BaL 9.12.17 - Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius

[Beef Oven!]

If you see negative opinions from such respected Elgar authorities as Michael Kennedy or Jerrold Northrop Moore then you take note. I forget who penned the Gramophone review (probably MK) but if you enjoy it yourself then you question your own judgement in the light of such reviews. I don't take much notice nowadays but back then it was a different story when cash was tighter and not be wasted on a recording that didn't cut it.

I'm baffled as to what has changed.

Yes, indeed. Back then I took too much notice of 'professional' commentators and questioned myself. I don't any more.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

If you see negative opinions from such respected Elgar authorities as Michael Kennedy or Jerrold Northrop Moore then you take note. I forget who penned the Gramophone review (probably MK)

Edward Seckerson!

I'm baffled as to what has changed.

Reading the Gramophone Review now, it isn't quite as damning as I'd remembered it being:

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/elgar-the-dream-of-gerontius-etc

... but it does read as a response to merely one or two hearings; maybe, for critics who didn't get it the first time, the Handley is a "grower" - the performance's powerful virtues becoming increasingly obvious with each hearing? Or perhaps JNM or MK would have spotted them much more readily than ES?

[Beef Oven!]

Edward Seckerson!


Reading the Gramophone Review now, it isn't quite as damning as I'd remembered it being:

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/elgar-the-dream-of-gerontius-etc

... but it does read as a response to merely one or two hearings; maybe, for critics who didn't get it the first time, the Handley is a "grower" - the performance's powerful virtues becoming increasingly obvious with each hearing? Or perhaps JNM or MK would have spotted them much more readily than ES?

Or maybe the whole business of reviews and BaLs etc is not a science.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Or maybe the whole business of reviews and BaLs etc is not a science.

- that's an advantage of BaL; you can actually hear it when a reviewer starts talking from an alternative orifice.

[seabright]

I suppose a DVD doesn't count in a BAL but the 1968 Canterbury Cathedral film on ICA Classics is another performance worth mentioning. Vernon Handley rehearsed the LPO & Choir and Boult emerged from behind a pillar when they came to film the actual 'takes.' Peter Pears was in much better voice than on his Decca recording with Britten, while Janet Baker and John Shirley-Quirk were excellent too. On the debit side, there were far too many shots of ceilings and stained glass windows but not enough of the conductor. Still, it remains an interesting filmed record, as this little 'preview' clip will show ...

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

[Beef Oven!]

- that's an advantage of BaL; you can actually hear it when a reviewer starts talking from an alternative orifice.

[pastoralguy]

Yes, indeed. Back then I took too much notice of 'professional' commentators and questioned myself. I don't any more.

It's no secret that I'm lucky enough to live in a city where there are many charity shops selling lots of classical CDs. Very often, I bring a cd home and, after having listened to it and enjoyed it, I discover that Gramophone has damned it with faint praise. Maybe I'm not critical enough and simply get swept away in the performance but I do wonder if some of the nits being picked are simply the result of personal prejudice. I think the point by Petrushka about cash being tighter and not not wasting money on second rate recordings is a pertinent one. (I found the Muti/Philadelphia Beethoven Symphony cycle for £1.50 last week so I can evaluate this recording without money having been wasted). As a school boy with very limited funds I hated buying an Lp that got a poor review since it felt it almost felt like I'd been conned.

[pastoralguy]

I suppose a DVD doesn't count in a BAL but the 1968 Canterbury Cathedral film on ICA Classics is another performance worth mentioning. Vernon Handley rehearsed the LPO & Choir and Boult emerged from behind a pillar when they came to film the actual 'takes.' Peter Pears was in much better voice than on his Decca recording with Britten, while Janet Baker and John Shirley-Quirk were excellent too. On the debit side, there were far too many shots of ceilings and stained glass windows but not enough of the conductor. Still, it remains an interesting filmed record, as this little 'preview' clip will show ...

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

I borrowed this this from the public library and was disappointed with the poor presentation. As Seabright says, there were too many shots of ecclesiastical furniture and not enough of the choir and orchestra.

[Petrushka]

Edward Seckerson!


Reading the Gramophone Review now, it isn't quite as damning as I'd remembered it being

It isn't is it? For some reason, though, I'd held it in my memory as a negative review to remember. I must have imagined any negative comments about the backward recording of the chorus, unless that appeared elsewhere. Certainly, upon re-reading it ES's review is very perceptive and more positive than not.

[Beef Oven!]

It's no secret that I'm lucky enough to live in a city where there are many charity shops selling lots of classical CDs. Very often, I bring a cd home and, after having listened to it and enjoyed it, I discover that Gramophone has damned it with faint praise. Maybe I'm not critical enough and simply get swept away in the performance but I do wonder if some of the nits being picked are simply the result of personal prejudice. I think the point by Petrushka about cash being tighter and not not wasting money on second rate recordings is a pertinent one. (I found the Muti/Philadelphia Beethoven Symphony cycle for £1.50 last week so I can evaluate this recording without money having been wasted). As a school boy with very limited funds I hated buying an Lp that got a poor review since it felt it almost felt like I'd been conned.

I guess for me also - some of it is the hangover from schooldays when funds were tight and you simply couldn't take a risk on an LP that got a bad review.

[EdgeleyRob]

Yes, indeed. Back then I took too much notice of 'professional' commentators and questioned myself. I don't any more.

Yep I think we've all been there.

[ardcarp]

there were too many shots of ecclesiastical furniture and not enough of the choir and orchestra.

Years ago, when arty shots were beginning to be fashionable, there was a music broadcast (not Gerontius, but I can't remember what)) from Ely Cathedral. At one point the camera was underneath the lantern pointing vertically upwards and began to rotate, getting faster and faster. It made me feel queasy (and I'm never, never sick at sea; what, never?) and blow me, they repeated the effect several times during the transmission. Very silly IMO.

[vibratoforever]

What a strange BAL, with nothing to be heard from lengthy important chunks of the score - Praise to the Holiest, Take Me Away etc. over 30 minutes, a third of the piece, ignored.

[Pulcinella]

Years ago, when arty shots were beginning to be fashionable, there was a music broadcast (not Gerontius, but I can't remember what)) from Ely Cathedral. At one point the camera was underneath the lantern pointing vertically upwards and began to rotate, getting faster and faster. It made me feel queasy (and I'm never, never sick at sea; what, never?) and blow me, they repeated the effect several times during the transmission. Very silly IMO.

A Mahler 2, I think, perhaps LSO/Bernstein?

[mikealdren]

Years ago, when arty shots were beginning to be fashionable, there was a music broadcast (not Gerontius, but I can't remember what)) from Ely Cathedral. At one point the camera was underneath the lantern pointing vertically upwards and began to rotate, getting faster and faster. It made me feel queasy (and I'm never, never sick at sea; what, never?) and blow me, they repeated the effect several times during the transmission. Very silly IMO.

They probably had a camera in place and wanted to get value out of it, cameras were fewer and less mobile in those days and but they had (and still have) directors who were more interested in 'artistic effects' than music.

A bit of a hobby horse, but for me a few cameras that move relatively little is ideal for most music.