Lark Ascending - choir version

[ardcarp]

Not sure if this is the right thread but the [somewhat mis-named?] afternoon concert included the arrangement for solo violin and choir of VW's Lark Ascending.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000d7zl

....about 1hr 37 mins from start. BBC Singers plus violinist whose name I did not catch...and not credited on the website.

Somewhere on Youtube is Nigel Kennedy and the Swedish Radio Choir.

[Edgy 2]

Nooooooo

Driving home from Salford,after watching the brilliant John Wilson conduct RVW 6,it came on the radio,instant switch over to TalkSport.

Love the piece to bits but not like this.

Elodie Chousmer-Howells was the soloist btw.

[ardcarp]

Inclined to agree...and I'm not too keen on the piano version either. The string sonority seems so 'right'.

[Felix the Gnat]

Nooooooo

Driving home from Salford,after watching the brilliant John Wilson conduct RVW 6,it came on the radio,instant switch over to TalkSport.

Love the piece to bits but not like this.

I suppose you don't like the reggae version either?

[Edgy 2]

I suppose you don't like the reggae version either?

[Pulcinella]

I suppose you don't like the reggae version either?

Might be an improvement on the BBC Singers, though.

[DracoM]

Sorry - turned it off after mere seconds. One whiff of BBCS and.................

[Once Was 4]

I suppose you don't like the reggae version either?

Hmmm! Reminds me of a student friend (who in time made it to the LSO and to the London session scene) who hated The Dream of Gerontious so much that he devised a 'Dream of Gerontious Rag' number.

And of course there was the pianist who distilled the 'good bits' (Victor Borge?) of Wagner's Ring cycle down to a few minutes (or is my memory at fault again?)

Grrrrr

[cloughie]

Nooooooo

Driving home from Salford,after watching the brilliant John Wilson conduct RVW 6,it came on the radio,instant switch over to TalkSport.

Love the piece to bits but not like this.

Elodie Chousmer-Howells was the soloist btw.

I think it could work but the singing needs to be gentler for the most part.

[Keraulophone]

And of course there was the pianist who distilled the 'good bits' (Victor Borge?) of Wagner's Ring cycle down to a few minutes (or is my memory at fault again?)

.

Anna Russell? [28 mins]

https://youtu.be/eN5dAQLYYrs

.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Anna Russell? [28 mins]
https://youtu.be/eN5dAQLYYrs

... and/or Chabrier (10mins):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G77cvcPA-s

[Cockney Sparrow]

I think Agnus Dei (Barber) and the arrangement of Nimrod (Elgar is in the clear, after his time) "Lux Aeterna" - choral arrangements - are abominations and I make my view clear to any choral director who I work with (not that it has any effect I suspect - but it makes it clear why, when I absent myself from participating in a concert including them).

I think I heard a Lark ascending arrangement with Accordion (an instrument I don't disregard on principle) - possibly in a late night slot. Can't recall much more because I fairly soon turned it off.

I make exception for some decent transcriptions - sort of stuff Stokowski recorded; but they are going in the opposite direction, they're more expensive to perform with full orchestra - the impetus for re-arranging the Lark A., cashing in on its great popularity, is to involve fewer performers - I assume.

[ardcarp]

I think Agnus Dei (Barber) and the arrangement of Nimrod (Elgar is in the clear, after his time) "Lux Aeterna" - choral arrangements - are abominations

So do I (especially towards the end of the Barber where sops get high and squeaky) but (a) audiences tend to like them, and (b) I can't be picky about who I sing for!

However, we'll have to agree to differ on Stokowski arrangements! I find his orchestration turgid in the extreme. OMG his version of Bach's D minor Toccata....

[Stanfordian]

I think Agnus Dei (Barber) and the arrangement of Nimrod (Elgar is in the clear, after his time) "Lux Aeterna" - choral arrangements - are abominations and I make my view clear to any choral director who I work with (not that it has any effect I suspect - but it makes it clear why, when I absent myself from participating in a concert including them).

I think I heard a Lark ascending arrangement with Accordion (an instrument I don't disregard on principle) - possibly in a late night slot. Can't recall much more because I fairly soon turned it off.

I make exception for some decent transcriptions - sort of stuff Stokowski recorded; but they are going in the opposite direction, they're more expensive to perform with full orchestra - the impetus for re-arranging the Lark A., cashing in on its great popularity, is to involve fewer performers - I assume.

After hearing that clip I won't be running out for a version with choir of 'The Lark Ascending'.

A year or three ago in Dresden I was interviewing Arabella Steinbacher who was to play that evening 'The Lark Ascending', a new addition to her repertory. She said to me 'Do you know it?' I nearly spat out my coffee. I'm sure she had no real idea just how popular it is in the UK. The Dresden orchestras don't seem to play much English music especially now Colin Davis isn't there to conduct.

[Once Was 4]

After hearing that clip I won't be running out for a version with choir of 'The Lark Ascending'.

A year or three ago in Dresden I was interviewing Arabella Steinbacher who was to play that evening 'The Lark Ascending', a new addition to her repertory. She said to me 'Do you know it?' I nearly spat out my coffee. I'm sure she had no real idea just how popular it is in the UK. The Dresden orchestras don't seem to play much English music especially now Colin Davis isn't there to conduct.

There's just been a broadcast on BBC Radio 3 of Tatiana's Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin[/I] arranged for violin and orchestra.Really - so much great violin literature and we are subjected to that.

By the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka4GsQHTXSA