Message #4736

[Albion]

Neither Paul Rodmell nor Jeremy Dibble are overly enthusiastic about Via Victrix - Rodmell describes the Stabat mater quotation as "more distracting than helpful, feeling almost like a commercial for the earlier work" - but, of course, nobody (including the composer) has actually heard the work: it may come to life in a committed performance or it may hang fire - I'd certainly welcome the opportunity to find out, but not at the expense of several other choral scores being given greater exposure.

A purely personal hierarchy of the principal unrecorded choral works would be

priority 1 - Elegiac Ode (1884), The Voyage of Maeldune (1889), Mass in G (1892), Te Deum (1897), Fairy Day (1912), Merlin and the Gleam (1919), At the Abbey Gate (1920)

priority 2 - Phaudrig Crohoore (1895), Last Post (1899), Ave Atque Vale (1908), Mass Via Victrix (1919)

priority 3 - The Three Holy Children (1885), Eden (1890), The Battle of the Baltic (1891), The Bard (1892), East to West (1893), Ode to Wellington (1907), Ode to Discord (1908)

Apart from reading through the vocal scores, I've heard only two in live concerts (the Te Deum and Merlin and the Gleam) and one in the BBC broadcast (Phaudrig Crohoore).

 :)