I always found Tippett's new works difficult at first, from The Vision of S. Augustine (where I began) onwards. But repeated listening soon revealed its wonders. He was often accused of being twee and even incompetent, but now he's increasingly being shown to have knowing what he was doing all along.
New Year (Tippett)
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Originally posted by smittims View PostI always found Tippett's new works difficult at first, from The Vision of S. Augustine (where I began) onwards. But repeated listening soon revealed its wonders. He was often accused of being twee and even incompetent, but now he's increasingly being shown to have knowing what he was doing all along.
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I resent any attempt to group me with those who dismiss Tippett too easily, on the basis of my inability to see anything much in New Year. My 'Tippett pedigree' is pretty good: I was at the first performance of the Triple concerto and the 4th Piano Sonata, the first British performance of The Mask of Time, went to The Ice Break in its first run,...I could go on. And I have not been in the position of taking time to 'get' new works, particularly. I went to one of the rare performances of The Vision Of St Augustine (knowing it from the LP), and I've always loved that work. There are so many fine neglected works that it pains me when people revive undistinguished ones, such as The Rose Lake or New Year. Nevertheless Brabyns is obviously a hero for me, with, e.g. Steven Osborne and now Ed Gardner (and Simon Rattle has the Ritual Dances in his concert on the 12th January at the Barbican! I'll be there).
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Originally posted by silvestrione View PostI resent any attempt to group me with those who dismiss Tippett too easily, on the basis of my inability to see anything much in New Year. My 'Tippett pedigree' is pretty good: I was at the first performance of the Triple concerto and the 4th Piano Sonata, the first British performance of The Mask of Time, went to The Ice Break in its first run,...I could go on. And I have not been in the position of taking time to 'get' new works, particularly. I went to one of the rare performances of The Vision Of St Augustine (knowing it from the LP), and I've always loved that work. There are so many fine neglected works that it pains me when people revive undistinguished ones, such as The Rose Lake or New Year. Nevertheless Brabyns is obviously a hero for me, with, e.g. Steven Osborne and now Ed Gardner (and Simon Rattle has the Ritual Dances in his concert on the 12th January at the Barbican! I'll be there).
It may be that others will argue that this sense of strain is the very point that makes their case for it!
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Taking this 'new' work in slowly, first hearing just this afternoon. One thing seemed obvious, listening "between the lines" of her questioning to the panel, Kate Molleson seems not to be a Tippett (or late-Tippett) fan ...predictably dragging up stock-in-trade Tippett attack phrases suchs as "bonkers plot", "cultural appropriation" (Donny's music), etc. Where was the Listening Service?
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Originally posted by Boilk View PostTaking this 'new' work in slowly, first hearing just this afternoon. One thing seemed obvious, listening "between the lines" of her questioning to the panel, Kate Molleson seems not to be a Tippett (or late-Tippett) fan ...predictably dragging up stock-in-trade Tippett attack phrases suchs as "bonkers plot", "cultural appropriation" (Donny's music), etc. Where was the Listening Service?
It’s Tippett’s combination of musico- compositional fastidiousness, borrowing from other genres and very English eccentricity (or bonkersness ) that makes his work so interesting .
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Originally posted by Boilk View PostTaking this 'new' work in slowly, first hearing just this afternoon. One thing seemed obvious, listening "between the lines" of her questioning to the panel, Kate Molleson seems not to be a Tippett (or late-Tippett) fan ...predictably dragging up stock-in-trade Tippett attack phrases suchs as "bonkers plot", "cultural appropriation" (Donny's music), etc. Where was the Listening Service?
... or sing her this song from The Tempest:
The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I,
The gunner and his mate,
Loved Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery,
But none of us cared for Kate.
For she had a tongue with a tang,
Would cry to a sailor, “Go hang!”
She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch,
Yet a tailor might scratch her where'er she did itch.
Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang!
(And by the way, Tippett's setting of this ditty for the Old Vic production was a corker.)
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There was a memorable concert at the QEH in 1980 or '81 when the Tempest music , or most of it, was performed in concert, conducted, I think, by a young Nicholas Kraemer. It may well have included 'Stephano's song'. The concert was also memorable for Michael himself turning up to conduct the Concerto for Double String Orchestra in whchthe middle movement was less pastoral idyll than rigorous yearning, which reminded me of his words about his time among the unemployed miners : 'when I returnned to the well-fed south, I felt ashamed'.
To be fair to Kate Molleson (for once!) I think she was playing devil's avocate to provoke a robust reply from Oliver Soden. It worked. He was the voice we needed to hear, she was just the 'feed'.
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Originally posted by smittims View PostThere was a memorable concert at the QEH in 1980 or '81 when the Tempest music , or most of it, was performed in concert, conducted, I think, by a young Nicholas Kraemer. It may well have included 'Stephano's song'.
In the "official" suite from the 1960 Old Vic production, made in 1995 by Meirion Bowen, the song appears in an instrumental rather than the original vocal version which you doubtless heard c.1980. The 1995 Suite (Nash Ensemble, Martyn Hill tenor, Stephen Barrell baritone, conducted by Andrew Parrott) had its BBC broadcast premiere that year, surprising new listeners by its foretastes of The Knot Garden, in Ariel's music and elsewhere, which had clearly germinated in part during the writing of that 1960 stage score.
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Originally posted by Master Jacques View PostThank you, smittims.
In the "official" suite from the 1960 Old Vic production, made in 1995 by Meirion Bowen, the song appears in an instrumental rather than the original vocal version which you doubtless heard c.1980. The 1995 Suite (Nash Ensemble, Martyn Hill tenor, Stephen Barrell baritone, conducted by Andrew Parrott) had its BBC broadcast premiere that year, surprising new listeners by its foretastes of The Knot Garden, in Ariel's music and elsewhere, which had clearly germinated in part during the writing of that 1960 stage score.
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Released on 14 March 2025
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