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The Radio 3 Boards > The Radio 3 Boards > Radio 3 Favourites > Composer of the Week > Sir Granville Bantock
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Author Topic: Sir Granville Bantock  (Read 721 times)
trained-pianist
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« on: 19:21:48, 15-10-2007 »
I never heard the name of this composer.
Do we have people here who love his music?
Or perhaps people don't like his music.

On first listening I find his music interesting.

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pim_derks
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« Reply #1 on: 19:29:05, 15-10-2007 »
Bantock was also a new name to me, t-p.

That Celtic Symphony and those two movements from Sappho this afternoon were beautiful. I want to hear more! Smiley
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"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
John W
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« Reply #2 on: 19:35:16, 15-10-2007 »
Hello t-p nice to see you again, our paths have not crossed recently  Smiley

I think there are a few members who appreciate Bantock's music, what can be found. I have a Marco Polo CD (now in the Naxos catalogue?) which includes his Hebridean Symphony. Much of his work is of the lighter variety, occasionally featured in Brian Kay's Thursday programme (no longer in the R3 schedule).

I recall the Hebridean Symphony has several influences possibly R Strauss, Wagner and Sibelius, the notes/CD are not to hand, but I certainly enjoy the work.


John W
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #3 on: 19:54:05, 15-10-2007 »
Thank you for your replies.
Bantock music seems to be easy to listen. I really enjoy it at the moment. I am glad Radio 3 brings neglected composers into focus.
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MabelJane
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When in doubt, wash.
« Reply #4 on: 20:44:08, 15-10-2007 »
I like his name, tp! And I enjoyed hearing his choral arrangements plus a piece of his own on The Choir yesterday although I'm not very keen on choral music of that kind. I thought I'd hate the arrangement of Schubert's Du bist die Ruh since I love the song but it was quite beautiful - though I did miss Schubert's gentle rocking piano part.
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
roslynmuse
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« Reply #5 on: 20:50:21, 15-10-2007 »
For Merseysiders like myself his was a name to conjure with - musical director of the New Brighton Tower in the early years of the century at a time when a post like that meant inviting Elgar to stay.

Didn't Syd post something about him once? Some query about a photo I seem to recall.

I'm afraid all I know of his music are a few songs (of which there are many).
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BobbyZ
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« Reply #6 on: 21:03:50, 15-10-2007 »
Hyperion have recorded a lot of the orchestral music with the RPO and Vernon Handley which it seems will form the basis of this week's programmes.
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Soundwave
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« Reply #7 on: 11:01:18, 16-10-2007 »
Ho!  I've always thought that Bantock is a much underrated composer.  If you can lay your hands on a recording/tape of the amazing performance by Marina Domashenko with the French Natl. Orch. ,of excerpts from Sappho, I'm sure you'll agree with me.  I also have a soft spot for his "Kishmul's Galley".
Cheers
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Jonathan
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Still Lisztening...


WWW
« Reply #8 on: 12:55:37, 16-10-2007 »
I've always thought he was a composer i ought to investigate - when i get some spare time i'll have to listen again to some of CoTW and see what I think.
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Best regards,
Jonathan
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Sydney Grew
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« Reply #9 on: 13:58:00, 16-10-2007 »
Quote from: roslynmuse on 20:50:21, 15-10-2007
For Merseysiders like myself his was a name to conjure with - musical director of the New Brighton Tower in the early years of the century at a time when a post like that meant inviting Elgar to stay.

Here a snatch of Grew on Granville:


Here he is as he was:
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rauschwerk
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« Reply #10 on: 16:51:03, 16-10-2007 »
I am all in favour of the promotion of underrated British composers, but I am not a Bantock fan. Last year I bought one of Vernon Handley's recordings - the one containing the Celtic and Hebridean Symphonies - but cannot share the enthusiasm of the Penguin Guide critic (Ivan March?). Give me the string music of Elgar, Vaughan Williams or Tippett any day in preference to the Celtic Symphony, which is devoid of any ideas that lodge in my mind even after repeated hearings. To my mind the best piece on that disc is The Sea Reivers, which is also the shortest.
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John W
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« Reply #11 on: 16:04:19, 20-10-2007 »
Had to record much of the programmes to hear later but so far what I heard of Bantock this week I found very interesting, lots of crash bang wallop and enjoyable.
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John W
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« Reply #12 on: 20:21:11, 29-11-2007 »
Bantock (from new box set of his music, performed by Vernon Handley and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) is featured tonight on CFM's Evening Concert and Nick Bailey will be playing his pick of the Bantock recordings over the next two Evening Concerts.

Tonight (Thursday evening) also features music by Bantock’s contemporary, Ralph Vaughan Williams, who was one of the founder-members of the Bantock Society, set up on the composer’s death in 1946.

Friday evening is ALL Bantock.

Thursday 29 Nov:

Bantock: Processional     
Vernon Handley conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Vaughan Williams: 5 Tudor Portraits   
Jean Rigby – soprano
John Shirley-Quirk - baritone
Richard Hickox conducts the London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus

Bantock: Fifine at the Fair     
Roy Jowitt – clarinet
Vernon Handley conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Vaughan Williams: In the Fen Country   
James Judd conducts the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Bantock: Thalaba the Destroyer   
Vernon Handley conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Bantock: The Witch of Atlas     
Vernon Handley conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
 
Friday 30 Nov:

Bantock: Overture to a Greek Tragedy   
Vernon Handley conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Bantock: Caristoina       
Vernon Handley conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Bantock: A Celtic Symphony     
Vernon Handley conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Bantock: The Sea Reivers     
Vernon Handley conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Bantock: Sapphic Poem     
Julian Lloyd Webber – cello
Vernon Handley conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Bantock: A Hebridean Symphony   
Vernon Handley conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
 
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John W
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« Reply #13 on: 12:37:02, 31-12-2007 »
It's taking me some time to get around to listening to Bantock boxed set.  I very much enjoyed last week listening to the song set Sappho and the associated cello work, worth a re-listen this week, but today chose a CD containing various unrelated orchestral pieces.

The Hebridean Symphony (which I also have on an old MarcoPolo CD) has it's moments, several of them, the music rising to epic proportions grabbing your attention and the RPO/Handey sound superb, but there are many long quiet interludes when my mind wandered to things non-musical, similarly with the Witch of Atlas, wonderful playing but I drifted away occasionally. Sounds of Tchaikovsky kept interfering with my listening. The best piece was the Sea-Reivers, quite an astonishing sound but too short, though there is a related tone poem on another CD. These are Edwardian/pre-1920 compositions.

A Celtic Symphony was quite different, for strings and harps only, and I was getting excited about the hints of Vaughan Williams until the booklet told me this piece was written in 1940. Confusing to have that piece as the first track on the CD.

The CD booklet is a valuable part of the pack, containing a lot of detail and explanation of the background to all the works featured. I wrote something about the booklet in one of the Christmas threads:

Quote
14 pages in English of which 5 pages are the words to the songs, mainly written by wife Helen. I would say about 5000 words of notes, so a good read.

It's a good biography with quotes from Bantock's diary and reference to BBC interviews that were preserved, explanations about the delays and years of composition for some works (some written before/during WWI were not heard till after the war) and some lengthy explanations about the meaning/purpose of the works which I've not yet digested - so the notes are excellent and need some study.


John W

 
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autoharp
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« Reply #14 on: 13:44:55, 31-12-2007 »
In the late 1970s, there was a performance of a choral symphony by Bantock (the first symphony for chorus alone) at Maida Vale Studios. Quite impressive as I remember. There was some connection with coloured light. The performance was not public and only intended for broadcast, but nevertheless some enterprising person had organised a backdrop of different coloured lighting for each of the four (?) movements.
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