British Music

[Gareth Vaughan]

The many here who have enjoyed the broadcast performance of Sterndale Bennett's "Paradise and the Peri" will be dismayed to learn that of only two sets of parts listed as available in the UK, the set belonging to the RAM has been lost (!!!) and the set in the Yorkshire Libraries archive in Sheffield is deficient in a number of parts and too delicate and crumbly to be lent. I currently have the original publisher, Kistner & Siegel, looking for a set in their archives. (It is possible, of course, that the BBC has a set - but somehow I doubt it. If they ever had one, knowing them, it's probably been thrown out!) There are, fortunately, many copies of the Full Score available, so a new set could be produced - but that involves work which would not be necessary if only we would take proper care of our musical heritage.

[albion]

The many here who have enjoyed the broadcast performance of Sterndale Bennett's "Paradise and the Peri" will be dismayed to learn that of only two sets of parts listed as available in the UK, the set belonging to the RAM has been lost (!!!) and the set in the Yorkshire Libraries archive in Sheffield is deficient in a number of parts and too delicate and crumbly to be lent.

Ye Gods! 

Is there no end to the incompetence, negligence and malicious damage that besets our musical heritage? 

As you say, at least the full score was printed (and quite beautifully by Kistner too), otherwise the custodians of our national treasures would very probably have used Bennett's autograph manuscript to wrap their chips in! Grrrrrrr... 

[eschiss1]

I gather, speaking of manuscripts and chips, that that story about Bach cantatas being used for fish wrapping has a definite source (book, I mean- it may be from one of his sons originally though actually I am under the impression not...?, but I mean a definite book it first appeared in) and may be apocryphal... though many were lost in many too many other ways (well, maybe from that use too.) Anyhow, sorry. Back to! Am a member of a list where that would be ontopic and etc.

[Pengelli]

Makes a change from the Sun!

[albion]

Thanks to Dylan we now have broadcast recordings of excerpts from Stanford's final opera The Travelling Companion (1916). 

[Pengelli]

Fantastic! I've been wanting to hear that Stanford opera for ages, (and haven't we all?),and,unfortunately I missed those excerpts when they were broadcast.
The McEwen excerpts are also welcome,as would be a little more interest in that composer,from the cd companies!

[oldman]

What A wonderful gift to all! I've been reading the Jeremey Dibble biography of Stanford and Actually hearing the music is a wonderful accompaniment.


Thanks again!

[Mark Thomas]

Oh, tremendous. What a treat! Thanks Dylan and Albion!

[oldman]

"The McEwen excerpts are also welcome,as would be a little more interest in that composer,from the cd companies!"

There are no less than 8 CD's of McEwens music available on the Chandos Label. See:

http://www.chandos.net/searchresults.asp?zoom_query=McEwen&zoom_per_page=10&zoom_and=0&zoom_sort=0

[albion]

Further donations by Dylan have provided us with two extremely important broadcasts - Edward German's Symphonic Suite The Seasons (1899) conducted by Sir Charles Groves in 1989 and (even rarer) John Foulds' Cello Concerto (1911) conducted by Nicholas Braithwaite with Raphael Wallfisch in 1988.

The performance of the superb The Seasons is one which I am especially happy to be reunited with: my treasured tape disintegrated to the point of no return many years ago - in both playing and interpretation Groves' performance is vastly superior to the Marco Polo recording. 

[Pengelli]

I'm fully aware of the Chandos cd's of McEwen,but unfortunately there has been little interest from the cd labels since. There's still allot more by this composer to explore.

[albion]

I'm fully aware of the Chandos cd's of McEwen,but unfortunately there has been little interest from the cd labels since. There's still a lot more by this composer to explore.

A particularly glaring omission is the 1901 Viola Concerto.

On 14th October 2007 BBC Scotland broadcast extracts from a BBC performance (10th June 2007) given in Glasgow by Scott Dickinson with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stefan Solyom.

Was this performance ever broadcast complete at any point - and if so did anybody record it? 

[Pengelli]

Seems strange to only broadcast extracts.
NB Apologies to 'Oldman',my reply sounded a bit pompous. Thank you for drawing my attention to the Chandos cd's,anyway. It's just a bit irritating the way Chandos seem to pick hold of some composer sometimes,do a couple of cd's and then throw him, (or 'her') aside! Yet there are some composers they seem obsessed with,like Bax,for example. As  David Hurwitz so bravely pointed out,(with all due respect to the late lamented Vernon Handley),did they really need to splash out on another Bax cycle,when there is so much else to record? I like Bax,although not as much as I used to,but poor old Bryden Thomson did a pretty good darn job,and I do get the feeling that Chandos have wasted money on some scores which even Bax would have felt embarassed about!

[Pengelli]

Actually,I hate to call Hurwitz brave!

[albion]

I do get the feeling that Chandos have wasted money on some scores which even Bax would have felt embarassed about!

It's a very fair point - when do you draw an on-going recording project to a close? I was slightly disappointed when the marvellous Chandos Cyril Scott series came to an end after four discs, but then they had built each disc around a symphony so the limits of the project seem logical with hindsight (although there is a great deal more marvellous music by Scott to explore).

I certainly wouldn't want to be without Handley's interpretations of the complete Bax symphonies (good as Thomson's undoubtedly are), but there are cases in the Chandos Bax catalogue where works have been 'specially orchestrated' for recording - unfortunately in such cases the orchestration often includes the unusual combination of a barrel and a scraper.