Albion
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« on: April 10, 2015, 10:46:29 pm » |
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There is a truck-load of socio-musical and biographical information setting British symphonism in a fascinatingly kalaidoscopic context and fairly brief (not too technical) assessments of many symphonies, with prominence given to major figures such as Wesley, Potter, Macfarren, Bennett, Sullivan, Parry, Stanford, Cowen, Elgar, Bantock, Holbrooke, Scott, Bax, etc., etc., but there is also unprecedented coverage of virtually every British symphonist regardless of whether or not their symphonic works are extant. In the second volume, after a fascinating exploration of the choral symphony there is a valuable catalogue of known symphonic compositions with details of manuscript location, instrumentation, first performances (where known) and full sung texts where applicable: this is generally extremely accurate but I have emailed the author to let him know that despite his assertion that they are lost, two mature symphonies by Henry Robert Gadsby (1842-1907, remember him? Hehe) are in fact in the British Library, having been purchased at auction in 2004. There are innumerable musical examples, well chosen illustrations and a highly comprehensive bibliography. This is worth £64 of anybody's money!
:)
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