Prom 33: Elgar / Holst / Stanford / Vaughan Williams, BBC SO, Maltman / Brabbins

[smittims]

I haven't been able to get a list of the perfromers, but I'm guessing the Indra is David Atherton, the Japanese suite and Somerset Rhapsody Barry Wordsworth and the Mystic Trumpeter Susan Gritton , BBC S.O. and Andrew Davis. These were all Radio 3 broadcasts, though the last also appears on a Chandos CD, I think.

A favourite Holst work of mine is the Ode to Death, again neglected for decades, but brought out when the BBC were 'doing' the Great War. Despite its uninviting title, it's a sursprisingly radiant and serene work.

[Historian]

A favourite Holst work of mine is the Ode to Death, again neglected for decades, but brought out when the BBC were 'doing' the Great War. Despite its uninviting title, it's a sursprisingly radiant and serene work.

Agreed: this is a lovely work which deserves to be better known (along with a lot of Holst's other music).

[mopsus]

Agreed: this is a lovely work which deserves to be better known (along with a lot of Holst's other music).

It got an outing at the 3 Choirs Festival last year (I sang in the performance).

[Pulcinella]

I haven't been able to get a list of the perfromers, but I'm guessing the Indra is David Atherton, the Japanese suite and Somerset Rhapsody Barry Wordsworth and the Mystic Trumpeter Susan Gritton , BBC S.O. and Andrew Davis. These were all Radio 3 broadcasts, though the last also appears on a Chandos CD, I think.

A favourite Holst work of mine is the Ode to Death, again neglected for decades, but brought out when the BBC were 'doing' the Great War. Despite its uninviting title, it's a sursprisingly radiant and serene work.

Sorry: I could have been kinder.

Indra: BBCNOW/Atherton (Proms, 12 August 2013)
The Mystic Trumpeter: Susan Gritton, BBCCO/Wordsworth (Snape, 21 December 2019)
A Somerset Rhapsody and Japanese Suite: BBCCO/Wordsworth (Watford Colosseum, 11 January 2018)
The Perfect Fool: BBCCO/Wordsworth (Cadogan Hall, 5 December 2012)
Four Part Songs: BBC Singers/David Hill (Studio 2, Maida Vale, 7 January 2022)

[Historian]

It got an outing at the 3 Choirs Festival last year (I sang in the performance).

Envious (sorry).

[smittims]

Phew! I was close, Pulcinella!.

Glad to hear Ode to Death was done at the Three Choirs. It must have sounded wonderful in a cathedral acoustic, especially the passage where the choir sings unaccompanied except for a 32ft. organ pedal :

And the soul turning toward thee, O vast and well-veiled Death
And the body gratefully nestling close to thee.

[mopsus]

It went down well. Sadly, the pedal had to be supplied by the toaster that has currently replaced Gloucester Cathedral's organ.

[edashtav]

Somewhere on this thread , I recall seeing bsp questioning the BBC timing for RVW's London Symphony 57'.

The BBC has broadcast several versions of the symphony in this century.
The RVW authority, Michael Kennedy has written:

"There can be no question of the original version supplanting the revision. The 1936 score represents the symphony as Vaughan Williams wanted it to exist for posterity. The cuts and re-scorings were his own decisions, not forced on him, like Bruckner's, by well-meaning friends. Vaughan Williams would, and did, ask for advice, but never took it against his own inclinations."

The original 1914 (Mahlerian) lax version had many more bars and lasted c. 20 minutes longer than the final (Sibelian) taut score of 1936.

A humble BBC Intern armed with Sounds and a stopwatch could well have 'averaged' recent broadcasts of early and late variants of the London Symphony, added a few seconds for inappropriate inter movement clapping and arrived at 57", although <40' minutes is more likely to be outcome this evening.

[oliver sudden]

Somewhere on this thread , I recall seeing bsp questioning the BBC timing for RVW's London Symphony 57"

Not so much Sibelian as Webernian!

[edashtav]

Not so much Sibelian as Webernian!

C'MON, Oliver... I can't think of ANY Webern piece that approaches 40' in length. CAN YOU?

[Pulcinella]

C'MON, Oliver... I can't think of ANY Webern piece that approaches 40' in length. CAN YOU?

I think that Oliver is commenting on the symbol " used, I'm sure inadvertently: 57 seconds for RVW would indeed be Webernian.

[edashtav]

I think that Oliver is commenting on the symbol " used, I'm sure inadvertently: 57 seconds for RVW would indeed be Webernian.

Well spotted. I'll edit it and we'll see if Oliver saw it, too. TA!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Somewhere on this thread , I recall seeing bsp questioning the BBC timing for RVW's London Symphony 57'.

The BBC has broadcast several versions of the symphony in this century.
The RVW authority, Michael Kennedy has written:

"There can be no question of the original version supplanting the revision. The 1936 score represents the symphony as Vaughan Williams wanted it to exist for posterity. The cuts and re-scorings were his own decisions, not forced on him, like Bruckner's, by well-meaning friends. Vaughan Williams would, and did, ask for advice, but never took it against his own inclinations."

The original 1914 (Mahlerian) lax version had many more bars and lasted c. 20 minutes longer than the final (Sibelian) taut score of 1936.

A humble BBC Intern armed with Sounds and a stopwatch could well have 'averaged' recent broadcasts of early and late variants of the London Symphony, added a few seconds for inappropriate inter movement clapping and arrived at 57", although <40' minutes is more likely to be outcome this evening.

It’s about 45 mins for the revision and 1’ 05 mins for the original . I don’t think interns get to do things like programme timings - even estimated ones - it’s far too responsible a job not least because of the overtime implications of getting it wrong. They might be entrusted with things like bar counting in a TV OB , escorting guests etc - responsible work in itself.

[oliver sudden]

Well spotted. I'll edit it and we'll see if Oliver saw it, too. TA!

[edashtav]

Elgar Cockaigne Overture. ( In London Town)

What a coherent programme.

Elgar, to my ears, conjures tales of London, starting with knights of olden times. Brabbins and a jaunty clarinettist brought us to bustling 20th century. But wistfulness and a sense of loss often cloud Elgar's vision although in this extrovert overture Elgar conquers worries as he dons his marching boots and gets into the swing of things with wistlful being surplanted by a prayerful & hopeful horn solo. What riotous orchestration - just compare it with Hubert Parry or C.V.Stanford. Whùen the big tune makes a final grandiloquent entrance on trombones I smile at the thought that Trumpeter Malcolm Arnold owed so much to EE

Holst Hammersmith for Orchestra

I feel that Holst and Vaughan Williams felt that the Thames was a dark, dank swirling and dangerous river with many secrets. Compare it with the Seine, the throbbing lifeblood of the 2024 Olympics.

A great if troubling piece that I got to know through its original military band version in a 45r.p.m. recording by the Eastman Rochester Brass Ensemble. There's an unsatisfied loneliness in Hammersmith that takes me to Holst's masterpiece 'Egdon Heath'. RVW's London Symphony finishes with similar unhappiness

A very fine performance by the BBC SO under Martyn Brabbins.
STANFORD- Songs of Faith (1906)
The Faery Lough
Songs with orchestra were 'de rigueur' in Edwardian England as they were across Europr. Elgar, Bantock and Stanford were enjoyed at London's Crystal Palace whilst R.Strauss and Gastav Mahler vied for attention in Vienna .

Christopher Maltman presented his choice of 4 songs with excellent diction and fine characterisation.