BaL 5.03.16 - Delius: Sea Drift

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Mind you, having lived in a Bradford postcode area for twenty years - the weather here doesn't half help you follow Delius' unique handling of Form/Structure! (More Woolmills and trams than Cowpats in this Music!)

I thought it was trolley buses in Bradford of old.

[visualnickmos]

Somewhat against the flow, I generally enjoy listening to Delius, but Sea Drift - of which I have ended up with two recordings(!), is not one of my favourites...

The two are Beecham's (now sounding very aged, indeed) 1954 with Bryce Boyce, and the BBCMM with Hampson - which I must give a re-spin - try to get to like the piece more...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I thought it was trolley buses in Bradford of old.

You could well be right - I were living in Lancashire in them days!

[ardcarp]

But you've missed out the essential Scandanavian aspect of his Music - he spent much time in Norway, and was close friends with Grieg, Munch, and Strindberg:

I don't hear any Scandinavian: I mean, Grieg sounds nothing like Delius. Likewise, Sibelius (later) had a a diametrically opposed harmonic palette...I just don't get it. I wonder when the cinema organ came to Bradford?

[Conchis]

I've never paid enough attention to this one, despite owning two recordings (Beecham and Groves).

I'd be interested to hear the BAL recommendation. Johann Reuter has impressed me mightily at the ROH and the Proms.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't hear any Scandinavian: I mean, Grieg sounds nothing like Delius.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTVSQUfKjAk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjOnHfTknxI (go to 1min 09secs in)

... and Delius' Cuckoo is Norwegian, of course. (Annoyingly, I can't find my old Dent Master Musicians on Delius - there was a section devoted to "Delius' Style" that gave specific examples of how Grieg's harmony gave impetus to Delius'.) It is precisely the Northern aspects of the Holten recording that makes it so attractive to me - showing how the Music works magically in the sort of pre-Beecham type of performance that would have been typical at the time it was written and first performed. Delius becomes a bigger* composer as a consequence.

I wonder when the cinema organ came to Bradford?

Around 1911 - the year the Electric Theatre DeLuxe opened, "one of the first cinemas in the city" (although movies had been shown in various venues in the city since the 1890s) - by which time, Delius had long-since left not only Bradford, but even Florida.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bradford_timeline/sets/72157650055618100

EDIT* - "bigger" in the sense that his Music works in a greater variety of performing styles than just that of Beecham. This is not to "diss" Delius' most loyal and favoured conductor; but one often hears the suggestion that Delius' work can only be done successfully in that way.

[Roslynmuse]

I'm glad there's more than one Delius fan on here! I love Sea Drift, and seem to have four recordings - 2 x Beecham, Groves and Elder. I didn't hear today's BaL but if I can find time I'll dip in.

I wonder if any other fellow Mancunians managed to hear Mark Elder's performance of The Song of the High Hills at the Bridgewater Hall last Saturday? Now there's a Scandinavia-inspired piece - specifically the Norwegian mountains - with more than a hint of Grieg in some pages, and a homage to the Siegfried Idyll elsewhere. Gorgeous piece, wonderful performance.

[Karafan]

You could well be right - I were living in Lancashire in them days!

You are right, Alpie!

[Tony Halstead]

I'm glad there's more than one Delius fan on here! I love Sea Drift, and seem to have four recordings - 2 x Beecham, Groves and Elder. I didn't hear today's BaL but if I can find time I'll dip in.

I wonder if any other fellow Mancunians managed to hear Mark Elder's performance of The Song of the High Hills at the Bridgewater Hall last Saturday? Now there's a Scandinavia-inspired piece - specifically the Norwegian mountains - with more than a hint of Grieg in some pages, and a homage to the Siegfried Idyll elsewhere. Gorgeous piece, wonderful performance.

It was indeed a wonderful performance! I was there, having made a special trip from my Dover home to hear it.
It was altogether a great concert, and the Stravinsky and Rachmaninov works, although beautifully performed, simply confirmed, by comparison, what a masterpiece the Delius 'Song of the High Hills' is.

[Roslynmuse]

It was indeed a wonderful performance! I was there, having made a special trip from my Dover home to hear it.
It was altogether a great concert, and the Stravinsky and Rachmaninov works, although beautifully performed, simply confirmed, by comparison, what a masterpiece the Delius 'Song of the High Hills' is.

Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini stood up pretty well though! That's a piece I've known for almost 40 years but never heard live.

[kuligin]

It was a very interesting concert altogether but Tony is quite right the Delius proved to be by far the most substantial piece played and what a performance, the horns in the climax were superb and how well thereafter Elder kept the very slow pulse going with such intensity.

I too have known Francesca for more years than I like to think about and have only heard it once in 1971 the Leningrad Philharmonic under Arvid Yansons at the old free trade hall. Can't remember much about that concert but Elder's approach of playing the outer sections at quite a lick was certainly very exciting.

[BBMmk2]

I be doing another catch up, here. Perhaps I ought to think about getting the podcast? What a pity Hickox or Beecham didn't get into the final frame?

[makropulos]

I be doing another catch up, here. Perhaps I ought to think about getting the podcast? What a pity Hickox or Beecham didn't get into the final frame?

Beecham (with Bruce Boyce) was one of the two chosen at the end.

[ardcarp]

Beecham on Delius:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUjuF773zsI

[Stanfordian]

It was a very interesting concert altogether but Tony is quite right the Delius proved to be by far the most substantial piece played and what a performance, the horns in the climax were superb and how well thereafter Elder kept the very slow pulse going with such intensity.

I too have known Francesca for more years than I like to think about and have only heard it once in 1971 the Leningrad Philharmonic under Arvid Yansons at the old free trade hall. Can't remember much about that concert but Elder's approach of playing the outer sections at quite a lick was certainly very exciting.

Hello kuligin,

Are you going to the Oslo Phil concert under Petrenko at the Bridgewater Hall on Monday evening?