On Friday 27th May at 7.30 pm BBC4 there is a programme about Parry which is presented by Prince Charles. It should prove quite substantial as it is 1.1/2 hours long.
I trust it will cover the entire range of his music...
I think that it's concentrating on his choral works: the sort of stuff which the Price of Wales will have heard in all those royal occasions in the Abbey or St Pauls: Jerusalem, I was glad, Bless'd pair of sirens etc.
I heard a clip on Radio 4 the other day in which HRH said he was first alerted to how great a composer Parry really was when someone gave him a set of the five Symphonies.
hrm. born 1948... wonder if it was the Master of the Queen's Music (presumably Bliss? what did Bliss think of Parry?) who did that service :)
Highly unlikely, as Arthur Bliss died in 1975 - well before the first commercial release of a Parry Symphony (Adrian Boult conducting the LPO, recording completed on 20th December 1978): HRH is clearly referring to the Matthias Bamert set recorded by Chandos in the 1990s.
Morning Heroes (1930), much of the ceremonial music written whilst Bliss held the office of MQM (works such as A Song of Welcome, 1954) and many of the later orchestral scores reveal the greatest respect for and strong influence of Parry, either in terms of choral texture, word-setting or the characteristic use of diatonic double or triple suspensions.
Quote from: Albion on Thursday 26 May 2011, 07:22
Highly unlikely, as Arthur Bliss died in 1975 - well before the first commercial release of a Parry Symphony (Adrian Boult conducting the LPO, recording completed on 20th December 1978).
Albion -- you are all-knowing: am I right in thinking that this recording of the 5th Symphony was Boult's last recording? In any case, I treasure my vinyl copy.
As far as I know, it was Boult's last recording (1978). I treasure it in Lp and in CD format (Blest Pair of Sirens was added to the CD).
Quote from: alberto on Thursday 26 May 2011, 10:59
As far as I know, it was Boult's last recording (1978). I treasure it in Lp and in CD format (Blest Pair of Sirens was added to the CD).
Thanks, alberto. I guess the 'Sirens' is the recording that was coupled on LP with Janet Baker's Sea Pictures.
Boult recordings in LP format: Parry's Blest Pair of Sirens was coupled to Elgar' The Music Makers.
Baker's (and Barbirolli's) Sea Pictures were, in Lp format, coupled to Du Prè (and Barbirolli's) Cello Concerto.
Quote from: alberto on Thursday 26 May 2011, 14:49
Boult recordings in LP format: Parry's Blest Pair of Sirens was coupled to Elgar' The Music Makers.
Baker's (and Barbirolli's) Sea Pictures were, in Lp format, coupled to Du Prè (and Barbirolli's) Cello Concerto.
Sorry, alberto, you are quite right - I meant to say 'The Music Makers'. If I had a brain I could be dangerous!!
Yes, it was Boult's swansong and a supremely fitting farewell to his career in the recording studio - released by EMI as ASD3725 the disc coupled the 5th Symphony with the Symphonic Variations and the Elegy for Brahms. This performance of the 5th is preferable to Bamert's on Chandos, which unnaccountably omits an important flute part (which forms the top line in a sequence of descending triads) during the first movement. :o
The BBC4 programme was a delight. Too much of Prince Charles emoting, perhaps, but Parry is hard to resist, after all. I'll not be deleting this from my pvr!
Oh good. It's waiting on my recorder for me to enjoy tomorrow.
Well ... in the end, this turned out to be an absolutely superb documentary programme from the BBC! The obvious enthusiasm and intelligent appreciation shown by the Prince of Wales was a very positive link between the diverse strands of the Parry story. A meticulous care to get the facts right was enhanced by lengthy contributions from Jeremy Dibble, Anthony Payne, David Owen Norris and many other key figures, including Laura Ponsonby.
We were shown around Shulbrede and invited to view some of the fascinating photographs and letters contained in the extensive and invaluable archive there; we were treated to rehearsals for last year's milestone Proms performance of the sublime 5th Symphony and snippets of the actual performance itself, superb illustrations of Parry's piano music (extracts from Shulbrede Tunes and Hands Across the Centuries), moving performances of parts of the Songs of Farewell, and a rare chance to hear a section from the otherwise-unrecorded and woefully neglected Magnificat (1897).
Most of the significant aspects of Parry's life were at least touched upon: his generally Liberal (if not Radical) outlook; his nervous temperament; the trauma of his relationship to his estranged elder brother Clinton; the gradually-suffocating relationship with Lady Maude; his passions for sport, sailing (especially in stormy weather) and driving too fast; and his great generosity of spirit and willingness to acknowledge 'character' in any music that he heard, even if he was otherwise unsympathetic to it.
Anybody who came to this programme just knowing Parry through Jerusalem would surely have come away with much food for thought! :)
I thought the documentary was excellent. I hope it will be repeated in the future. I wonder if it will be released on DVD. It is a pity it was not on BBC2 where it would have gained more publicity. Jeremy Dibble wrote an excellent biography of Parry some years ago, one of the best biographies of a composer I have come across and Laura Ponsonby's enthusiasm really came across in the programme. Shulbrede Priory will be open again during the August Bank holiday for two afternoons only.
I hope it will be released on BBC America over here, which I get on TV cable (if it has been and I missed it, then briefly esp. as someone who holds a rather high opinion of the BBC generally - argh and hope to catch it sometime again in that case.)
Yes, I too thought the programme to be a very warm, sincere and absorbing tribute to Parry. A bit heavy on the choral stuff, although that's the English tradition, but it was excellent to see the Fifth Symphony get such a strong showing, representing his orchestral music. Also fascinating was the deconstruction of Jerusalem, showing how it "worked". Of course, it made me wonder what sort of Princely programmes could be made celebrating Raff, Stanford, Draeseke etc etc.
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Saturday 28 May 2011, 22:42...it made me wonder what sort of Princely programmes could be made celebrating Raff, Stanford, Draeseke etc etc.
Well, in order to get the cooperation of HRH, it is necessary to gain the attention of HRH. A few CDs from anonymous (or not) sources might be of help. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more, say no more... ;)
Over to you then, Jim. HRH The Prince of Wales, Highgrove House, Doughton, Tetbury, Gloucestershire would probably reach him...
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Sunday 29 May 2011, 08:38
Over to you then, Jim. HRH The Prince of Wales, Highgrove House, Doughton, Tetbury, Gloucestershire would probably reach him...
...and GL8 8TG
might just help, possibly, although them's only the neighbours in the cottages on t'other side of the road...
Your sovereign prince, not mine. Although...do you think a sampler CD or two might make an impression? One thing, though. I don't have any choral works by any of the above.
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Sunday 29 May 2011, 08:38
Over to you then, Jim. HRH The Prince of Wales, Highgrove House, Doughton, Tetbury, Gloucestershire would probably reach him...
You could always invite HRH to become a member here!
More my speed. I wonder if he knows about this website already? Anybody have an email address for him? Do you think he might be on FB?
We seem to have moved from Parry to Prince Charles. If you wish to tempt him with another programme perhaps something with cellos!
Quote from: giles.enders on Tuesday 31 May 2011, 10:27
We seem to have moved from Parry to Prince Charles. If you wish to tempt him with another programme perhaps something with cellos!
Hmmm -
Nomos Alpha,
Kottos - other gems from the repertoires of Friedrich Gauwerky, Frances-Marie Uitti, Rohan de Saram?
As you were...
HRH seemed very bound up with the idea of Parry's music being essentially English in character but when he put this to the Fifth Symphony's conductor Vassily Sinaisky he was clearly, although politely, nonplussed. No doubt Sinaisky regarded the work as firmly in the German tradition...
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Tuesday 31 May 2011, 10:50
HRH seemed very bound up with the idea of Parry's music being essentially English in character but when he put this to the Fifth Symphony's conductor Vassily Sinaisky he was clearly, although politely, nonplussed. No doubt Sinaisky regarded the work as firmly in the German tradition...
When HRH mentioned the influence of Strauss, Sinaisky naturally understood him to be referring to Richard; after his comment earlier in that section of the programme about Parry's fifth sounding waltz-like, I have a nasty feeling he may have been thinking of a different Strauss altogether!
Um, maybe bringing HRH onboard may not be such a good idea after all. Sounds like he may be a tad overmatched here.
In the over used expression used by the BBC 'there is another chance to see' the Parry Programme on BBC4 on Tuesday 7th June at 9pm
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Saturday 28 May 2011, 22:42Of course, it made me wonder what sort of Princely programmes could be made celebrating Raff, Stanford, Draeseke etc etc.
Surely the next program should be devoted to Potter!
I would love to see a programme devoted to Potter or even a one day seminar, similar to those for Sterndale Bennett, Parry and Hurlstone, in London, this might get things moving. Potter wrote three piano concertos and another for piano, violin and orchestra Op.14
And was also - as we know - a distinguished symphonist.
We have drifted from Parry to Potter and as I see there have been many mentions of Potter on this forum I will start a new blog