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Assorted items / Individual composers / Re: Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
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on: June 11, 2022, 12:46:02 pm
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If only Hurlstone, SC-T and even Holst, who was only 59 when died, had been granted equally long life-spans...
By parallel, the contemporary Royal Academy generation of Bantock, Boughton, Holbrooke and Bax were all blessed (or cursed) with considerable longevity... :o All of those composers produced some worthwhile stuff, of course, but none of them (not even Bax on a good day) had the melodic gifts that the RCM crowd demonstrated; as both Mozart and Rossini observed, finding great tunes is the really difficult bit of composition! Stanford's methodical training ensured that his students were equipped to deploy their inspirations to the best possible effect. Interestingly, to my ears Bax and Bantock have a much greater melodic gift than Vaughan-Williams' rather conventional one.
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Assorted items / Commercial recordings (vintage, new and forthcoming) / Charles Ives: Universe Symphony (Porter Edition)
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on: October 02, 2019, 10:33:35 pm
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This DVD contains the Porter version (Prelude 1 / Section A / Coda to Section C) of Ives' Universe Symphony (in total 28 minutes). The symphony is split in 2 parts, the DVD beginning with Prelude 1 (14 min), whereas Section A (11 min)+ Coda (3 min) come more to the end. Many other (parts of) works are included, e.g. Symphony 4 (second movement), Unanswered Question, Overture & March 1776, some songs with piano or orchestra, and the Three Quarter Tone Pieces. The whole thing is a scenic performance, so there is little stage noise, talking between the music numbers, and some funny things to see: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Universe%2C+Incomplete+ives&__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&ref=nb_sb_nossIt is presently the only available recording of "Porter's Universe". To my ears, the Porter version sounds more like Ives than the Austin and Reinhard versions. And also the other works are well done!
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Assorted items / General musical discussion / Re: CPO Booklet Notes
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on: August 21, 2018, 09:57:37 am
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It is true that they are not typical models for CD booklets, but I do love Eckhardt van den Hoogen's texts, they are very funny to read and highly informative. One has to take time to read them and to get the full picture, but no native German would have any true problem with understanding. Of course, I never bothered about the English translations - the two examples given above seem ok to me, although I had to read them twice...
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Assorted items / Commercial recordings (vintage, new and forthcoming) / DVD Braunfels "Ulenspiegel"
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on: September 28, 2016, 12:11:24 pm
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Capriccio will release a DVD of Walter Braunfels' opera "Ulenspiegel" (from the performances in Linz/Austria in September 2014) in January 2017. Already now the DVD can be ordered by mail to office@entarteopera.com, they possibly sell it cheaper (22,- Euro - I do not know the regular prize) but charge shipping costs. I have bought it already: sound (stereo and surround) and vision are great, the performance was wonderful (I have seen it three times in Linz)! Subtitles in English and German are included. http://www.entarteopera.com/shop.htmloffice@entarteopera.com There is also an old trailer somwhere at the homepage, but the sound of that one is not good, since the trailer is not taken from the DVD but was quickly and sloppily produced right after the performances.
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