Peter Racine Fricker(1920-90): a catalogue of the Orchestral and Choral Music

[Dundonnell]

Ok...I thought that since I had sort of started in a post in the British Music Discussions thread I might as well try to do this properly

This list includes works in manuscript but not incidental music written for film. Music is for orchestra unless otherwise noted. An * indicates that the work is  in our British Music Catalogue and Archive. An + indicates a commercial recording.


1946:       Adagio
1946-47: Symphonietta
                 Suite for School Orchestra
1948:      Rondo Scherzoso: 18 minutes  *
1948-49: Symphony No.1, op.9: 28 minutes *    + (First Edition LP)
1949:      Prelude, Elegy and Finale for String Orchestra, op.10 *  + (Pye LP)
1949-50: Concerto for Violin and Small Orchestra(Violin Concerto No. 1): 20 minutes *  + (Lyrita cd)
1950:      Concertante for Cor Anglais and String orchestra(Concertante No.1), op.13: 12 minutes *
1950-51: Symphony No.2, op.14: 30 minutes *  + (EMI cd)
1951:      Concertante No.2 for Three Pianos, Strings and Timpani, op.15: 14 minutes *
                 Ballet "Canterbury Prologue", op.16
1952-53: Viola Concerto, op.18: 27 minutes *
1952-54: Concerto for Piano and Small Orchestra, op.19: 26 minutes *
1953-54: Violin Concerto No.2(Rhapsodia Concertante): 22 minutes *
1954:     Dance Scene, op.22: 11 minutes *
1955:     Litany for Double String Orchestra, op.26: 16 minutes  *
                Musick's Empire for chorus and small orchestra, op.27 *
1956:     Orchestral Fantasie: 2minutes
1958:     Oratorio "The Vision of Judgment" for tenor, soprano, chorus and orchestra, op.29: 50 minutes *
                Waltz for Restricted Orchestra
                Comedy Overture, op.32: 4 minutes *
1959:     Cantata 'Colet' for chorus, soloists and orchestra: 13 minutes
                Toccata for Piano and Orchestra, op.33: 12 minutes *
1960:     Symphony No.3, op.36: 31 minutes *
1961-62: Cantata for Tenor and Chamber Ensemble, op.37  *
1963:     'O Longs Desirs'-Five Songs for Soprano and Orchestra, op.39: 21 minutes *
1964-66: Symphony No.4, op.43: 34 minutes *
1965:     Four Songs for High Voice and orchestra, op.42a: 7 minutes
1966:     Three Scenes, op.45: 16 minutes *
1967:     Seven Counterpoints, op.47: 18 minutes
1967:     Magnificat for soprano, contralto, tenor, chorus and orchestra, op.50: 23 minutes
1968:     Concertante No.4 for Flute, Oboe, Violin and Strings, op.52: 12 minutes *
1971:     Nocturne for Chamber Orchestra, op.63: 10 minutes *    (Cheltenham Festival)
1972:     Introitus, op.66: 11 minutes *
1976:     Symphony No.5 for Organ and Orchestra, op.74 *
1976-77: Sinfonia for Seventeen Wind Instruments (In Memoriam Benjamin Britten), op.76: 11 minutes *
1979:     Laudi Concertante for Organ and Orchestra, op.80: 32 minutes *
1982:     Rondeaux for Horn and Orchestra, op.87: 20 minutes    (Cheltenham Festival)
1984:     Oratorio "Whispers At These Curtains" for baritone, boys' choir, chorus and orchestra, op.88: 50 minutes   (Three Choirs' Festival)
1985:     Concertino for St.Paul's, op.91: 20 minutes
1986:     Concerto for Orchestra, op.93: 18 minutes   (Cheltenham Festival)
1987-88: Walk By Quiet Water, op.96: 11 minutes
1989:     Piano Concerto No.2, op.97: 26 minutes
                With Joyance, op.100: 11 minutes

It seems to me that the most important missing works are the Concertante No.2 for three pianos, strings and timpani, the Litany for Double String Orchestra, the Magnificat. the Rondeaux for horn and orchestra, the Oratorio "Whispers At These Curtains", the Concerto for Orchestra and the Piano Concerto No.2(although I am not aware that the last has ever been performed). I hope that shamokin can give us the Sinfonia for 17 Wind Instruments, the Comedy Overture and Three Scenes for Orchestra.

Given that "Whispers At These Curtains" was performed at the 1984 Three Choirs Festival and the Concerto for Orchestra at the 1986 Cheltenham Festival, both broadcast, someone must surely have recorded them
               

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Immensely valuable. And a heartfelt THANK YOU. For almost 40 years Fricker has been a composer whose works I have been near desperate to get to know.

However I didn't realise the catalogue was both quite as large and had such an extensive range over so many musical forms. (There is also something mind-numbingly depressing about it. On the one hand I celebrate that Fricker wrote so much. On the other hand given that in a year or so I shall, unless the damned Tory government should seek to intervene, be in receipt of an old age pension I wonder about the expectation of actually hearing most of this music before I go even more gaga or eventually corpsed? OK, a problem not just for me, but humanity in general!)

Ah, but one serious grumble directed at you, Dundonnell, supremo of The List: what of the String Quartets? OK, you preface the list by specifying it is a list of music for orchestra, but then are very liberal in that by including choral works. But a cataloguer of excellence ought to include the String Quartets for on the basis of the one I was lucky enough to hear in my youth at least one of those (three?) Quartets is an unqualified masterpiece. (Irrelevant to the thread, but we have two seperate sets of the three Alwyn Quartets on Chandos and Naxos, and not a single recording of any one of the Fricker Quartets. Scandalous - and no prejudice intended to the Alwyn Quartets for they are lovely works).

And one little suggestion. Would such a list be even more helpful if it distinguished between commercial recordings (whether once available or currently so) and stuff in the 'in-house' archive? Perhaps a single and a double asterisk?

[Dundonnell]

Thank you for your kind words

Of course I take your point about the string quartets but I must confess to infinitely preferring orchestral and choral music to chamber music (MY loss, I have no doubt ) and to being more busy recently, although retired and in a few months also hopefully expecting my (old age, hah!!) pension, than I had ever expected to be There is, therefore, a limit to the amount of work I am prepared to undertake If anyone else wishes to add the chamber music then.............

I shall, however, take up your suggestion of amending my list to identify commercial recordings/archive recordings since VERY sadly that is too easy to do

[Dundonnell]

I am delighted to be able to note the addition of three more works by Fricker to our Archive and have amended the list above.

I am particularly pleased to now have the Three Scenes for orchestra, a piece I had taped back in 1978 but which was one of only a tiny handful of pieces which had been completely ruined at the recording stage, and the Sinfonia, written in memory of Benjamin Britten on commission from the University of Sydney, in a performance conducted by the composer(the first such example I am aware of).

Many thanks to shamokin

[Dundonnell]

Catalogue amended to include recent uploads from Holger and Latvian