England's Dreaming

[A Lark Ascending]

Taking advantage of the extensive Lyritas up on e-music:

Definately no cowpats here.

Much knottier than the more lyrical stuff I go for, but on an initial listen, some very intriguing textures. Will need much more listening.

The 'Excursions' for piano, four hands sound like Bartok at his folksiest.

[A Lark Ascending]

Anyone with a taste for English classical music will be sad to hear Vernon Handley, a great champion of the music, has just died:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7608956.stm

[A Lark Ascending]

Another blow - Richard Hickox, also a champion of neglected 20thC English music, died a couple of days back.

I saw him a few months back doing Elgar, VW and Arnold in Truro Cathedral, Cornwall.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7745605.stm

Edited November 26, 2008 by Bev Stapleton

[blind-blake]

Anyone see/hear this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-England-Frank..._img_16_rsrsrs0

[A Lark Ascending]

Anyone see/hear this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-England-Frank..._img_16_rsrsrs0

I have the Vaughan Williams and Finzi disc on the originally released single CDs. Good performances but from the early days of CD - like quite a few classical CDs at that time it sounds like it was recorded in a large warehouse! I think they were trying to get a sense of the spacious possibilities of CD.

Wouldn't be my first choice for this music...but it makes a really nice overview.

[blind-blake]

Anyone see/hear this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-England-Frank..._img_16_rsrsrs0

I have the Vaughan Williams and Finzi disc on the originally released single CDs. Good performances but from the early days of CD - like quite a few classical CDs at that time it sounds like it was recorded in a large warehouse! I think they were trying to get a sense of the spacious possibilities of CD.

Wouldn't be my first choice for this music...but it makes a really nice overview.

Thanks Bev. Incidentally, what would be your first choice?

[A Lark Ascending]

Anyone see/hear this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-England-Frank..._img_16_rsrsrs0

I have the Vaughan Williams and Finzi disc on the originally released single CDs. Good performances but from the early days of CD - like quite a few classical CDs at that time it sounds like it was recorded in a large warehouse! I think they were trying to get a sense of the spacious possibilities of CD.

Wouldn't be my first choice for this music...but it makes a really nice overview.

Thanks Bev. Incidentally, what would be your first choice?

There's a wide range of music there.

Elgar , Cockaigne Overture

Delius , Summer Evening

Butterworth , A Shropshire Lad

Butterworth , The Banks of Green Willow

Finzi , Suite from 'Love's Labours Lost

Vaughan Williams , The Lark Ascending.flac 55 Mb202

Vaughan Williams , Oboe Concerto

Finzi , Clarinet Concerto

Parry , Lady Radnor's

Elgar , Introduction & Allegro, Op. 47

Bridge , Suite For String Orchestra

Vaughan Williams , Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Vaughan Williams , Fantasia on Greensleeves.

Holst , St. Paul's Suite op

Warlock , Capriol Suite

Britten , Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge

It depends what you are looking for. If you are after an introductory overview, then this is good value.

I'm not the best person to ask as I don't go in for comparing different versions - if the copy I've got sounds good then I tend to stick to it. I'm also wedded to the people I first heard play this music on records in the 70s - Boult, Barbirolli etc. They might sound a bit limited sonic-wise to modern ears.

In modern recordings you can normally trust Hickox or Handley (both sadly no longer with us). You can also find many of these pieces of music on various discs on the Lyrita label - a treasure trove of English music. And don't overlook Naxos...they've done some great recordings of this music at budget price.

These three are glorious discs:

Edited August 26, 2009 by Bev Stapleton

[blind-blake]

Anyone see/hear this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-England-Frank..._img_16_rsrsrs0

I have the Vaughan Williams and Finzi disc on the originally released single CDs. Good performances but from the early days of CD - like quite a few classical CDs at that time it sounds like it was recorded in a large warehouse! I think they were trying to get a sense of the spacious possibilities of CD.

Wouldn't be my first choice for this music...but it makes a really nice overview.

Thanks Bev. Incidentally, what would be your first choice?

There's a wide range of music there.

Elgar , Cockaigne Overture

Delius , Summer Evening

Butterworth , A Shropshire Lad

Butterworth , The Banks of Green Willow

Finzi , Suite from 'Love's Labours Lost

Vaughan Williams , The Lark Ascending.flac 55 Mb202

Vaughan Williams , Oboe Concerto

Finzi , Clarinet Concerto

Parry , Lady Radnor's

Elgar , Introduction & Allegro, Op. 47

Bridge , Suite For String Orchestra

Vaughan Williams , Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Vaughan Williams , Fantasia on Greensleeves.

Holst , St. Paul's Suite op

Warlock , Capriol Suite

Britten , Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge

It depends what you are looking for. If you are after an introductory overview, then this is good value.

I'm not the best person to ask as I don't go in for comparing different versions - if the copy I've got sounds good then I tend to stick to it. I'm also wedded to the people I first heard play this music on records in the 70s - Boult, Barbirolli etc. They might sound a bit limited sonic-wise to modern ears.

In modern recordings you can normally trust Hickox or Handley (both sadly no longer with us). You can also find many of these pieces of music on various discs on the Lyrita label - a treasure trove of English music. And don't overlook Naxos...they've done some great recordings of this music at budget price.

These three are glorious discs:

This is great!!!! Thanks again. I'm off to Amazon to check out the samples!!!

[blind-blake]

Anyone see/hear this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-England-Frank..._img_16_rsrsrs0

I have the Vaughan Williams and Finzi disc on the originally released single CDs. Good performances but from the early days of CD - like quite a few classical CDs at that time it sounds like it was recorded in a large warehouse! I think they were trying to get a sense of the spacious possibilities of CD.

Wouldn't be my first choice for this music...but it makes a really nice overview.

Thanks Bev. Incidentally, what would be your first choice?

There's a wide range of music there.

Elgar , Cockaigne Overture

Delius , Summer Evening

Butterworth , A Shropshire Lad

Butterworth , The Banks of Green Willow

Finzi , Suite from 'Love's Labours Lost

Vaughan Williams , The Lark Ascending.flac 55 Mb202

Vaughan Williams , Oboe Concerto

Finzi , Clarinet Concerto

Parry , Lady Radnor's

Elgar , Introduction & Allegro, Op. 47

Bridge , Suite For String Orchestra

Vaughan Williams , Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Vaughan Williams , Fantasia on Greensleeves.

Holst , St. Paul's Suite op

Warlock , Capriol Suite

Britten , Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge

It depends what you are looking for. If you are after an introductory overview, then this is good value.

I'm not the best person to ask as I don't go in for comparing different versions - if the copy I've got sounds good then I tend to stick to it. I'm also wedded to the people I first heard play this music on records in the 70s - Boult, Barbirolli etc. They might sound a bit limited sonic-wise to modern ears.

In modern recordings you can normally trust Hickox or Handley (both sadly no longer with us). You can also find many of these pieces of music on various discs on the Lyrita label - a treasure trove of English music. And don't overlook Naxos...they've done some great recordings of this music at budget price.

These three are glorious discs:

This is great!!!! Thanks again. I'm off to Amazon to check out the samples!!!

Got the Vaughan Williams in the mail today. Just great!!!! Thanks again, Bev!!!

Edited August 30, 2009 by blind-blake

[A Lark Ascending]

Got the Vaughan Williams in the mail today. Just great!!!! Thanks again, Bev!!!

If that hooks you, blind-blake, don't miss his 3rd and 5th symphonies. The 5th in particular is breathtaking - a slow movement guaranteed to turn you to jelly!

[blind-blake]

Got the Vaughan Williams in the mail today. Just great!!!! Thanks again, Bev!!!

If that hooks you, blind-blake, don't miss his 3rd and 5th symphonies. The 5th in particular is breathtaking - a slow movement guaranteed to turn you to jelly!

I'll definitely check it out! Got the Delius on order from the library and am looking forward to that one, as well.

[A Lark Ascending]

Got the Vaughan Williams in the mail today. Just great!!!! Thanks again, Bev!!!

If that hooks you, blind-blake, don't miss his 3rd and 5th symphonies. The 5th in particular is breathtaking - a slow movement guaranteed to turn you to jelly!

I'll definitely check it out! Got the Delius on order from the library and am looking forward to that one, as well.

Delius, like VW, sounds very English...yet he spent most of his composing life in France. In his youth his wealthy businessman father packed him off to Florida to run a plantation to see if he could get him interested in 'real' work. Failed completely but the experience impacted on his early music. There's an early choral/orchestral piece called 'Appalachia' with vocal sections that are clearly based on the singing of the Afro-American workers he heard around him.

A piece like 'Summer night on the river' on the disc I recommended to you (which includes Appalachia) always has me thinking of a June night on the Thames near Oxford...but he could well have been thinking of somewhere in Florida.

[Ron S]

Got the Vaughan Williams in the mail today. Just great!!!! Thanks again, Bev!!!

If that hooks you, blind-blake, don't miss his 3rd and 5th symphonies. The 5th in particular is breathtaking - a slow movement guaranteed to turn you to jelly!

I'll definitely check it out! Got the Delius on order from the library and am looking forward to that one, as well.

Got a question for you guys (Bev and blind-blake): are the inside 2 pages of the booklet inserts for those 2 EMI "British Composers" series CDs (VW and Delius) completely blank? I recently snagged a brand-new copy of the now-OOP Frank Bridge CD in that series, and the inside 2 pages of the insert are blank! I was wondering if that's uniform throughout the series.

[A Lark Ascending]

My Delius has notes, details etc plus a extra inset with other discs in the series, Ron. However, I did buy it ten years or so back. They may be economising.

The VW I have as part of the Boult 60s/70s VW box so I don't know the state there.

[alocispepraluger102]

Another blow - Richard Hickox, also a champion of neglected 20thC English music, died a couple of days back.

I saw him a few months back doing Elgar, VW and Arnold in Truro Cathedral, Cornwall.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7745605.stm

i'm very sorry to learn that.

this is this my favorite "o" thread, and at once one of the most decadent.

Edited August 30, 2009 by alocispepraluger102

[blind-blake]

Got the Vaughan Williams in the mail today. Just great!!!! Thanks again, Bev!!!

If that hooks you, blind-blake, don't miss his 3rd and 5th symphonies. The 5th in particular is breathtaking - a slow movement guaranteed to turn you to jelly!

I'll definitely check it out! Got the Delius on order from the library and am looking forward to that one, as well.

Got a question for you guys (Bev and blind-blake): are the inside 2 pages of the booklet inserts for those 2 EMI "British Composers" series CDs (VW and Delius) completely blank? I recently snagged a brand-new copy of the now-OOP Frank Bridge CD in that series, and the inside 2 pages of the insert are blank! I was wondering if that's uniform throughout the series.

Ron, the VW I have has notes.

[Ron S]

Got the Vaughan Williams in the mail today. Just great!!!! Thanks again, Bev!!!

If that hooks you, blind-blake, don't miss his 3rd and 5th symphonies. The 5th in particular is breathtaking - a slow movement guaranteed to turn you to jelly!

I'll definitely check it out! Got the Delius on order from the library and am looking forward to that one, as well.

Got a question for you guys (Bev and blind-blake): are the inside 2 pages of the booklet inserts for those 2 EMI "British Composers" series CDs (VW and Delius) completely blank? I recently snagged a brand-new copy of the now-OOP Frank Bridge CD in that series, and the inside 2 pages of the insert are blank! I was wondering if that's uniform throughout the series.

Ron, the VW I have has notes.

Thanks for checking. I wonder if it's just the Frank Bridge? Or maybe just my copy?

[A Lark Ascending]

"Moeran's Last Symphony"

Just noticed this BBC radio play broadcast last week.

Around for 5 days on the replayer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w236w

Edited November 28, 2010 by A Lark Ascending

[sidewinder]

Fascinating programn on Elgar's life and music on BBC4 recently. Some of those late choral works (e.g. the one about the owls) sound totally unlike his usual pomp & pagentry stuff - more impressionistic and Holst-like.

[Ron S]

"Moeran's Last Symphony"

Just noticed this BBC radio play broadcast last week.

Around for 5 days on the replayer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...rammes/b00w236w

Good timing! I just happen to have 3 Moeran discs in the listening queue (after a couple of others, first).

[sidewinder]

Delius, like VW, sounds very English...yet he spent most of his composing life in France. In his youth his wealthy businessman father packed him off to Florida to run a plantation to see if he could get him interested in 'real' work.

Bradford's most famous son ! After JB Priestley that is... He was part of a very notable German immigrant subculture to that city, by virtue of the wool industry.

Victorian Bradford to Florida is one heck of a transition !

[A Lark Ascending]

Fascinating programn on Elgar's life and music on BBC4 recently. Some of those late choral works (e.g. the one about the owls) sound totally unlike his usual pomp & pagentry stuff - more impressionistic and Holst-like.

Yes, I really enjoyed that.

Like you, 'Owls' really got to me. Never heard it before.

The one that really undid me was 'Sospiri' - I'd heard it before but never really clocked into it. God knows why as it's 5 minutes of utter heartbreak.

The programme gave some idea why!

There's actually less 'pomp & pagentry' in Elgar than you'd imagine - it just get played more often. He was actually a master of the dreamy tributary! Symphony No. 1, scherzo!

[sidewinder]

Yes, the 'Sospiri' was a very interesting listen.

Actually passed by the Elgar house near Great Malvern (actually, nearer to Worcester) this year as I was doing some work in the area. Lovely part of England and his music is infused with the feel of the place.

Edited November 28, 2010 by sidewinder

[Jazzjet]

Fascinating programn on Elgar's life and music on BBC4 recently. Some of those late choral works (e.g. the one about the owls) sound totally unlike his usual pomp & pagentry stuff - more impressionistic and Holst-like.

Yes, I really enjoyed that.

Like you, 'Owls' really got to me. Never heard it before.

The one that really undid me was 'Sospiri' - I'd heard it before but never really clocked into it. God knows why as it's 5 minutes of utter heartbreak.

The programme gave some idea why!

There's actually less 'pomp & pagentry' in Elgar than you'd imagine - it just get played more often. He was actually a master of the dreamy tributary! Symphony No. 1, scherzo!

I really enjoyed that Elgar programme as well. The kind of thing that BBC 2 used to do back in 'the good old days'.

Have you read 'Electric Eden : Britain's Visionary Music' by Rob Young? It starts in the late 19th century with William Morris, Elgar etc and works through Vaughan Williams to the history of folk music, psychedelia etc. Very wide ranging and a bit wordy in parts but a fascinating read.

[A Lark Ascending]

Yes, the 'Sospiri' was a very interesting listen.

Actually passed by the Elgar house near Great Malvern (actually, nearer to Worcester) this year as I was doing some work in the area. Lovely part of England and his music is infused with the feel of the place.

I spent some time there about 20 years back and went inside the house. As you say, highly evocative.

Fascinating programn on Elgar's life and music on BBC4 recently. Some of those late choral works (e.g. the one about the owls) sound totally unlike his usual pomp & pagentry stuff - more impressionistic and Holst-like.

Yes, I really enjoyed that.

Like you, 'Owls' really got to me. Never heard it before.

The one that really undid me was 'Sospiri' - I'd heard it before but never really clocked into it. God knows why as it's 5 minutes of utter heartbreak.

The programme gave some idea why!

There's actually less 'pomp & pagentry' in Elgar than you'd imagine - it just get played more often. He was actually a master of the dreamy tributary! Symphony No. 1, scherzo!

I really enjoyed that Elgar programme as well. The kind of thing that BBC 2 used to do back in 'the good old days'.

Have you read 'Electric Eden : Britain's Visionary Music' by Rob Young? It starts in the late 19th century with William Morris, Elgar etc and works through Vaughan Williams to the history of folk music, psychedelia etc. Very wide ranging and a bit wordy in parts but a fascinating read.

I have - read most of it in Cornwall this summer, as it happens! I associate it with mackerel salad and beer!

Enjoyed the unusual unusual leaps he made between the classical and folk world. Nice to see people like Moeran and Warlock get such space. I just found the ending unconvincing - his examples of who he saw as carrying the spirit up to date seemed random and missed almost completely the amazing English folk revival of the last 10-15 years. And how could he leave out XTC?

As I recall he wasn't too keen on Elgar.

Edited November 29, 2010 by A Lark Ascending