I just found this exciting announcement. Long awaited by many of us.
https://www.classicalmusicdaily.com/2020/06/smyth.htm (https://www.classicalmusicdaily.com/2020/06/smyth.htm)
That sounds wonderful. I hate to be a pain about this but I've never been able to locate her Wreckers opera digitally. Is it available in this format and I just haven't looked probably?
Fantastic news. I am thrilled. This is a very important work which, if I am honest, I never expected to hear. Three cheers for Chandos, back on form as an adventurous champion of British music.
Chandos has always been great and adventurous I agree but lately I've noticed their rival Hyperion has been quite conservative in their choice of releases(maybe it's just my imagination)
Well, I wouldn't call the Romantic Piano Concerto series conservative, nor the Classical PC series, nor the Litolff and Pixis piano trios, nor the forthcoming piano quintets by D'Erlanger and Dunhill, nor the recent Scharwenka and Lassen VCs...
Maybe you're right. My imagination does tend to run away at times... :)
Wonderful news! This work is possibly at the very top of my wish list for recordings and has been for a very long time. The Boatswain's Mate was high on that list for decades too and is now available, so this means most of the Smyth works I would most like to hear will be available. And since it's Chandos it'll be a decent recording. They do seem back on form, after releasing Parry's Judith
The Chandos recording of Parry's Judith is great, easily one of the best new finds I've heard this whole year. Go Chandos!
I certainly agree with you both about Judith. A marvellous work and recording. I just wish they could be persuaded to record some Holbrooke.
I'm not sure that "quite conservative" is the appropriate word for the evolution of Hyperion. But I'm saddened that they seem to have completely dropped their interest in lyric and light lyric repertoire. Their few issues of British light repertoire (The Geisha, The Maid of the Mountains;...) was a joy, and we could have hoped for more, as this repertoire is completely neglected : some Cellier, some more Sidney Jones, some Edward German ("Merrie England")... One could have thought that after their lovely Briséis (Chabrier), they would have been tempted to explore more of rare French repertoire... I suggested Simon Perry to explore the repertoire of Prix de Rome cantatas, which I'm sure would have proven source of some delightful discoveries... But to no avail...
Not that this would have been a bad idea at all, but maybe their thinking was that there was already a series devoted to the Prix de Rome cantatas on another label (Dutton, I think??) But as a general thing I agree with you...
The Prix de Rome cantatas were done by Bru Zane, IIRC.
We're veering off track here. So back to Ethel, please.
I understand The Prison is a symphony (of sorts). Can anyone enlighten us further?
I have the book of her memoirs abridged by Donald Chrichton, which is a fascinating read, describing in conversational terms, meetings with among other luminaries, Tchaikovsky and Brahms.
The Prison is described as a symphony for Soprano and Bass Soloists, Choir and Orchestra. The premiere was at the Usher Hall Edinburgh with the Reid Chorus and Reid Symphony Orchestra on the 19th February 1931, followed only days later by a second performance at The Queens Hall under then Dr. (later Sir) Adrian Boult, on 24 February 1931.
Here's a review of sorts from a newspaper called Truth, from 4 March 1931 (this is the entire text):
QuoteDame Ethel Smyth and Brewster's "Prison"
The new choral work composed by Dr. Ethel Smyth with words from a philosophical work entitled "The Prison," originally published in 1891, was performed by the Bach Choir at the Queen's Hall last Thursday night. It is difficult to know how to write of such a composition, which, from a strictly musical point of view, offers very little scope for favourable comment. One cannot help feeling surprise that so much time and energy could be expended with so little evidence of real musical talent. The music is banal and commonplace to a degree, and the lack of musical tact which it displays in its extraordinary mixture of bird twitterings, bugle calls (the "Last Post" is used with ill effect in the finale), contrapuntal exercises, and ancient Greek melodies only shows what can happen when a woman is inspired by a male pseudo-philosopher (whether his name be Brewster or another) instead of God.
So, he didn't think much of it, then? Makes Hurwitz sound positively benign.
Oh dear...
Quoteshows what can happen when a woman is inspired by a male pseudo-philosopher (whether his name be Brewster or another) instead of God.
Sexism coupled with bigotry.
For what has Ethel Smyth fought all her life?!
Bigotry, indeed. But is the music actually any good?
Well, I think we should decide for ourselves when we hear the music. I, personally, am not impressed by the tone of this review. It does smack of a certain brand of bigotry.
Most of us would be appalled by the everyday attitudes of many people in the recent past, I'm sure, never mind centuries ago. It's best to treat such things as historical documents and form our own judgements on the music when we hear it.
I absolutely agree.I did find another contemporary review, from the
Illustrated London News – The World of Music, November 21, 1931. It doesn't really
describe the music either, though:
QuoteDAME ETHEL SMYTH AND EINSTEIN
Our foremost woman composer, Dame Ethel Smyth, did what no other English composer has done—that is, draw a letter from the famous scientist, Professor Einstein, on the subject of women artists; and this week she has achieved the distinction of having her big choral work, "The Prison," performed for the second time in London within twelve months. It is far easier for an original composition by a living musician to find a first performance than a second; so it is no mean achievement to have such a big work performed twice in such a short time and under such favourable conditions. The Philharmonic Choir, founded by Mr. Charles Kennedy Scott, is one of the finest choirs in the country, and when it sang in Beethoven's "Choral Symphony," about a year ago, under the famous conductor Otto Klemperer, from Berlin, he was enthusiastic about its performance.
Einstein is a great lover of music and an amateur violinist, so I wish he had said something about Dame Ethel Smyth's music in the letter from him which she recently published, for her work presents something of a problem. Personally, I am not persuaded, in spite of its second performance, that "The Prison" is one of her best compositions. In choosing this nineteenth-century semi-rhapsodical poetic prose of H. B. Brewster to set, Dame Ethel Smyth, to my mind, tackled a very ungrateful subject. The notion of the spirit of man imprisoned in fleshly bars struggling to be free was a favourite one with multitudes of people during the past century, and, like all ideas that have been strong and influential, it is the form rather than the idea that becomes dated and worn out. To me, Brewster's poetical prose seems often banal and platitudinous, with its echoes of Walt Whitman and other humanitarian writers of the period. This much may be said for the composer: that she has done her utmost to put life into these dead words, and in this work she shows all her own energy, even if her invention is not always quite happy. The singing was good, and the soloists, Mr. Keith Falkner and Miss Elsie Suddaby, were excellent. It cannot be said that the composer, with her very angular and stiff beat, excels as a conductor, but she always secures a vigorous and alert performance.
W. J. Turner
I was fortunate enough to attend a performance of Smyth's 'The Prison' in Berlin, a few years ago. It is an excellent and moving work and, being so late in her output, displays the product of all her musical influences, including Debussy. I also have a copy of the score and a private recording of the live concert.
The general idea of the "The Prison" is a discussion carried on by four people round about a manuscript which one of them has found, and which is supposed to have been left behind by an escaped Prisoner. This is really an allegory, in which the Prison represents the Self, According to the Prisoner the only ' success ' that matters is somehow, anyhow, to find your way out of that Prison. For Ethel the work also had a profound personal quality, her love for Walter Brewster whose ghost, she said, 'is always near me'.
I would thoroughly recommend it as a work, although along with others, I would question the use of 'The Last Post' in the concluding moments of the work. But, of course, it is difficult for us to understand listening to that melody in its then contemporary post-war context.
Thank you, Ros, for this helpful and illuminating post. I am really looking forward to hearing this work at long last.
Without wishing to appear pedantic, it is Henry Brewster not Walter. In her memoirs, Ethel Smyth states that the prison is based on The Prison: A Dialogue (1891)by Henry Bennet Brewster, but that she compiled the libretto herself from that work.
full score browsable here (https://issuu.com/scoresondemand/docs/the_prison_37233) by the way. (Originally (c) 1930 it says on the title page.)
Ignore the above review, read this one:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/06/ethel-smyth-the-prison-review-brailey-burton-experiential-orchestra (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/06/ethel-smyth-the-prison-review-brailey-burton-experiential-orchestra)
IMHO it is an absolute disgrace or perhaps even scandalous that no British performing group managed to produce the first recording of this significant work. Is the music industry still so male dominated that it couldn't conceive a woman could write such a sensuous work. Perhaps the title is unfortunate, but I feel that The Prison is Ethel Smyth at the height of her powers. In fact a mistress work to be gender correct!
Not a very complimentary review here:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Sep/Smyth-prison-CHSA5279-JW.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Sep/Smyth-prison-CHSA5279-JW.htm)
Given the origins of the term masterwork (Wikipedia: "Originally, the term masterpiece referred to a piece of work produced by an apprentice or journeyman aspiring to become a master craftsman in the old European guild system. His fitness to qualify for guild membership was judged partly by the masterpiece, and if he was successful, the piece was retained by the guild.") - I'll stick with masterpiece rather than mistress, I think.
The gender-correct version of masterwork for female composers is........................masterwork.
First listening of this work and its so disturbing, heart wrenching, so emotional. Only a woman could of wrote this music. It has a sensual touch/mood. I have never heard anything like it. It is upsetting me because this music was out there for decades neglected. This is definitely woman's work on a classical scale.
There are beautiful passages with glimmers of hope and then despair like no other. No question about the life experience oozing out in her music. Being a man i cannot explain it, only a woman could really fully understand what was going through her mind when composing this piece.
I love everything about this work. So different, almost a revelation of discoveries.
Forget the reviews of this work as most reviewers will be old men.
Performances are absolutely first class. Sarah Bailey is absolutely magnificent. She has an insight into the character and gives such a moving deliverance of passion and emotion.
I cannot recommend more. Its a major discovery and one of the best releases from Chandos or any other label for years.
No longer Marvellous but Stupendous
QuoteForget the reviews of this work as most reviewers will be old men
...and therefore completely wrong, of course.
QuoteOnly a woman could of wrote this music
???
I'm sorry, Joachim Raff, but what a compendium of sweeping, unsubstantiated and naïve generalisations! Actually, having read the mostly negative reviews, I was much more impressed than I thought I would be by Ethel Smyth's music - she deserves kudos for sustaining interest and finding variety in a text so lacking in direction and hopelessly repetitive in mood, but it doesn't help to turn the work into some sort of feminist, ageist token. In the UK at least, Smyth was a respected, if not major, musical figure in her lifetime and has received a fair amount of attention in recent years, particularly so in the recording studio. But then I'm 69, so what do I know?
QuoteBut then I'm 69, so what do I know?
Answer: an awful lot of music that most peple have never heard of, let alone listened too.
Do not take it personally. It was not a slur on old folk after all I'm no spring chicken at 54 years young. ;D
QuoteDo not take it personally
We didn't. It was just a daft generalisation.
Quote from: BerlinExpat on Monday 31 August 2020, 06:08
Ignore the above review, read this one:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/06/ethel-smyth-the-prison-review-brailey-burton-experiential-orchestra (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/06/ethel-smyth-the-prison-review-brailey-burton-experiential-orchestra)
IMHO it is an absolute disgrace or perhaps even scandalous that no British performing group managed to produce the first recording of this significant work. Is the music industry still so male dominated that it couldn't conceive a woman could write such a sensuous work. Perhaps the title is unfortunate, but I feel that The Prison is Ethel Smyth at the height of her powers. In fact a mistress work to be gender correct!
I totally agree. How ironic the reviewer is a woman and gave a favourable review. Personally, I would of given 5 stars though.
QuoteI would of given 5 stars though.
:-X
QuoteOnly a woman could of wrote this music. It has a sensual touch/mood.
Ethel Smyth would have been appalled by that comment. All her life she fought against such attitudes and argued [correctly] with men like Sir Thomas Beecham that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FEMALE MUSIC.
As a man, dare I agree with Ros? Anyone who hears "blind" the music of Smyth, Holmés, Mayer or Farrenc (to name four fine women composers at random) would never be able to identify it as "female". What tosh!
Exactly! Well said, Ros.
Yes, well said. I'm sure that Ethel Smyth would have regarded it as being just as wrongheaded as the Victorian patriarchs declaring that only a man could write great symphonic music.
I haven't listened to The Prison but it obviously aspires to raise some profound issues and invoke strong responses in listeners, and for some it appears to have achieved that aim.
I guess some folk do not understand what Women's music is?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_music
I don't understand the relevance of that Wikipedia item to Ethel Smyth. You're surely not suggesting that she wrote The Prison as "women's music", i.e. just for women?
Quote from: semloh on Saturday 03 October 2020, 12:09
I don't understand the relevance of that Wikipedia item to Ethel Smyth. You're surely not suggesting that she wrote The Prison as "women's music", i.e. just for women?
How dare I suggest such a thing. Holmés, Mayer or Farrenc were female composers that wrote in a strict romantic/classical style. Very little scope to say anything in their music. Just music making. Smyth's music contains alot more about her own experiences/ opinions of life. Read any biography of her life. The music lives and breathes but the beholder needs to be open to what she is saying. Dare i say its not just about the music but the message being transmitted.
QuoteRead any biography of her life
"Joachim Raff", in fact, I think it would be a great deal better for you to read her AUTObiographies. I have read them all (I believe) as well as reading several of her scores. In fact the BBC engaged me (along with Tamsin Little) to give the pre-concert talk at the Proms before the performance of Smyth's violin & horn concerto.
Maybe you just are trying to do a wind-up, but it does sound rather uninformed for you to be taking a stance that is so completely opposed to the well documented words of the composer herself !
It's the danger, I think, of reading some sort of subjective impression into a work of art whose creator has stated the exact opposite in her own artistic credo.
Unfortunately we live in a 'me-dominated' culture in which what the individual thinks and believes, however wrong-headed, too often takes precedence over objective truth. The internet, sadly, is awash with this sort of thing.
In my (not remotely humble) opinion the Wikipedia article on "Women's music" is utter nonsense from beginning to end. There is no such thing as gender music of any sort and to pretend otherwise is absurd and a contradiction of the entire concept of music as an universal art form. But then, as I have often had occasion to observe, there are no limits to the profound stupidity of some people.
At last, we have some sense from Robert Levine. I agree 100% with his analysis. We have someone that can stand back and just listen to the music for its merits without any prejudice.
https://www.classicstoday.com/review/ethel-smyths-the-prison-a-work-to-be-reckoned-with/
I don't particularly disagree with Levine's take on the work itself, which is better than some critics have painted it, but I can't agree that Levine is free from prejudice. What evidence does he offer for the assertions in his opening paragraph:
"The works of Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) are rarely played despite the fact that she was the first woman to have an opera, Der Wald, performed at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1903. Her works tended to be overlooked in her native England mostly due to her being seen as a "woman composer"; she was invariably critiqued as being "not as good as" men. If her works were grand and aggressive, she was accused of not being feminine; her more refined works were seen as flimsy."
And what about: "Some Elgar shows up, and is not very welcome." Without any prejudice? I don't think so.
While I am content to believe that, given the historical prejudices against women as composers, the assertions Levine makes in the opening paragraph are correct, one would like to see chapter and verse (some examples, at least), and I freely confess that I do not understand his Elgar reference. Does he mean that there are some passages reminiscent of Elgar and these are not very welcome because he doesn't like Elgar, or that they are unwelcome because they detract from the individuality of Smyth's own voice? I suspect the latter - but why should she not imitate Elgar?
Quotebut why should she not imitate Elgar?
A good question. Why not indeed...
The Dream of Gerontius in mind is the only decent thing he ever wrote. So if you comparing that piece to Smyth i will take that all day.
I disagree over the usage of the word "prejudice," which is too strong for this unfavorable yet not irrational opinion. If Levine's opinion, like Joachim's, is that Elgar is vastly overrated, then that isn't prejudiced, albeit quite uncommon of an opinion.
Again, we cannot tell from this review if the statement is biased against Smyth herself, Smyth's "unoriginality," or Elgar. It isn't possible to draw a conclusion from this.
I may be echoing your input a bit Gareth, but just wanted to provide my take.
QuoteThe Dream of Gerontius in mind is the only decent thing he ever wrote
You evidently don't like Elgar, but can't be bothered to tell us why. That's both lazy and arrogant.
Neither, go further back in the thread and i never mentioned Elgar. It was someone else . I have views on Elgar, but most of his works hardly fit the criteria of UC. Discussing it would maybe lead me outside the parameters of the site rules.
There's no problem with discussing Elgar here. Our criteria aren't purely chronological. Fire away, but in another thread please.
Quotemost of his works hardly fit the criteria of UC
Not so! All of his music fits our criteria - in fact he's specifically mentioned there. And there's plenty of unsung Elgar! What might you want to discuss (in a new thread)?
Having finally got hold of a copy of The Prison I can certainly confirm that it has the aura of a major work. And the Chandos recording certainly does the work proud: the New York-based Experiential Orchestra (consisting of top freelancers) does a superb job and the vocal soloists are both very good, the soprano Sarah Brailey acquitting herself particularly well with her well-focused, silvery delivery.
What I don't find is a great deal of melodic distinction, although the final section of Part 1 arrives just in time to correct that impression! Is Elgar 'in the mix'? Yes, I think so, but this is also clearly music that has 'moved on' from mere imitation. I imagine the work would be extremely impressive live. At its best (and that is often) it is a most moving musical document.
If I were to be critical of this fine piece, it would be that its mood is unvaried and its pace slow. Then there's one's reaction to the use of The Last Post towards the end - although I found that quite moving. Overall, though, I was not expecting such a profound work and I'm looking forward to getting to know it better.
The Bavarian Radio (the one whose orchestra appointed Rattle as their new conductor yesterday) has chosen "the prison" as CD of the week:
https://www.br-klassik.de/aktuell/br-klassik-empfiehlt/cd/album-der-woche-ethel-smyth-the-prison-100.html
Interesting, but only to those who can read German - or can use an online translation service!
Here's my attempt. I have omitted the bits about the soloists. Not perfect, but it's useful:
What a woman! Born in London in 1858, Ethel Smyth went on hunger strike in order to pursue musical studies in Leipzig. Back in England she began her career as a composer. Later she took part in the militant activities of the Suffragette movement for women's rights and landed in prison, where she conducted her hymn "March of the Women" for her fellow prisoners -with a toothbrush. Due to worsening deafness, Ethel Smyth retired from composition and took up writing, only to produce another large choral symphony "The Prison" in 1930.
Listening Notes
A unnamed prisoner sits in his cell and waits for his approaching death. He reflects on his ineluctable situation with his soul, which Smyth assigns to a soprano in "The Prison". The chorus comments like in a classical tragedy about the metaphysical events -here are the echoes of the world of the Beyond.
Struggle with and Acceptance of Death
"The Prison", half choral symphony and half oratorio, deals with the Last Things: with the transcendence of earthly existence, the struggle with and acceptance of death. When the Prisoner dreams of the beauty of nature, Smyth imitates birdsong -long before Olivier Messaien.
Inner spirituality which goes right to the heart
A "Choral Prelude in the Prison Chapel" is the heart of "The Prison". Smyth has colourfully scored the German Choral which recalls Bach's Passions. James Blachly and his Experiental Orchestra express the music of this moment with a spirtuality which goes right to the heart.
In brief:
This record will be loved by people who...
Are interested in spiritual themes and contemplative sounds.
This record is worth buying because...
We can appreciate at last the compositional power of the British late romantic Ethel Smyth.
This record's drawback is...
There has never previously been a recording of this expensive-to-record work
This record invites you to...
A journey of discovery in the world of a composer who was ahead of her time in her world.
Thanks for doing this!
Agreed. It's certainly impressive and often moving, but it just doesn't stick in the memory.
It's very different from anything else of hers I've heard. She is usually more melodically memorable, but less deep, I think. I have enjoyed the recording very much, but I haven't listened repeatedly to it, as I do with some works. I listened a lot more to Fete Galante when that was released. It did help that my commute to work was precisely the right length for it, though.