If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Probably not much point my reiterating enthusiasm for the David Matthews Symphonies yet again....
(But.... try 4,5,7 and 9 as "entry points", rather than the epic 6th..... 8th remains unrecorded...)...
But what about Maxwell Davies?
Not much played now, his 10 Symphonies must be by far the most original such creations post-war....7 and 8 still lack recordings...
Scarcely surprising given their complexity and "difficulty"..(often based on medieval chants and plainsong, flowing and densely contrapuntal).. but so very rewarding to return to...
http
Was at the première, & thought it a fine work, if not displacing those of his earlier "enfant terrible" phase,"Worldes Blis", 8 Songs, "Taverner", et al, in my affections...
Simpson's 9th (50' continuous play, multi sectional), on Hyperion, was of course the Gramophone Contemporary Record of the Year for 1989.... I bet it's on many shelves of contributors here...
Then considered his magnum opus.....or any magnum opus!
How soon we forget.... Tempora Mutantur........etc
But 3-5 are probably the best (catchiest! Yes, really...) entry points....10th has a sublime slow movement, and the structure is similar to the Hammerklavier overall...
Nielsen was probably Simpson's true "master" or forebear, which may offer some explanation why some who find that music difficult are put off...
Sorry, bit rushed today...(and don't get me started on Gerhard.... wonderful obsession to have...)
Coffee and croissant, then off out.... too much goin' on today...
Yes the Bob Simpson Hyperion box is one of my most treasured sets,must re think my top 20,like I said 20 is not enough.
Some others represented on my shelves
Daniel Jones,Alun Hoddinott,Arthur Butterworth,Arnold Cooke,Steve Elcock,David Hackbridge Johnson,John Gardner,John Veale....
“Music is the best means we have of digesting time." — Igor Stravinsky
My CD collection includes one or more symphonies by Alwyn, Berkeley, Boughton, Hoddinott, Mathias and Rawsthorne, plus other composers included in a recently purchased Lyrita box set.
R. O. Morris wrote a symphony - it was published, too. How interesting it would be to hear that, given his influence on British music (Tippett, Lambert, Rubbra, Finzi, Lutyens, Stevens, Milner, Coulthard, Milford, Ferguson, etc.).
Probably too late to the party - Arthur Butterworth is worth a mention, as is Robert Still (3rd and 4th symphonies on Lyrita, the 4th being my particular favourite).
I can remember hearing and rather liking a symphony by Patric Standford.
From his Wiki biography it is likely to have been number 5, a BBC commission, though I don't recall it having a solo soprano.
I can remember hearing and rather liking a symphony by Patrick Stanford.
From his Wiki biography it is likely to have been number 5, a BBC commission, though I don't recall it having a solo soprano. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patric_Standford
Naxos have issued recordings of the 1st symphony and the Christmas Carol Symphony (and other works).
Comment