tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post7369721436636263905..comments2024-03-28T12:59:05.739-07:00Comments on Iron Tongue of Midnight: "Comment," UneditedLisa Hirschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-16884672868972761172011-04-03T06:33:47.117-07:002011-04-03T06:33:47.117-07:00Henry - Berkshire Record Outlet has a 6-CD box of ...Henry - Berkshire Record Outlet has a 6-CD box of Bantock right now, Vernon Handley & the RPO. It includes Omar Khayyam, three symphonies, and a bunch of other things. $30, which I think is what I paid for my stand-alone copy of Omar.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-25518659398679528072011-03-02T10:38:39.739-08:002011-03-02T10:38:39.739-08:00Now you know. :)Now you know. :)Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-35269529251049780732011-03-02T07:37:30.202-08:002011-03-02T07:37:30.202-08:00If I'd known, I'd have alerted you when th...If I'd known, I'd have alerted you when the Sea Symphony was played down here a couple years ago. Amateur performance, execrable acoustics (it wasn't SSV), and I'd already heard it live myself once in London ... but I went anyway, and was glad I did.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-27494274625874578282011-03-01T21:44:14.132-08:002011-03-01T21:44:14.132-08:00Check Hyperion and Chandos for recordings of Banto...Check Hyperion and Chandos for recordings of Bantock. "Omar Khayyam" is quite splendid and there's an excellent Vernon Hadley recording with Toby Spence and can't remember who else.<br /><br />I'd like an enterprising conductor at one of the great American symphonies to do an RVW symphony cycle. I've heard the 4th in performance twice (an okay performance with Bostein/ASO and a really super performance with Tortelier/SFS); I'm DYING to hear <i>A Sea Symphony</i> live, ditto the <i>Antarctic</i> Symphony...well, you know. Bring 'em on.<br /><br />There's a recording of "Sappho," which I know because I have it, care of a friend who dubbed it for me, but I can't remember anything about who is on it, the label, etc.<br /><br />Eva Turner recorded about half of one of Bantock's songs in maybe 1939; it was only released in this century on the Pearl complete recordings set.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-52412200968961014182011-03-01T19:38:28.236-08:002011-03-01T19:38:28.236-08:00For lovers of art song--at least English art song-...For lovers of art song--at least English art song--Peter Warlock is not forgotten. But unfortunately we're a rare and dying breed. Incidentally, Warlock's "The Curlew" is one of those hidden masterworks that is too little known and almost never performed.<br /><br />Lisa, you're right on that too many people (including some who should know better) dismiss a whole set of English composers (I would add my beloved Gerald Finzi to your list) as boring "pastoralists", when their music is much more complex and interesting and varied than the label implies. But correcting the misimpression would require the bother of actually listening to their music. Much easier to dismiss it and say it's like looking at a cow, like Copland supposedly did with RWV's fabulous Fifth Symphony.<br /><br />I'm intrigued by Bantock's "Sappho". I'll have to give it a listen, if I can find a recording.<br /><br />Oh, one thing more. I think Callimac is onto something with the RVW and Debussy connection. He spend a year in Paris studying with Ravel after all, so it shouldn't surprise if there is a residue of Impressionism in his music.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09479064458942221446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-82456261003639997412011-02-28T19:56:41.916-08:002011-02-28T19:56:41.916-08:00The Debussy prism is just my ears. With the popul...The Debussy prism is just my ears. With the popular "English squire" image of VW in your mind as the starting point, listen to <i>The Lark Ascending</i> next to <i>Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune</i>, or the Pastoral Symphony (the whole thing!) next to <i>La Mer</i>, and decide whether you agree that they're - not interchangeable, by any means - but a lot more alike than the VW stereotype would admit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-60734507505749638852011-02-28T09:57:00.414-08:002011-02-28T09:57:00.414-08:00I am not a big fan of RVW's pastoral-style mus...I am not a big fan of RVW's pastoral-style music, I must admit, but I'd like to hear more about the Debussy prism.<br /><br />Why? Because the author of the Times article preferred a throwaway line to stopping to thinking about what he was writing? I'm reasonably certain he's the same author who had a big article in the Times magazine a couple of years back in which he gushed all over some current opera singers because they can act, as if it were something completely new, which it's not.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-78494218061595072002011-02-28T09:52:53.431-08:002011-02-28T09:52:53.431-08:00Bantock isn't the only one with continental as...Bantock isn't the only one with continental associations. Even Vaughan Williams's most pastoral music, viewed through the right prism, is startlingly close to Debussy, even more than Delius is.<br /><br />"Cowpat" was a dismissive term applied to composers who dared not to adopt the latest post-WW1 advanced modernistic fashions. It should be embraced with defiance, as "queer" and other intended epithets have been by their targets. And VW is the only one of the three to whom it remotely applies. Bantock, because of Celtic nationalism? Warlock, because he wrote the Capriol Suite? Why?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-88231501523166939352011-02-28T08:27:21.665-08:002011-02-28T08:27:21.665-08:00I wish I knew more of his music! There's a pie...I wish I knew more of his music! There's a piece called "Sappho" - song settings - that is worth hearing. I have one of Bantock's symphonies around but haven't heard it in a long time.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-3096921492002544032011-02-27T17:35:10.691-08:002011-02-27T17:35:10.691-08:00Tsk tsk, Lisa, haven't you gotten the memo fro...Tsk tsk, Lisa, haven't you gotten the memo from The People Who Decide These Things that in the period between Purcell's death and the successful premiere of <i>Peter Grimes</i> in 1945 composition was officially dead in England? Seriously, I've seen that tired cliche more than a few times....<br /><br />Bantock wrote a lot of music, any suggestions besides <i>Omar Khhayam</i> on where to start?Henry Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15871451112170286316noreply@blogger.com