British Music

[Dundonnell]

I've just joined this forum and I'm having a marvellous time burrowing further and further into this Aladdin's Cave. One particular pleasure has been reacquainting myself with Fricker's music, which I first came across back in 1980 when there was a series of R3 broadcasts to mark his 60th birthday (the 3rd Symphony is what turned me on to his stuff). With that in mind, I ought to mention that something is badly amiss with the file of the 4th Symphony. I was really enjoying getting back to grips with a work that I had last heard some 30-odd years ago when, at the 19:48 mark, the music turned without any warning into the second of Schoenberg's 5 Orchestral Pieces; and from thereon the music stuck remorselessly with Schoenberg to the bitter end! 
Now, I haven't heard as much Fricker as I would have liked to, but I'm quite sure he wasn't given to quoting other composers, never mind plagiarism! So I think something went wrong with the broadcast or the tape or something. What a pity. 
Of course, if someone else has already pointed this out, my apologies in advance.

I uploaded the Fricker 4th Symphony some months ago and you are the first person to have pointed this out. I went back to the original mp3 file to check and find that, to my horror, you seem to be absolutely correct

I cannot, at present, understand what has happened. The original reel-to-reel tape has Fricker's 4th followed by Walton's Facade and THEN the Schoenberg Five Orchestral Pieces. The Fricker symphony is, according to the Schott catalogue, 34 minutes long and the uploaded file is 34 minutes long

I need to return to the original tape and listen to it again. This may take some time to organise since I have returned the tapes to storage.

In the meantime please accept my sincere apologies. I am mortified and just hope that the problem is anything I can sort out

[albion]

Fricker 4 is currently suspended awaiting further investigation ...



In the meantime, and now for something completely different -

Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) - The Grand Duke; or, The Statutory Duel (1896)

- an unfairly-maligned and grossly-undervalued opera which comes up beautifully in this stylish 1989 BBC broadcast conducted by Barry Wordsworth.

Many thanks, Herbie.



Utopia Limited (1893) is at present proving more elusive ...

[Jimfin]

One of my favourite Sullivan scores (and I say that as someone who likes almost everything he wrote): there's nothing quite like the opening orchestral passage of Act II, leading into that wonderful chorus. And I think this is the best recording there is of it.

[hattoff]

mikehopf
Many thanks for, Williamson, The Violins of St Jacques. I had just one short except from it, a beautiful aria. Listening to it now it is all equally beautiful. Wonderful.

[albion]

mikehopf
Many thanks for, Williamson, The Violins of St Jacques. I had just one short except from it, a beautiful aria. Listening to it now it is all equally beautiful. Wonderful.

Indeed, many thanks to Mike for - The Violins of Saint Jacques (1966).

I have collated the numerous smaller files (several files containing the close of Act 1 had been mistakenly ascribed to Act 3), and provided a cast list with broadcast details.

[Dundonnell]

Many thanks to shamokin for his upload of the Robert Simpson Piano Concerto.

This is the premiere of the work given at the Cheltenham Festival in July 1967. The version which was available on the short-lived(and much regretted) BBC Classics series was recorded two months later in Bristol with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Constantin Silvestri.

This is, once again, a reminder of how British Music flourished at a time when regional orchestras in Britain were conducted by people like Rignold and Silvestri, both of whom were committed to performing music by British composers.

[Dundonnell]

I've just joined this forum and I'm having a marvellous time burrowing further and further into this Aladdin's Cave. One particular pleasure has been reacquainting myself with Fricker's music, which I first came across back in 1980 when there was a series of R3 broadcasts to mark his 60th birthday (the 3rd Symphony is what turned me on to his stuff). With that in mind, I ought to mention that something is badly amiss with the file of the 4th Symphony. I was really enjoying getting back to grips with a work that I had last heard some 30-odd years ago when, at the 19:48 mark, the music turned without any warning into the second of Schoenberg's 5 Orchestral Pieces; and from thereon the music stuck remorselessly with Schoenberg to the bitter end! 
Now, I haven't heard as much Fricker as I would have liked to, but I'm quite sure he wasn't given to quoting other composers, never mind plagiarism! So I think something went wrong with the broadcast or the tape or something. What a pity. 
Of course, if someone else has already pointed this out, my apologies in advance.

I uploaded the Fricker 4th Symphony some months ago and you are the first person to have pointed this out. I went back to the original mp3 file to check and find that, to my horror, you seem to be absolutely correct

I cannot, at present, understand what has happened. The original reel-to-reel tape has Fricker's 4th followed by Walton's Facade and THEN the Schoenberg Five Orchestral Pieces. The Fricker symphony is, according to the Schott catalogue, 34 minutes long and the uploaded file is 34 minutes long

I need to return to the original tape and listen to it again. This may take some time to organise since I have returned the tapes to storage.

In the meantime please accept my sincere apologies. I am mortified and just hope that the problem is anything I can sort out

I returned to the original tape of the Fricker 4th Symphony. At some point the tape had split and had been re-joined. In the process some tape had been lost and this included a substantial segment of music including the second half of the symphony. This must have happened around 30 years ago now

I can only offer my deepest apologies and regrets

However, the good news is that I understand that another member has a copy of the same performance of the Fricker 4th which I very much hope can be uploaded to replace my messed-up copy

[eschiss1]

Groves Simpson 6- thanks, I only just noticed, and I did request that Looking forward to hearing!

[Latvian]

However, the good news is that I understand that another member has a copy of the same performance of the Fricker 4th which I very much hope can be uploaded to replace my messed-up copy.

I do, indeed, and am looking at the disc as I write this. I can't attest to the perfection or completeness of my copy, as I don't recall where it came from, and I don't really know the work, but hopefully it will resolve the problem adequately. I'll begin uploading it in a few minutes.

[dafrieze]

Many thanks for all the Frickeriana - it's wonderful stuff!  Having listened now to the Cantata, I'm quite certain that the tenor soloist is Peter Pears.  Nobody else's voice ever sounded like his.

[Latvian]

Well, my Fricker upload is in the process of finishing, and after I posted it (appearance pending approval by the moderator), I discovered that Holger had already uploaded #4 earlier in the day. I'll let it stand, and Albion can decide which copy is preferable. I'll be happy to take down mine in the event Holger's is better.

However, I also uploaded the 2nd Symphony, which I noticed did not appear in the archive, presumably because the Pritchard recording is on a commercial CD release, and no one else had the Rosen broadcast. Here it is then, and it looks like we will now have all five Fricker symphonies available in the archive.

[Dundonnell]

It's the London bus syndrome again (you wait for one and two come along at the same time).

Thanks to both Holger and Latvian for replacing my withdrawn Fricker Symphony No.4 Only on this site could one find other people who could have done this

Thanks to both also for the new Fricker items which further augment what has become the most comprehensive collection of Fricker's music available anywhere
I shall amend the Fricker catalogue on here accordingly.

(I hope that shamokin can add the Nocturne for Chamber Orchestra of 1971).

[albion]

Indeed, many thanks to both Latvian and Holger for supplementing our extensive Fricker collection - I don't think that anybody could claim that this important figure is under-represented ...



The catalogue and archive are now updated to reflect these additions. The performer of Dialogues could be either Janet Craxton (1967) or David Cowsill (1973) - in the absence of confirmation, I have not given any attribution.

[Jimfin]

Thank you so much for the Joubert cello concerto: it's not often I really look forward to the premiere of a *new* work (as opposed to that of a neglected older one).

[fr8nks]

Thank you so much for the Joubert cello concerto: it's not often I really look forward to the premiere of a *new* work (as opposed to that of a neglected older one).

You are welcome. I found the cello concerto very enjoyable.