|
ahinton
|
 |
« Reply #750 on: 08:22:26, 22-07-2007 » |
|
I wonder what our American pals think of these somewhat-forgotten mid-20th-century US symphonists. It seems they get fewer outings there these days than their British equivalents do here (RVW, Walton, Tippett, Simpson even...).
Very little, it would seem - certainly where public performances are concerned; even Sessions, an important mid-20th-century US symphonist yet one who hardly fits easily into the mould, gets scant coverage these days. That said, in UK, the only British symphonies that get reasonably regular public outings (as distinct from recordings, which are now thankfully in plentiful supply), even in Britain itself, are those of Vaughan Williams (who first three aren't mid-20th-century anyway) and Walton's first; concert performance of those of Brian, Rubbra, George Lloyd, Arnell, Arnold and Simpson (to name just a random few who have each composed at least five symphonies) is pretty scant. To return to US, you mention Harris 3 which, to all intents and purposes, one might be forgiven for assuming was the only one he ever wrote.... Best, Alistair |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Ron Dough
|
|
« Reply #751 on: 11:00:16, 22-07-2007 » |
|
To return to US, you mention Harris 3 which, to all intents and purposes, one might be forgiven for assuming was the only one he ever wrote....
And as more trickle onto record, perhaps it's not so difficult to understand why: it does seem to be a rather incestuous cycle, what with the fifth and sixth symphonies having been conflated at one time (shades of Hartmann) and most of them treading the same path as the third without reaching the same quality of destination. They also seem to require conductors of above-average strength and vision; even the relatively oft-recorded third needs a dynamic performance to lift it off the ground, something that fails to happen completely in the recent Naxos recording (Colorado/Alsop) though the most of the earlier recordings (Koussevitsky/Toscanini/Bernstein in particular) have the required fire and thrust. I noted recently in another thread that I have recordings of over fifty American symphonies (the majority of them not by Hovhaness); until quite recently it seems to have been taken for granted that most composers there would produce at least one. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
xyzzzz__
|
|
« Reply #752 on: 11:05:10, 22-07-2007 » |
|
Last night/this morning - a gtr piece by Chris Dench, 'Nature Data' by Jennifer Walshe and some Chantilly Codex stuff.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Biroc
|
|
« Reply #753 on: 16:43:47, 22-07-2007 » |
|
Gilels playing D Scarlatti Keyboard Sonatas...then Bach Aria variata alla maniera italiana...
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"Believe nothing they say, they're not Biroc's kind."
|
|
|
|
tonybob
|
|
« Reply #754 on: 17:44:37, 22-07-2007 » |
|
thanks ron and biroc for bringing this thread out of its 'obscure' phase...
i've been listening to schumann's 3rd symphony.
robert, not william...
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
sososo s & i.
|
|
|
|
Biroc
|
|
« Reply #755 on: 17:47:13, 22-07-2007 » |
|
thanks ron and biroc for bringing this thread out of its 'obscure' phase...
i've been listening to schumann's 3rd symphony.
robert, not william...
Sorry TB...think I took it there in the first place a bit...but happy to get it out. Gilels is on to Prokofiev's toccata now...stunning performance...! |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"Believe nothing they say, they're not Biroc's kind."
|
|
|
|
Ian Pace
|
|
« Reply #756 on: 17:50:16, 22-07-2007 » |
|
thanks ron and biroc for bringing this thread out of its 'obscure' phase...
Now spinning - a mid-century arrangement of a little-known madrigal by Christopher Tyomlis, 16th century English composer whose works were never published until recently, in a special arrangement for bass instruments by the under-recorded Romanian Nicolai Humitrescu, a composer who lived most of his life in obscurity after being caught in flagrante in the gardens of the French embassy in 1939, and who lived most of the rest of his live in alcoholic squalor, until rediscovered by South Carolina musicologist Chuck Schoperweiser in his dissertation of 1993. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
|
|
|
|
tonybob
|
|
« Reply #757 on: 17:51:39, 22-07-2007 » |
|
that's possibly the least obscure composer you've mentioned so far, ian!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
sososo s & i.
|
|
|
|
Biroc
|
|
« Reply #758 on: 17:52:38, 22-07-2007 » |
|
that's possibly the least obscure composer you've mentioned so far, ian!
Hahahahaha  |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"Believe nothing they say, they're not Biroc's kind."
|
|
|
|
martle
|
|
« Reply #759 on: 17:57:23, 22-07-2007 » |
|
A six-disc set of the complete solo harmonium works of Franz Heilennaur, roughly a contemporary of Czerny's, who for about 3 years in the 1820s cornered the market (especially in eastern-seaboard USA) in what he termed 'symphonic-scale parlour music'. The third movement of his 8th symphony for harmonium is especially impressive, in particular the central 15-minute episode in Db - if anyone wants to look that up.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Green. Always green.
|
|
|
|
tonybob
|
|
« Reply #760 on: 17:59:37, 22-07-2007 » |
|
i know it well.
it reduces me to tears every time.
tears of ANGER.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
sososo s & i.
|
|
|
|
Ian Pace
|
|
« Reply #761 on: 18:00:46, 22-07-2007 » |
|
A six-disc set of the complete solo harmonium works of Franz Heilennaur, roughly a contemporary of Czerny's, who for about 3 years in the 1820s cornered the market (especially in eastern-seaboard USA) in what he termed 'symphonic-scale parlour music'. The third movement of his 8th symphony for harmonium is especially impressive, in particular the central 15-minute episode in Db - if anyone wants to look that up.
But which version of that symphony do you have, martle? I'm told that if you haven't heard the original version, which was lost until it appeared in an attic in Bratislava in 1978, you really 'don't know' Heilennaur's music. Also, is it a period harmonium? If not, the recording would be a travesty. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
|
|
|
|
martle
|
|
« Reply #762 on: 18:06:12, 22-07-2007 » |
|
But which version of that symphony do you have, martle? I'm told that if you haven't heard the original version, which was lost until it appeared in an attic in Bratislava in 1978, you really 'don't know' Heilennaur's music. Also, is it a period harmonium? If not, the recording would be a travesty.
Gosh Ian, I'm afraid it's the one by Phil Kenshaw on a Blackpool wurlitzer, made in 1973.  |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Green. Always green.
|
|
|
|
Ian Pace
|
|
« Reply #763 on: 18:09:30, 22-07-2007 » |
|
Gosh Ian, I'm afraid it's the one by Phil Kenshaw on a Blackpool wurlitzer, made in 1973. If you look on Japanese Amazon, you just might find the recording by Andre von Huysserlitz, dating from only three years later, one of the first period harmonium recordings there was, predating the wave of young HIP players on the instrument that we all remember from the 1980s. It was only ever produced in a limited edition of 100 copies, though, and the second-hand ones around might set you back around £150 - well-worth it, though, trust me. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
|
|
|
|
martle
|
|
« Reply #764 on: 18:10:32, 22-07-2007 » |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Green. Always green.
|
|
|
|
