Unless I can flog something?!) Hopefully,I can eventually throw away all thos Plovdiv/Danacord recordings. (Not wanting to sound ungrateful,Danacord! But they did Louis Glass no favours!)

One of the tomes I lugged back from a collection point this afternoon!! Any comment's welcome from our expert's here! This was one of the books recommended by the Arthur Sullivan Society website. (The other books! In case anyone is interested,were: The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (which I used to own! Lot's of text & nice photos of statues of scary looking Sumerian deities to keep you awake all night!! :o) and a hardback edition of The Oxford Companion to English literature! (c mid 80's)!

Indeed I am! Stirring stuff! I will certainly look out for the cd of John Blackwood McEwen's Border Ballads. I'm just waiting for one of the Seller's to drop the price! (Around a Fiver!) I've been spending allot of dosh,this last week,on.........shock horror.......paper reference books! :o I've been meaning to stock up for some time! They'll be useful to have around as I don't always want to go cross-eyed looking at this pc screen! (I'm going to look like Ben Turpin!! They'll also be useful if I go offline again,at some point! I'm not to keen on the library now,since the librarian's started SHOUTING TO EACH OTHER! :o  :((Apparently,the church like atmosphere in public libraries puts young people off!!)

I think I'll start with the orchestral works,though!

Well,that's pretty much decided then! ;D


Tip: His music sounds better after twenty pints of strong,real ale! (If you last that long,that is?!!)

Nice to hear from you again! :) Karpakie?! All my years of pubbing and I had to look that one up! I wish I'd known! I could have stocked up for the Jubilee bank holiday! Not that I'm a royalist,but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth (an excuse to buy booze!). I remember asking my dad,when I first started going to pubs,what to drink? He suggested best bitter! I spent the next forty odd years drinking the stuff (including ALLOT of pretty foul tasting & VERY strong real ale only to find out years later that he ALWAYS drank lager! :o :( On asking why he told me drink bitter,I was told that it was just what most (Welsh) blokes drank! Actually,I quite like a drop of real ale;just not some of the stuff they serve in Welsh pubs!!

Be careful how much you drink if you're listening to Rufinatscha! Some of them are so long,you might not wake up!! :o

Yes,the Uchida cd is excellent! The Schumannothon continuing with this! Cd 1,playing at present! (5:07 pm BST)

Robert Schumann: Carnaval,Kreisleriana    Mitsuko Uchida (piano)        Philips



Back to the aknowledged greats! There's not much I can say about this music that hasn't been expressed far more eloquently than other's umpteen times before! Least to say this make's very enjoyable and satisfying listening. Schumann was one of those tortured geniuses,beloved of the media. Did Hollywood ever make a movie about him? I'll have to find out? Although,I'm not sure I'll want to watch it! Perhaps,Merle Oberon as Clara Schumann?! Tortured geniuses are obviously intriguing! They certainly intrigue me! Although,I'm not sure severing part of my ear lobe and posting it to the nearest (this portion of the text,censored!) would enhace my painting & writing career?! And I don't like blood! :o Except the eight pints circulating inside my body right at this very moment! Like H....H...Hancock,I need that,thankyou! ;D
Ahem! ::) ;D I have the Deutsche Grammophon boxed set of Kempff playing Schumann in the pile,next to the mini hi-fi,and I will reach that in due course! :)

John Blackwood McEwen: Solway Symphony (No. 5) in C♯ minor (1911) The London Philharmonic/ Mitchell Chandos



This arrived today! I have listened to this via homemade cdr's & it didn't,exactly,excite me! I'm wondering if having the shiny cd & nice booklet with all the trimmings,will make a difference. It often does!! (Not with Rufinatscha,it didn't! ;D). There are influences readiy audible in the orchestration here! Strauss & Wagner,some impressionism. It all makes for a heady concoction,with some,colourful,,stirring,late romantic style orchestration! The second movement (moonlight) really is gorgeous! Again,what a difference the hard,shiny disc & trimmings make! (Or,maybe it is just a question of birates & Ned Luddite is just c*** at making cdr's?!) Lovely! I will,certainly,look out for Chandos' cd of McEwen's Border Ballads,now! And looking at the list of composition's on McEwen's Wikipedia page,there's plenty more for an enterprising recording label to explore! Whether,it's all worth recording or the scores are extant,I don't know? But this'll do nicely,for now!😊

Moritz Moszkowski: Piano Concerto in A minor,op.17 & Ignacy Jan Paderewski: Piano Concerto in E major,op 59    Piers Lane (piano) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Jerzy Maksyiuk    Hyperion



After,actually,enjoying (yes,I did! :o ;D) Anton Rubinstein's Piano Concertos 1,2 & 4 (I haven't heard No 3,yet;but it's in the pile!) I felt I had to hear the Moszkowki,since I knew it had some admirers! One critic on Musicweb (Ian Lace,see link below) even claiming that,if he was a castaway on a desert island and he could take only three piano concertos with him,the Moszkowski would be one of them! It helped that it was paired,on this cd,with the Padereswki,another Piano Concerto that has some admirers and,in the past,some doughty champions! I'm listening to it right now and the slow movement (Romanza:Andante) was so lovely I had to stop what I was doing. Least to say,I am mightily impressed by this concerto. But they're both good & worthy of concert hall exposure instead of the same old warhorses (great as they are!) year in year out,year in year out,year in year out! ::)

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/nov98/moszy.html

Update: Listening to the 3rd movement of the Moszkowski,now! My goodness! What a dazzler! This is so tuneful? Why doesn't this get played in concert halls?!! :) :) :) :) :)

Alwyn: Symphonies 2,3 and 5      London Philharmonic Orchestra / William Alwyn       Lyrita



I received this cd only the other day! (Friday,I believe?). This is the first cd I have ever owned of music by this composer! I didn't even have Alwyn on lp! I do remember having a musicassette ,which included his third symphony. Although,I may have borrowed it from a public library? I also remember taping the Fifth Symphony when it was broacast on Radio 3! Unfortunately,his music doesn't seem to have "clicked" or made much of an impression on me. Although,when I listened to the cdr-s,it was Symphony No 3 which made the most impression on me. Anyway,since Alwyn seems to be highly regarded by fans of British music I felt I should rectify this omission. The s/h Lyrita cd's I spotted on Ebay or one of those ubiquitous Seller website's,were inexpensive,and apart from the fact that they are conducted by the composer himself,and I only required two cd's to complete the cycle,I decided to buy them! As to the music itself! I really didn't know until this week, that Alwyn was the most successful British film composer! Although,I knew his score for the classic movie,'Odd Man Out',was highly regarded by some. A very good film indeed! Although,I tend to prefer films that cheer me up! Alwyn's music sounds quite different here than it ever has,on previously listen's! Isn't it surprising what a nice,shiny commercially produced cd with a nice booklet & all the bells and whistles that come with it,can do to a piece of music?! Although,it could be a question of bit-rates?!! Seriously,all I know is that I can now understand why Alwyn's music is so highly regarded in some quarters,and why he would have made such a brilliant composer of film score's. He obviously had a rare talent for orchestration and although these recordings are quite old,the scores obviously benefit hugely from Lyrita's brilliant sound engineering. Indeed,they sound wonderfully vivid here. In short,I'm impressed! And the Lyrita cd of Symphonies 1 & 4 is,currently,in the post! :)

Anton Rubinstein: Violin Concerto in G major,Op.46* (+ César Cui: Suite Concertante for violin & orchestra) Takako Nishizaki (vln) *Slovak Phil Orchestra/ Michael Halász //Hong Kong Philh Orch /Kenneth Schermerhorn    Naxos



More Anton Rubinstein! The Naxos cd,interestingly,adds music by the least known member of the Mighty Handful (And what a handful!),César Cui! It doesn't mention this on the front!