"Recent" Toccata Releases

[Dundonnell]

With Dutton having issued no new releases for almost a year now I have been looking at Toccata. With a relatively few exceptions Toccata have chosen to record music by composers most totally unknown to me. I am not really in a position to buy too many on a whim but there are three which include symphonies by British composers and which have been well-received by critics elsewhere:

Steve Elcock's Symphony No.3

David Hackbridge Johnson's Symphonies Nos. 9 and 14

Rodney Newton's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4

I had never heard of these three composers. Frankly, I would prefer to see Toccata exploring the unrecorded compositions of some of the British composers with whom I am more familiar but this is not Toccata's choice. Does this make commercial sense? I wonder.

Never mind. I shall buy these three cds and find out for myself how "good" these three are :)

[britishcomposer]

Colin, you have most likely heard of Rodney Newton before because you have the Dutton CD with his orchestration of the Moeran Overture! ;)

[britishcomposer]

BTW, have you seen this:

William WORDSWORTH
Orchestral Music, Volume One
Symphony No. 4 in E flat, Op. 54
Divertimento in D, Op. 58
Variations on a Scottish Theme, Op. 72
Symphony No. 8, Op. 117
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra
John Gibbons, conductor
TOCC 0480

Still in the pipeline though...

[Dundonnell]

BTW, have you seen this:

William WORDSWORTH
Orchestral Music, Volume One
Symphony No. 4 in E flat, Op. 54
Divertimento in D, Op. 58
Variations on a Scottish Theme, Op. 72
Symphony No. 8, Op. 117
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra
John Gibbons, conductor
TOCC 0480

Still in the pipeline though...

WOW!!!!!

I immediately retract my comment on Toccata not recording music by composers of whom I had heard ;D :)  Hats off to Martin Anderson of Toccata!!!

Surely though rather a sad indictment of British orchestras that it should be an orchestra from a smallish town in Latvia that should be giving us what clearly appears to be the first in a very long overdue survey of the music of William Wordsworth (a composer much admired by Vaughan Williams but much too indifferent to self-publicisation to push his own music).

Best news I have heard for quite some time :) :)

[Hattoff]

I Think you will like the Steve Elcock. I was most impressed by the sample and bought the whole thing. I have not heard the others.

[guest128]

Given that for me personally No.8 is the most compelling among Wordsworth's Symphonies I'm enthusiastic for Toccata's prospective recording.  Is their intention to issue more Wordsworth over time from that starting point, or don't we know yet?

[Dundonnell]

It appears to be the first in a series, Greg. In which case, beginning with Symphonies Nos. 4 and 8 is smart because these two are not already on cd. The other two unrecorded symphonies are Nos. 6 and 7. Indeed the choral No.6 has never been performed.

I have written to Toccata. I shall report back.

[Christo]

BTW, have you seen this:

William WORDSWORTH
Orchestral Music, Volume One
Symphony No. 4 in E flat, Op. 54
Divertimento in D, Op. 58
Variations on a Scottish Theme, Op. 72
Symphony No. 8, Op. 117
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra
John Gibbons, conductor
TOCC 0480

Still in the pipeline though...

That’s fantastic news!

[Dundonnell]

I Think you will like the Steve Elcock. I was most impressed by the sample and bought the whole thing. I have not heard the others.

The cd of symphonies by Rodney Newton has not actually been released yet. It is due to be released on February 5th.

[Dundonnell]

Incidentally, I did not even know about the existence of William Wordsworth's Variations on a Scottish Theme, op.72. It was not on my list of Wordsworth's orchestral compositions.

Research online uncovered that the work was written in 1962 and given its first public performance in 1966 by the (amateur) Perth Symphony Orchestra. That is Perth, Scotland, the town in which I have lived since 1970!!

[Neil McGowan]

Steve Elcock's Symphony No.3

David Hackbridge Johnson's Symphonies Nos. 9 and 14

Rodney Newton's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4

I had never heard of these three composers.

David Hackbridge Johnson is not only a prominent conductor, violinist, and pianist - he's also a Consultant Editor on a project to make an Urtext edition of all of Elgar's works publicly available (now that they are no longer in copyright). He's an inspiring teacher. He is also something of an authority on Erik Chisholm - if any of these accomplishments might endear him to you?  He has suffered a lot of ill-health in recent years.

[calyptorhynchus]

Toccata seem to have forgotten a couple of projects they started on, namely the David Matthews String Quartets (3 disks issued out of 4) and the Harold Truscott Piano works (only one disk issued so far). I hope they remember to keep going with them.

[guest128]

Toccata seem to have forgotten a couple of projects they started on, namely the David Matthews String Quartets (3 disks issued out of 4) and the Harold Truscott Piano works (only one disk issued so far). I hope they remember to keep going with them.

Yes, one hopes they've not taken up by contagion any of CPO's annoying habits (grateful as we can otherwise be to both labels).

[Grandenorm]

Another Toccata project which I can only conclude has now been completely forgotten, more's the pity, is their supposed series of the chamber music of Ferdinand Thieriot: only Volume One issued, and that in February 2010!

[Toby Esterhase]

Another Toccata project which I can only conclude has now been completely forgotten, more's the pity, is their supposed series of the chamber music of Ferdinand Thieriot: only Volume One issued, and that in February 2010!

Shebalin's series