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I've just finished reading (for the nth time) Love Lies Bleeding, by Edmund Crispin (Bruce Montgomery). It features nasty goings-on during a Shakepeare play jointly put on by a boys' and a girls' public school. The Headmaster of one is Dr. Stanford; the Headmistress of the other, Miss Parry.
I would be interested to hear opinions on the respective merits of these composers, music of theirs which stands up today, and any potential for reassessment beside or against Elgar.
New CD of Parry songs to be released soon on Somm label.
Sir Hubert Parry: Twelve Sets of English Lyrics Volume II
Andrew West, James Gilchrist, Roderick Williams, Sarah Fox
Parry's orchestration, though extremely competent, somehow lacks imagination. It's mostly strings sawing away, with colouration from the other sections when needed. I don't suggest it isn't good, but there are missed opportunities - something clearly indicated by comparing the composer's own orchestration of Jerusalem with Elgar's rethinking, shortly afterwards.
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 1848 -- 7 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Parry's first ma...
Interesting point, Alpie - and it's certainly true also of Best Pair of Nylons. But whilst it's true of the choral accompaniments, I don't feel the same sense of "missed opportunities" in the two purely orchestral works of his that I know best: the Fifth Symphony and the Elegy for Brahms.
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]
Parry's orchestration, though extremely competent, somehow lacks imagination. It's mostly strings sawing away, with colouration from the other sections when needed. I don't suggest it isn't good, but there are missed opportunities - something clearly indicated by comparing the composer's own orchestration of Jerusalem with Elgar's rethinking, shortly afterwards.
Parry's orchestration, though extremely competent, somehow lacks imagination. It's mostly strings sawing away, with colouration from the other sections when needed. I don't suggest it isn't good, but there are missed opportunities - something clearly indicated by comparing the composer's own orchestration of Jerusalem with Elgar's rethinking, shortly afterwards.
Could Brahms's example be the explanation? It does surprise me in Parry's case, given there are often strong Wagnerian traits in the harmony, particularly from "Die Meistersinger" in "Blest Nair of Pylons", often felt to define "Britishness" as an idiom.
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