|
|
Dundonnell
|
 |
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2017, 11:33:14 pm » |
|
Good Heavens! This is a surprise I am in London for a week so I am relying on memory here but I think that Chandos attempted to launch a Bennett cycle some years ago but it was aborted after only one release. The Symphony No.3 was available on a Koch disc along with the Violin Concerto and is the most "approachable" of the three but the prospect of having more of the output of this prolific composer,whose star went into eclipse when he eschewed some of his earlier "modernism" and after he more or less settled in the USA, is extremely welcome
|
|
|
|
Expi
|
 |
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2017, 09:32:42 am » |
|
pah - previous releases of his orchestral works under Hickox and dePreist attest, that his music is emotionless and uninteresting - definitely not relevant !
|
Here is a short list of relevant british composers:
|
|
|
Dundonnell
|
 |
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2017, 01:42:26 pm » |
|
pah - previous releases of his orchestral works under Hickox and dePreist attest, that his music is emotionless and uninteresting - definitely not relevant !
Just perhaps, one of these days, you might care to explain your use of the word "relevant" which you use so often, although usually in the form of "not relevant". Bennett's music is of interest to some, including myself. If you find it "uninteresting" then so be it.
|
|
|
|
Paulp
Level 2

Times thanked: 2
Offline
Posts: 37
|
 |
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2017, 12:46:35 am » |
|
"Relevant" is just one of those terms that have been abused to the point where it's lost any meaning. If Richard Rodney Bennett's music doesn't appeal to one, saying that is quite sufficient, "de gustibus" and all that good stuff. But to say that it's "not relevant" is as pretentious as it is unnecessary.
|
|
|
|
jimfin
|
 |
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2017, 02:11:29 am » |
|
Quite! Something should be relevant to something else: it can't be relevant by itself. Another one i loathe is "inappropriate", usually used to mean "salacious"
|
|
|
|
Neil McGowan
|
 |
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2017, 12:54:51 pm » |
|
pah - previous releases of his orchestral works under Hickox and dePreist attest, that his music is emotionless and uninteresting - definitely not relevant !
On this forum we have a guideline that empty venting aimed at demeaning the work of composers or performers, in streams of baseless unjustified adjectives, is not only unwanted - but considered to be an abuse of your privileges as a member of this community. Kindly desist.
|
|
|
|
Christo
Level 4
  
Times thanked: 24
Offline
Posts: 351
... an opening of those magic casements ...
|
 |
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2017, 03:05:49 pm » |
|
Kindly desist. :-X :-X :-X :o :D Agreed. Music is basically a positive 'life force', and doesn't deserve our cynicism. Bennett's music, AFAIK it, has its appeal for quite a large audience and I can see no reasons to dismiss it.
|
… music is not only an `entertainment’, nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found. RVW, 1948
|
|
|
Neil McGowan
|
 |
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2017, 05:47:21 pm » |
|
In case anyone 's opinion is in need of actual engagement with RRB's music....
|
|
|
|
ahinton
|
 |
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2017, 06:57:22 pm » |
|
In case anyone 's opinion is in need of actual engagement with RRB's music....
One of his finest works, without doubt, although there's much that's well worth exploring in his richly varied output. His muscal gifts in general terms were likewise varied and he retained an engaging genuine modesty about his achievements. Being a jazz pianist and (later also) singer, a writer of symphonies, short choral pieces and piano music for young pianists, a distinguished movie composer and Boulez's first (and indeed possibly only) private student must have taken quite some doing, yet he seemed to take it all in his stride as though those are the kind of thing that you do as a musician. As a young pianist, he played for Jane Manning's BBC audition. He was never patronising about his movie work although he was at times at pains to point out that that was one department and concert work was another; he'd call the form "journalism"!There's a wonderfuil story about him when he used, on visits to London in later life, play the occasional Pizza Express Dean Street gig with jazz singers Marian Montgomery and (later) Claire Martin; he'd just finished a session with one of them and sat down for some supper when he heard a waiter saying "good evening, Sir Richard - lovely to see you again!), whereupon RRB turned around to see who it was (possibly wondering if it might be Richard Attenborough)...
|
|
|
|
patmos.beje
|
 |
« Reply #10 on: September 30, 2017, 08:42:30 pm » |
|
Although I have recordings of his serious works Letters to Lindbergh, and the ones which include the Piano Concerto and Violin Concerto, none of which I am very familiar with, when I think of Richard Rodney Bennett I primarily think of the melodious opening to the 1965 Hammer Horror film The Nanny with Bette Davis and Wendy Craig, which appeared at regular intervals in the late 1960s and the 1970s on UK Television. See: It must have made an impact on me when I was young given I still remember the theme. It was from this that I first became aware of the name Richard Rodney Bennett. After this I think of his score to Franklin J. Schaffner's impressive 1971 film Nicholas and Alexandra for which I have the original soundtrack score, which I think is a bootleg. It was recently on a UK TV Freeview channel. See: I also have a rip of his children's opera All the King's Men which was once available on LP. This is available in its entirety on YouTube: See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP-EGWBKzWU&list=PLKNYFzfTufPWwqrIcMdmge6cjTVUSHAiwThere are several recordings of his music in the British and Irish Music Catalogue on this site.
|
|
|
|
cilgwyn
|
 |
« Reply #11 on: October 01, 2017, 02:52:29 pm » |
|
Interestingly,according to the September Chandos newsletter,this is Vol 1 of a new series. So,it's not just a belated continuation. Hopefully,this is also a sign that Chandos are returning to the adventurous spirit that made them such a great label,and their new release ad in Gramophone Magazine,one of the first port of call's for music lovers like me.
|
|
|
|
Dundonnell
|
 |
« Reply #12 on: October 04, 2017, 06:47:03 pm » |
|
Good Heavens! This is a surprise I am in London for a week so I am relying on memory here but I think that Chandos attempted to launch a Bennett cycle some years ago but it was aborted after only one release. The Symphony No.3 was available on a Koch disc along with the Violin Concerto and is the most "approachable" of the three but the prospect of having more of the output of this prolific composer,whose star went into eclipse when he eschewed some of his earlier "modernism" and after he more or less settled in the USA, is extremely welcome
My memory did not play me false: Chandos did indeed launch a Bennett cycle in 2006 with Volume I but I was being unfair to say that the cycle was aborted. The cycle was to have been conducted by Richard Hickox but the conductor's untimely death in 2008 meant that there was no Volume II. It is to the label's credit that the cycle is being continued. It is however, I think, a pity that Chandos are calling the new release Volume I rather than acknowledging it as a continuation of Hickox's work.
|
|
|
|
|
Dundonnell
|
Glad to see a Volume 2 come along so quickly. Glad also at the inclusion of the previously unrecorded (and "tougher") Symphony No.2 and the unrecorded Serenade. Absolutely flabbergasted at the inclusion of the Partita which Hickox recorded for the first Chandos "Volume One". Surely Chandos should have taken that into account and asked Wilson to record one of the many other short orchestral works previously unrecorded. To select at random, "Zodiac" for orchestra at 17 minutes is exactly the same length as the Partita. Such completely unnecessary duplication!! (Anybody like to employ me as A&R consultant? I promise to stay within budget ;D ;D)
|
|
|
|
|
|