Parry

[verismissimo]

I listened to some of today's broadcast and thought how, well, second rate the music was.

Shame.

[Serial_Apologist]

I listened to some of today's broadcast and thought how, well, second rate the music was.

Shame.

The Victorian parlour songs are an embarrassment, but there are plenty of gems among the dross, verismissimo, and I think the best way to get the gist of Parry - and what he meant as teacher and composer to Elgar and indeed Vaughan Williams and others - is to hear the entire week's programmes. British music was emerging from the doldrums of well-nigh 200 years of derivativeness based on continental models since the time of Purcell, and trying to find its own voice.

[Parry1912]

Unfortunately, there's a very limited selection of recordings for R3 to choose from. There's very little in this week's programmes that I haven't got (or at least heard). Of course, every composer has embarrassing pot-boilers in their output but as S-A says there are gems among Parry's works (e.g the fifth symphony). Maybe there's also some good stuff still to be recorded (Prometheus Unbound perhaps?)

[EdgeleyRob]

Another Parrysian here.

I think second rate is a bit harsh for the 3rd Symphony,Piano Concerto and Violin Sonata (chunks of which were aired today).
Not all his output is top notch but then whose is ?

I love listening to Parry and Stanford and I always feel a sense of the land without music trying to find it's own unique voice (as S_A says).
I am sure the seeds of so many great works by Elgar,RVW,Finzi,Howells etc,etc (even Britten) were sown in the music these two composers.
Not being a musicologist or capable of any sort of musical analysis,I can't put my finger on why this is,perhaps some of our experts can help (eg Parry writes A which led to Elgar's B).You can't always hear the influence but I am sure it is there (oh for a musical education!).
I feel quite proud, I suppose,of HP and CS and think if only they could hear some of the wonderful British music that followed,and which maybe wouldn't have been written if it hadn't been for those two.
Or maybe I'm talking nonesense again.

[teamsaint]

Another Parrysian here.

I think second rate is a bit harsh for the 3rd Symphony,Piano Concerto and Violin Sonata (chunks of which were aired today).
Not all his output is top notch but then whose is ?

I love listening to Parry and Stanford and I always feel a sense of the land without music trying to find it's own unique voice (as S_A says).
I am sure the seeds of so many great works by Elgar,RVW,Finzi,Howells etc,etc (even Britten) were sown in the music these two composers.
Not being a musicologist or capable of any sort of musical analysis,I can't put my finger on why this is,perhaps some of our experts can help (eg Parry writes A which led to Elgar's B).You can't always hear the influence but I am sure it is there (oh for a musical education!).
I feel quite proud, I suppose,of HP and CS and think if only they could hear some of the wonderful British music that followed,and which maybe wouldn't have been written if it hadn't been for those two.
Or maybe I'm talking nonesense again.

Great post till the last line,ER

One day I will Stanford and Parry the time they deserve.

[Pabmusic]

...Maybe there's also some good stuff still to be recorded (Prometheus Unbound perhaps?)

There is a huge amount of stuff unrecorded - and I do mean huge. Much of it exists only in manuscript, mainly at the RCM. I've done a little to help (a suite from The Birds) ; several others, such as Lewis Foreman, have done much more.

My own notes suggest he wrote 17 orchestral works, of which the unpublished Suite Moderne of 1886 is something I've been working on. The full orchestra version of Lady Radnor's Suite has never been recorded, even though it's easily available. There's eight sets of incidental music and 21 choral works with orchestra, only a handful of which have been recorded.

[salymap]

50 years or so ago I knew him mainly for choral works. Blest Pair of Sirens, Job, Judith, Ode to St Cecilia's Day, were staple diet for choral societies.

It's easy to patronise him but some good posts here about his influence on later composers, which was never much discussed years ago.

[Pabmusic]

50 years or so ago I knew him mainly for choral works. Blest Pair of Sirens, Job, Judith, Ode to St Cecilia's Day, were staple diet for choral societies.

It's easy to patronise him but some good posts here about his influence on later composers, which was never much discussed years ago.

We forget things he took on. Many of the big festival choral works were written in a hurry. There are anecdotes about Parry's taking 10 minutes between lectures to scribble down another two bars of music. But then again, he did write some pieces (such as the humanist Vision of Life) that were very much 'from the heart'. Someone (?Elgar) commented that Parry was just too nice and could never say 'no' to anyone.

[BBMmk2]

I love Parry'smusic, his symphonies, yes his choral music and also his chamber music. There is much more than just Jersusalem.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

There is a huge amount of stuff unrecorded - and I do mean huge. Much of it exists only in manuscript, mainly at the RCM. I've done a little to help (a suite from The Birds) ; several others, such as Lewis Foreman, have done much more.

Is there a Parry "society" which might encourage the rediscovery of these forgotten works?

[kuligin]

Glad to see I am not alone in admiring Parry

The works I love the most are the Orchestral Variations and Symphony 5 as played by Boult and of the choral works the Ode to the Nativity.

Yes he was rightly eclipsed by Elgar but there are many works that are worth playing, so sorry Verismo found the early works " second rate" certainly some of the songs are weak, there are some gems, did not Janet Baker record one or two of them.

I think of Parry much more than Stanford as the real start of the British revival, for all the influence of Brahms and Schumann, there is something very English about his music.

[verismissimo]

Glad to see I am not alone in admiring Parry

The works I love the most are the Orchestral Variations and Symphony 5 as played by Boult and of the choral works the Ode to the Nativity.

Yes he was rightly eclipsed by Elgar but there are many works that are worth playing, so sorry Verismo found the early works " second rate" certainly some of the songs are weak, there are some gems, did not Janet Baker record one or two of them.

I think of Parry much more than Stanford as the real start of the British revival, for all the influence of Brahms and Schumann, there is something very English about his music.

Encouraged by the pushback, I'm about to re-address S5/Boult!

[LeMartinPecheur]

Yes he was rightly eclipsed by Elgar but there are many works that are worth playing, so sorry Verismo found the early works " second rate" certainly some of the songs are weak, there are some gems, did not Janet Baker record one or two of them.

I have Proud Maisie and O mistress mine (HQS 1091, 1967) and O mistress mine (ASD 2929, 1973, appears to be a different recording), all with Gerald Moore.

I think that's all her Parry songs in studio recordings but there might be live or off-air ones. Would be pleased to hear of any more.

[Pabmusic]

Is there a Parry "society" which might encourage the rediscovery of these forgotten works?

No, I don't think so. But you're right - it needs an organised approach. I think I've noted before that, when Boult made his famous last recording, he chose music by Parry. He wanted to record From Death To Life (he'd been present at its only performance just before WW1) but no-one could find the performance materials, so he re-recorded the Symphonic Variations. That's the sort of frustrating situation one's up against.

[BBMmk2]

His Fifth Symphony(I believe)?