British Music

[Dundonnell]

I am sending Albion the links to the following uploads:

Edmund Rubbra

Symphony No.3: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Steuart Bedford. Bedford is most associated these days with the music of Benjamin Britten but very interesting to hear him conduct Rubbra.

Symphony No.9 "Sinfonia Sacra": BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sir Charles Groves. A magnificent performance under the baton of the conductor who gave the work its first performance.

Symphony No.11: the premiere of the work from the Proms with the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra/Nicholas Cleobury.

Violin Concerto: with Erich Gruenberg as soloist and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Steuart Bedford.

Franz Reizenstein:

Piano Concerto No.2: this is the work recently recorded by Dutton but this is the 1964 broadcast with the composer as soloist with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Norman Del Mar.

These are recordings which should certainly be both shared and preserved.

[albion]

These are recordings which should certainly be both shared and preserved.

Indeed they are: as detailed in Colin's useful summary post above, the latest additions are -

Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986) - Symphony No.3, Op.49 (1939); Violin Concerto, Op.103 (1959); Symphony No.9, Sinfonia Sacra, The Resurrection, Op.140 (1971); Symphony No.11, Op.153 (1979)

Franz Reizenstein (1911-1968) - Piano Concerto No.2, Op.37 (1959)

The files are now in the folder and the catalogue has been updated.

Many thanks!

[Latvian]

I had a quick check of the death indexes for Robert James Barclay Wilson (no hyphen). He was born 22 Oct 1899 and died in the December quarter 1988 at Dover. Hope that, that is of some help.

Thank you, hattoff! Mystery solved. This has been bugging me for years!

Perhaps I could prevail upon you for an answer to another small mystery: There was a composer named Frank Turner, who was born in 1896. I have a Pye LP from the 1960s or early 1970s with a group of piano preludes by him, in addition to works by other British composers of the time. When did Turner die? I've periodically searched the Web for years and have been unable to find any mention of him other than a few listings for sheet music of his piano works. No biographical information whatsover, anywhere.

[hattoff]

Hi Latvian,
There were around thirty Frank Turners born in 1896 who died in England or Wales in the last century, it is such a common name! We need something, anything, else to point us in the right direction.

Robert James Barclay Wilson, with all those names to go on, was relatively easy to find.

I've not heard of Frank Turner and can't find anything about him on the web, so it's all a bit difficult, sorry

[albion]

There was a composer named Frank Turner, who was born in 1896. I have a Pye LP from the 1960s or early 1970s with a group of piano preludes by him, in addition to works by other British composers of the time. When did Turner die? I've periodically searched the Web for years and have been unable to find any mention of him other than a few listings for sheet music of his piano works. No biographical information whatsover, anywhere.

Possibly of little use, but the Gramophone review of this disc (October 1968) describes Turner as Anglo-French.

[Mark Thomas]

Musicsack just lists him as being born in 1896 - but that much you already know.

[hattoff]

He turns up here listed with other french composers and Stravinsky:


http://research.hrc.utexas.edu:8080/hrcxtf/view?docId=ead/00298.xml


I'm afraid I have no immediate access to french records but I will look and report back if I find anything.

[semloh]

I had a quick check of the death indexes for Robert James Barclay Wilson (no hyphen). He was born 22 Oct 1899 and died in the December quarter 1988 at Dover. Hope that, that is of some help.

Thank you, hattoff! Mystery solved. This has been bugging me for years!

My searches suggest there may still be some doubt over this.   

At the symphonies site, http://paulfkisak.tripod.com/PFKPrivate/europesymphonies.html the composer of the symphony is said to Robert James Barclay-Wilson, born "c.1913" and died 1988. (NB with hyphen and middle name).

However, Robert Barclay-Wilson  (usually with hyphen, but without middle name) is described elsewhere on the web as a Professor of Music at the Guildhall SoM; Conductor (?1st)  of Hounslow Symphony Orchestra, September 1954 - April 1972; Compositions include songs, piano pieces (inc. a sonata), organ works, etc (the scores are listed on Amazon) – best known for "Three Short Postludes" (organ); Books include The Technique of Orchestral Conducting. Musician's Library: Macmillan, London. Pub. @ 2/- (rev. Musical Times, May 1937); arr./ed. of songs of Thomas Arne (1975), etc.

The only reference I found to a Barclay Wilson (without hyphen and with middle name James), who died in 1988 and was born in 1899 -  those given by Latvian - is to Roger James Barclay Wilson. F.G.S.M. ... who studied at Winchester Cathedral Choir School, and was organist of the famous Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead, NW3 (per www.organ-biography.info/index.php?id=Ban ).

This does muddy the waters if nothing else! 

[albion]

I came across these references too (and was dumbfounded by the organ biography duplication) and there is clearly an unusually high degree of confusion. If anything definitive can be established, especially the composition date for the symphony, I'd certainly like to know.

[Mark Thomas]

Re: Frank Turner - he looks to be French. The French National Library has a three movement Piano Sonata by Turner, hommage à Franz Liszt, published in Paris in 1927. Full details here. There is, however a Frank Turner Harrat: the British Library has half a dozen of his, mainly religious, works published in the US between 1907 and 1924. He might be worth investigating too.

[mikehopf]

A couple of items that may be of interest:

COWEN: 2 Morceaux for Orchestra: Melodie; A l'Espagnole

DELIUS: Paa Vidderne ( Melodrama with Speaker)  ... full version?

GAL: De Profundis ( Large Sscale oratorio

[albion]

Yes please.

Hooray - more Cowen!



- and certainly the Gal as well.

[Holger]

I agree, anything by Gál is very welcome. He was such a fine composer, but his career was interrupted by the Third Reich. I recently bought the disc with his First Symphony (which I actually knew before, but as I like the piece a lot I was very happy to see a modern recording coming out) and listened to it a couple of times. This music is so well invented and a real pleasure to listen to! Looking at the German music scene of the 1920s is really very rewarding. Karol Rathaus is another favourite of mine.

In any case, I shall be glad to pick up any Gál piece which is offered.

[albion]

Many thanks to mikehopf for the following recording -

Frederic Cowen (1852-1935) - Deux Morceaux - Melodie; A l'espagne (1883)

I have tidied up the file and split it into the two component pieces.

[eschiss1]

Hrm?? Cadensa lists "Melodie" as having been broadcast 1994.07.16 at the Proms (same conductor, etc.) Does the Sound Archive say they've lost the tape? Will check about A l'espagne, though. Actually, they list the other half as "A l'espagnole". The tape's reference code is "H3618/1".

(Search terms @ cadensa.bl.uk : "any words or numbers:" melodie , "name : " "wordsworth, barry" .)