The Prince and the Composer (Parry)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Is anyone watching this? Prince Charles is surprisingly knowledgeable.
There's more to Parry that his Royal Wedding music.

[Flosshilde]

Is the Prince supposed to make Parry more appealing, or vice-versa? I think listening to Prince Charles chuntering on in his strangulated tones & almost immobile lower jaw would be the kiss of death for any subject (geddit?).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes, but I was really referring to the music and the content of the programme. Prince Charles comes across as genuinely sincere, without any "celebrity gushing". In other words, he's not seeking attention for himself; instead, he's diverting the viewers to the music. Nothing wrong with that.

[Nick Armstrong]

I am and I disagree Flossie... Yes, there's a sense that Charlie is rather a parody of himself and a slight sense of embarrassment in watching him, but at the same time I find it encouraging that he's a Parry nut (I wonder how many on these boards would come across as 'chuntering' in various idiosyncratic ways if they were allowed to produce a programme about the off-the-beaten track composer for whom they have an enthusiasm - it would be a pity to be entirely turned off by that). I'm finding I can see beyond any mannerisms to aspects of a composer I knew next to nothing about. I also happened to be able to catch some of the symphonies in the morning this week, particularly No 5 this morning which is featuring in the programme tonight. The "Love" movement is gorgeous. And nice to see Norris illustrating interesting aspects of familiar tunes like Jerusalem (fascinating that the piece begins with its highest note, the final chord almost but not quite managing to attain that note again...). Good old Charles for chuntering on about something of which it's well worth getting under the surface.

[Mandryka]

Yes, but I was really referring to the music and the content of the programme. Prince Charles comes across as genuinely sincere, without any "celebrity gushing". In other words, he's not seeking attention for himself; instead, he's diverting the viewers to the music. Nothing wrong with that.

True: the P of W has some very genuine, and arcane, enthusiasms - we should be happy that he wants to share them with us, rather than trying to persuade us that he's a 'regular guy' who watches the X-Factor and The Apprentice.

Hst, I don't think anyone could make me enthusiastic about Parry. Nice try, though, YRH.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm taken with the Parry Magnificat.

[Chris Newman]

I am with Eine Alpensinfonie and Caliban on this one, and I am not a royalist. It was interesting to put a partial enthusiast (HRH) in at the deep end and chuck some Parry works at him of which he (nor I) was not aware. He spoke as honestly as most of us would have done if we were all sitting around a TV with our preconceived ideas about Parry and with an equal sense of surprise at hearing members of Parry's family. I loved the contributions of David Owen Norris expressing what appeals about the well-known melodies and equally the deeper thoughts of "Officer" Dibble and Vassily Sinaisky.

To hear some thoughts on families and how they get on were familiar, shocking, and extremely honest on the part of HRH.

I, too, was taken by the Magnificat.

[Serial_Apologist]

I thought that using Parry as his foil (pun intended) it was interesting from the pov of saying as much about Charles and his relationship with his dad as about its subject matter.

Still haven't worked out why Parry's music works better when setting words.

s_a

[Chris Newman]

Can we blend the two threads please?

[french frank]

I've closed the one on The Choir board but you can read it here. (They didn't seem to merge very well.)

[decantor]

Unless I misheard or misunderstood, HRH seemed to say that he first heard Blest Pair of Sirens at his 60th birthday party. Since BPoS has been fairly consistently in the choral repertoire over the years (I first sang it myself as a treble in 1954), it rather implies that the PoW is a recent convert to Parry, or else not a regular listener. Not that that invalidates the programme, which I rather enjoyed for its very Englishness (sic), and which was usefully informative even if I do hate "bleeding chunks" of music with voice-overs. HRH himself perhaps lacked the vocabulary to describe his enthusiasm cogently, but it was surely sincere, and there were enough articulate talking heads to maintain interest. So I guess that's a 'thumbs-up' from me.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've closed the one on The Choir board but you can read it here. (They didn't seem to merge very well.)

Oops! Sorry, Ardcarp! My fault. Before opening this thread, I did check to see whether there was one in existence, but clearly failed in my attempt.

[Segilla]

On first hearing Parry's 5th I dismissed its first mvt as boring, (shame on me - but it was many, many years ago). Mentioning this to a friend, he remarked, (shame on him) on the depths to which English music had sunk.

I was working on my car one Saturday afternoon ca. 1967 and heard VW's comment to the effect that "Blest Pair of Sirens was the most important piece of English music composed since ...". and when it was played my ears started to become unblocked.

Now that I've heard most of Parry's recorded works I humbly apologise.

It was a pity that no mention was made in the film of Parry's fine 'Invocation to Music', (which includes a section very much like the form of 'Blest Pair') and cannot understand why it, like the symphonies is ignored / uknown.
These works deserve to be staple fare at the Proms rather than familiar ones by other composers which can be heard regularly on the radio and available in many recordings.

[BBMmk2]

I have yet to watch thisprogramme. I will later today.

[Keraulophone]

I too was struck by how few of Parry's works HRH seemed to know. When I heard that the March from The Birds , used in the opening procession at W & K's do, had been used previously at the Coronation (or was it his parents' wedding?) I was amused that Charles had not heard the piece.

Apart from 'Best Pair of Nylons', which our cathedral choir regularly sings (words approximate) at the last Evensong of the choir's year, my favourite Parry moment is the extended version of 'Dear Lord and Father' from its Judith original, with the words 'Long since in Egypt's plenteous land'. A great rendition of it can be found on the David Hill Winchester Cathedral/Bournemouth SO Argo CD.

Good for him, though, for drawing attention to a fine composer. I enjoyed the 5th Symphony at last year's Proms even more than the famous Boult disc - his final recording request to EMI.