British opera lags second-only behind British choral music in the sense that vast swathes remain unrecorded in any form: a list of desiderata would be very long indeed.
:(
However, it might be useful at this point to take stock of the many wonderful opera recordings now in the archive -
Malcolm Arnold - The Dancing Master, Op. 34 (1951)
Julius Benedict - The Lily of Killarney (1862) [excerpts]
Arthur Benjamin - A Tale of Two Cities (1950) [excerpts]
Lennox Berkeley - Nelson, Op.41 (1949-54)
Richard Blackford - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1977)
Arthur Bliss - The Olympians (1948) [excerpts]
Rutland Boughton - Alkestis (1920-22) [excerpt]; The Queen of Cornwall (1923-24) [excerpts]; The Lily Maid (1933-34) [excerpt]
Havergal Brian - The Tigers (1917-29); Faust (1956) [excerpt]; Agamemnon (1957)
Alan Bush - Men of Blackmoor (1954-55); The Sugar Reapers (1962-65) [excerpts]; Joe Hill - The Man Who Never Died (1965-67)
Geoffrey Bush - Lord Arthur Savile's Crime (1972)
Frederick Corder - Nordisa (1887) [excerpt]
Frederic Cowen - Pauline (1876) [excerpt]
Frédéric d'Erlanger - Tess (1906) [excerpt]
Eugene Goossens - Judith, Op.46 (1925-27); Don Juan De Mañara, Op. 54 (1934-37)
Alun Hoddinott - The Beach of Falesà, Op.83 (1970-74) [excerpts]
Joseph Holbrooke - Bronwen, Op.75 (1915-20) [excerpts]
Gustav Holst - Sita, Op.23 (1900-06) [excerpt]; The Perfect Fool, Op.39 (1920-22)
Arwel Hughes - Menna (1950-51)
George Lloyd - John Socman (1951)
Edward Loder - Raymond and Agnes (1855) [excerpts]
Edward Naylor - The Angelus (1909) [excerpt]
Hubert Parry - Guenever (1886) [excerpt]
Cyril Scott - The Alchemist (1917-18) [excerpts]
Humphrey Searle - The Diary of a Madman, Op.35 (1958)
Ethel Smyth - The Boatswain's Mate (1916) [excerpt]
Charles Villiers Stanford - Much Ado About Nothing, Op.76 (1901) [excerpt]; The Travelling Companion, Op.144 (1916) [excerpts]
Arthur Sullivan - Trial by Jury (1875); The Sorcerer (1877); H.M.S. Pinafore (1878); The Pirates of Penzance (1879); Patience (1881); Iolanthe (1882); Princess Ida (1884); The Mikado (1885); Ruddigore (1887); The Yeomen of the Guard (1888); The Gondoliers (1889); The Grand Duke (1896)
Arthur Goring Thomas - Esmeralda (1883) [excerpt]
Malcolm Williamson - The Happy Prince (1965); Julius Caesar Jones (1965-66); The Violins of Saint Jacques (1966)
In terms of what has been recorded (broadcast or otherwise) what would members wish most to see added to the collection ...
???
... my initial votes would be for Grace Williams' The Parlour (1961) and Daniel Jones' Orestes (1967).
:)
Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers
Quote from: alberto on Monday 19 March 2012, 09:53Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers
Although the performance is in several respects less than ideal, I have added the 1994 Proms broadcast to the archive.
:)
Thank you!
I imagine the 1994 Proms broadcast referred to by Albion is one and the same as the 1994 release on Conifer where we have the BBC PO / Odaline de la Martinez (unless that Conifer set is a recording of a subsequent studio performance). The Conifer number is 75605 51250.
Conifer has, of course, now gone to that great place in the sky. Worth looking out for a S/H copy - and with luck some other label will take over the recording given that many other Conifer recordings have re-emerged. It is an opera I really enjoyed!
The WHOLE of "Bronwen", "Dylan Son of the Wave" and "The Children of Don". Roger Sacheverell Coke's "The Cenci".
Humphrey Searle's Hamlet (produced at Covent Garden in 1969).
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Monday 19 March 2012, 17:23The WHOLE of "Bronwen", "Dylan Son of the Wave" and "The Children of Don". Roger Sacheverell Coke's "The Cenci".
Unfortunately not recorded or broadcast as yet.
Quote from: petershott@btinternet.com on Monday 19 March 2012, 17:58Humphrey Searle's Hamlet (produced at Covent Garden in 1969).
Broadcast - I'll put a request post up.
:)
Frank Bridge: The Christmas Rose.
I had it on LP and It has been available on CD, I believe.
A very beautiful work, I would love to hear it again........and again.
I have The Christmas Rose - I'll upload it this evening.
Quote from: dafrieze on Monday 19 March 2012, 21:50
I have The Christmas Rose - I'll upload it this evening.
Oh, wonderful! Thank you, dafrieze! :)
Yes dafrieze, thankyou very much indeed.
Re Bridge's The Christmas Rose- the Pearl performance certainly has been available on CD and under the rules as I understand them here (if they haven't changed) that particular performance shouldn't be uploaded... (I have the CD, in fact. I wish I enjoyed the work more - said sincerely since I enjoy most early and late Bridge I know quite a lot and he spent a good deal of time on the work - but at this time, not that much - but I shall return to it soon, I think.)
Very glad to see this thread. British opera is so negelected and there are so many fine works out there which will likely never see an opera house. I would love to hear Smyth's "The Boatswain's Mate" and all of Stanford's operas, particularly "Much Ado", "The Critic" and "The Travelling Companion"
Hello,
Searching the internet trying to listen to The Alchemist of Cyril Scott I came across this forum.
Can you tell me how this works or how can i listen to this piece of music?
Thank you very much
Sandra (Barcelona, Spain)
Quote from: singablues on Monday 09 April 2012, 15:32Searching the internet trying to listen to The Alchemist of Cyril Scott I came across this forum.
Can you tell me how this works or how can i listen to this piece of music?
Hi Sandra - welcome aboard! Now that you are a member, you can access the wide range of downloads contributed by other members of the forum.
When you have signed in, simply go to the
Downloads board where you can access music from many different nationalities. The British and Irish section consists of a catalogue and various audio files in alphabetically-arranged mediafire folders: here you will be able to find the files and performance details for the excerpts from Scott's
The Alchemist, which I recorded back in 1995.
Happy exploring.
:)
Quote from: eschiss1 on Wednesday 21 March 2012, 05:46
Re Bridge's The Christmas Rose- the Pearl performance certainly has been available on CD and under the rules as I understand them here (if they haven't changed) that particular performance shouldn't be uploaded... (I have the CD, in fact. I wish I enjoyed the work more - said sincerely since I enjoy most early and late Bridge I know quite a lot and he spent a good deal of time on the work - but at this time, not that much - but I shall return to it soon, I think.)
That you keep returning to it is surely a sign of the work's merit. The Christmas Rose is smack in the middle of Bridge's traditional period, when he morphed from Edwardian romantic to continental visionary. The impending change is manifest in the final scene where Bridge's music describes the the children's sadness at having no gifts for the Christ child. When Miriam cries, her tears fall on the snow, causing flowers to suddenly bud and grow. These flowers will be their gifts to the baby. Bridge's vocabulary here is original and inspired, harmony and rhythm emanating from a different world. While enjoyable for that alone, when you have acquaintance with Bridge's later music this work (and particularly the last scene) takes on a special poignance.
Howard Williams recording is quite excellent, but we could still use a new one in clearer sound. Nonetheless, all thanks to Howard and the Chelsea Opera Group!