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New Recordings from Dutton

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Dundonnell
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« on: August 31, 2018, 12:47:25 am »

Dutton have finally got around to releasing the long anticipated Havergal Brian "Vision of Cleopatra" (orch. by John Pickard):

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7348

and discs of music by Vaughan Williams:

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7351

and John Ireland:

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7353

The RVW and John Ireland discs contain music orchestrated, completed, revised by Martin Yates and Graham Parlett. Both discs have a lot of music but since much of it is "incidental" music it is, necessarily, "bitty" (ie there are a lot of tracks and none of the these will be very lengthy).

I am not a particular fan of this. Dutton seems to specialise in it and I do not for one moment question the skill and musicianship of Martin Yates et al in their work of "restoration". As a lover of the music of Vaughan Williams I shall certainly buy that disc. I just wish that the company would concentrate a little more on the repertoire of works actually extant, complete and unrecorded of some of the other fine British composers (I hardly need to recall their names, other members will probably guess who I might be thinking of from my previous history ;D ;D).
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relm1
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« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2018, 01:23:16 am »

Hallelujah!  These are discs I've always wanted even though I never knew they existed till reading your post.  My deep hope is that Brian's magnum opus, Prometheus Unbound (which is also one of my favorite literary works since a kid) would be respectfully reconstructed and orchestrated from the extant vocal score which includes the piano reduction of the orchestra.  If only I was a millionaire, I would instantly fund the effort. 

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I am not a particular fan of this.
What is your thought on Mahler's 10?  To me, it is more important we have the completion because it is very different from just the first movement even if it might not be the final version Mahler might have landed on.  It is his full draft respectfully constructed and I think these other scores should be approached the same way.  Yes, it isn't perfect, it is the best we can do for now.
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2018, 01:57:17 am »

The completion-in whatever form-of a major masterpiece like the Bruckner 9th or the Mahler 10th, or, in the case of Dutton, Moeran's 2nd or Richard Arnell's 7th (both of which are actually realisations rather than "completions") I can and do cherish enormously. These may not be as the composer intended but they are faithful attempts to do so.

The effort involved with more "minor" works I tend to question. But I would not, as I said above, question the commitment of people like Martin Yates and the quality of the end result
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« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2018, 12:42:20 pm »

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The completion-in whatever form-of a major masterpiece like the Bruckner 9th or the Mahler 10th, or, in the case of Dutton, Moeran's 2nd or Richard Arnell's 7th (both of which are actually realisations rather than "completions") I can and do cherish enormously. These may not be as the composer intended but they are faithful attempts to do so.

My feelings exactly. I would also add Payne's realization of Elgar's 3rd. Not a masterpiece on the level of Bruckner 9 or Mahler 10, but a work I've come to like very much, nonetheless.
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patmos.beje
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« Reply #4 on: September 01, 2018, 11:02:52 am »


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I would also add Payne's realization of Elgar's 3rd. Not a masterpiece on the level of Bruckner 9 or Mahler 10, but a work I've come to like very much, nonetheless.

Me too.  I also greatly enjoyed Anthony Payne’s book Elgar’s Third Symphony: The Story of the Reconstruction and the NMC CD.  Robert Walker’s Piano Concerto on Elgar’s fragments, released by Dutton, gives us a context to hear Elgar’s sketches and what might have been. 

I might pick up the Dutton VW disc.  I am curious about the Christmas Overture (1934). I greatly enjoy the Fantasia on Christmas Carols and On Christmas Night - basically because I like a Christmas music and VW arranges it so well - and I am guessing we are looking at an orchestration of some carols.  It would be great if Dutton posted extracts of their CDs to listen to which might remove hesitation on my part in picking up any of the latest batch.
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2018, 05:22:49 pm »

I have ordered the Brian and Vaughan Williams discs. They have been dispatched and should (!) arrive tomorrow (Monday).

I am more than happy to report back :)
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2018, 09:22:26 pm »

I have ordered the Brian and Vaughan Williams discs. They have been dispatched and should (!) arrive tomorrow (Monday).

I am more than happy to report back :)

Listening to the Vaughan Williams disc.

The incidental music to "The Blue Bird" (orch. by Marin Yates) is delightful with plenty of pre-echoes of the later music although of course each track is very short.The Norfolk Rhapsody No.1 we are already very familiar with and is vintage early RVW. The Variations for Orchestra were superbly and expertly orchestrated by Gordon Jacobs not long after Vaughan Williams died.

As an admirer of David Matthews I am glad to have his Norfolk March which is an attempt to re-imagine Vaughan Williams's lost Norfolk Rhapsody No.3 for the 21st century. It is sensible and appropriate to include it on this disc but I wonder whether its apparently logical presence on the disc immediately after the first two Norfolk Rhapsodies works. Might it have in fact been better placed at the end of the disc? Its darker and more modern tone seems somewhat discordant located in the middle of music which is so distinctively VW-ish.

And finally we get more echt mid-period RVW in Yates's edited and orchestrated Music for an EFDS (English Folk Dance and Song Society) Masque and the Christmas Overture. Not great, undiscovered masterpieces (of course!) but if you are a lover of the VW idiom-as I have been for over 50 years-you will love these pieces. The composer could turn his hand to this sort of thing at the drop of a hat and with apparently effortless grace and always impeccable taste produce music which is just, in every sense, "Lovely".
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patmos.beje
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« Reply #7 on: September 03, 2018, 10:25:27 pm »


Thanks for the foregoing report on the VW CD.  On the basis of what is said, I will most probably buy the CD.
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Vandermolen
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« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2018, 08:09:46 pm »

Yes, thank you from me too Colin for the very helpful review. I rather like the Variations for Orchestra which recently featured coupled with A London Symphony (1920) on Hyperion, maybe that was the original version for band. I'll probably get the VW and John Ireland CD. A recentish CD that I greatly enjoyed, although inevitably episodic, was the complete Scott of the Antarctic music on Dutton.
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patmos.beje
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« Reply #9 on: September 15, 2018, 12:26:08 am »


I purchased the VW CD.  IMO it is filled with enjoyable if not compelling music with several folk songs making appearances in the majority of the works.. A worthwhile purchase that is likely to be enjoyed by anyone who loves VW’s music.  :D ;D
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Vandermolen
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« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2018, 09:03:55 am »


I purchased the VW CD.  IMO it is filled with enjoyable if not compelling music with several folk songs making appearances in the majority of the works.. A worthwhile purchase that is likely to be enjoyed by anyone who loves VW’s music.  :D ;D

Totally agree with this having just listened through the CD.
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