Thomas Dunhill Symphony

[Alan Howe]

Do excuse me if mention has been made elsewhere at UC of the recording of Thomas Dunhill's Symphony in A minor made by the RSNO under Martin Yates on Dutton. This is a substantial work (45+ mins) of an Elgarian cast  featuring magnificent themes and wonderful use of the orchestra - e.g. you'll find that the main theme of the first movement simply refuses to be dislodged from the memory once heard. If you haven't come across the work, do consider the Dutton CD...
http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=CDLX7195
Excerpts here (first four tracks):
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Thomas-Frederick-Dunhill-1877-1946-Symphonie-a-moll-op-48/hnum/1019461
And here's an appreciative review on MusicWeb:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Dec07/Dunhill_CDLX7195.htm

[Jimfin]

I recently bought this disc, and have been delighted with it. Dunhill is someone I have heard only sporadically, but I also have enjoyed some of his music criticism, notably his book on Sullivan's operas, which, uniquely for its time, considered the operas as actual music works, rather than just presenting a mass of tedious anecdotes about their production. Thanks for bringing this disc to everyone's attention.

[Dundonnell]

You have inspired me to return to the work

I think that I only listened to it once but it made little impression on me. I shall try again

[Mark Thomas]

You echo my thoughts precisely, Colin.

[erato]

His violin sonata recorded by Susanne Stanzeleit is at least quite good.

[Ser Amantio di Nicolao]

I recently bought this disc, and have been delighted with it. Dunhill is someone I have heard only sporadically, but I also have enjoyed some of his music criticism, notably his book on Sullivan's operas, which, uniquely for its time, considered the operas as actual music works, rather than just presenting a mass of tedious anecdotes about their production. Thanks for bringing this disc to everyone's attention.

I have been known to refer to Dunhill as "the dental plaster of English music", given that I find him used to fill cracks in a lot of discs.  I have several pieces - I love his work - but he always seems to be used when someone needs something to pad out a disc of chamber music.

I am aware of this disc, and will eventually purchase it when I can find it at a decent price; Dutton and Lyrita both are very difficult to come by around the DC area.  Though I have my hopes...

[Dundonnell]

Dunhill's Symphony on Dutton can be bought through Amazon. com for $15 (which is £9.75 in sterling).

That seems a good price to me   No

[Ser Amantio di Nicolao]

Dunhill's Symphony on Dutton can be bought through Amazon. com for $15 (which is £9.75 in sterling).

That seems a good price to me   No

Ah, well, when you've broken the bank as much as I did at Christmastime...(and when you get paid as much as I do, but that's a story for another thread.  )

Perhaps I'll treat myself in another month or two, but for now I have to be a little mean with my money, alas.

[Dundonnell]

Well...I have just listened to the Dunhill Symphony again

Pleasant, accomplished, attractive...yes, all of these things

I just wish I didn't know when it was composed I know that should make absolutely no difference to my listening experience but..............

[Mark Thomas]

No, but you're right. It does make a difference. At least to me, as well. I'm very fond of Alfred Hill's and Thomas Schmidt-Kowalski's music, for instance, but somehow it's a guilty pleasure because it sounds like it was written a couple of generations before it actually was. There's this little demon on my shoulder telling me that it was easier for them to write like that when all the rules had been made, all the models created, all the hard, risky work of pushing boundaries done by others. I know that's a dreadful over-simplification, and it doesn't stop me enjoying music which is anachronistic for the time in which it was written, but I certainly do enjoy such compositions in a  different way.

[febnyc]

I am aware of this disc, and will eventually purchase it when I can find it at a decent price; Dutton and Lyrita both are very difficult to come by around the DC area.  Though I have my hopes...

One e-vendor which has good prices and excellent service is:  http://www.importcds.com/

They list the Dunhill for $14.99 (plus shipping, of course).

[JimL]

...it doesn't stop me enjoying music which is anachronistic for the time in which it was written, but I certainly do enjoy such compositions in a  different way.

I'm used to thinking of the word anachronistic as referring to something being out of its time because it hadn't been invented yet, e.g. a movie set in the 19th Century in which someone looks at a wristwatch.  I think the word for something which is behind the times is atavistic, although that may have a slightly unpleasant connotation.

[Mark Thomas]

From the Oxford Online Dictionary:

Anachronism: (n.) a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned.

Atavistic: (adj.) relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral:
atavistic fears and instincts.

I'm happy with "anachronistic".

[Jimfin]

Dutton do an excellent direct sales service worldwide: if I order from them, the discs are here in Japan without fail in 5 days, and I don't mean 'working days'. They also respond fast to customer queries. I always order direct from them, since Tower Records take about a month to get their stuff in

[Dundonnell]

No, but you're right. It does make a difference. At least to me, as well. I'm very fond of Alfred Hill's and Thomas Schmidt-Kowalski's music, for instance, but somehow it's a guilty pleasure because it sounds like it was written a couple of generations before it actually was. There's this little demon on my shoulder telling me that it was easier for them to write like that when all the rules had been made, all the models created, all the hard, risky work of pushing boundaries done by others. I know that's a dreadful over-simplification, and it doesn't stop me enjoying music which is anachronistic for the time in which it was written, but I certainly do enjoy such compositions in a  different way.

Thank goodness I am not alone, Mark   I feared that it was some individual quirk in my listening response peculiar to myself alone

Were I able-as I undoubtedly should be-to listen to the Dunhill as a symphony on its own terms then I could enjoy it as one perhaps written in the 1890s or the first decade of the twentieth century.

It doesn't help, particularly, that Lewis Foreman in his (as ever) excellent cd booklet notes cross-references the work to Vaughan Williams' London Symphony. I simply adore the RVW. I consider it an absolute masterpiece. It never fails to move me deeply. It has a power, a richness, a sense of a whole epoch passing into History, a nostalgic grandeur which the Dunhill does not-of course-aspire to.

And I realise that I am falling into the appalling trap of comparing and contrasting composers and music, a trap I usually try desperately to avoid