British Music

[eschiss1]

To unconfuse people, Pengelli, I think you're responding to a PM of mine there (and I'm a Sessions fan too, but de gustibus non disputandum and all that, and I don't seem to have a hat to eat, as they... - I mean, I'm quite positive Frankel and Sessions were motivated by their muse both in their tonal and less tonal works. Likewise Wellesz.)
Eric

[Mark Thomas]

As a dyed-in-the-wool Stanford fan, I cannot thank you enough, Albion, for uploading the Te Deum. It is a simply glorious work, quite up to the standard of the Requiem and the Stabat Mater. What a joy, and what a shame that Chandos didn't commit it to disc when they had the chance.

[eschiss1]

I recall hearing that the Allegri or another quartet broadcast one of Stanford's string quartets- the 7th or 8th(?) ? - some years back. (Or perhaps the 5th. Fascinating if the 7th which I believe was not published, unlike the 1st through 3rd and 5th.) Anyone know anything about this?
(Even if as I am told Stanford's later output shows some general falling off in quality, or even just his chamber output, I'm still curious about those works, yes- as digitised manuscripts etc. Though hopefully well-digitised. Some of the manuscripts - I'm thinking of an obscure and obscured opera score - digitised by (lesser-known, not Sibley etc.) libraries and uploaded to IMSLP have notes very well hidden under paperclips and such things and are basically not really usable scans for performance...

[albion]

As a dyed-in-the-wool Stanford fan, I cannot thank you enough, Albion, for uploading the Te Deum. It is a simply glorious work, quite up to the standard of the Requiem and the Stabat Mater. What a joy, and what a shame that Chandos didn't commit it to disc when they had the chance.

It is a wonderful setting! Stanford (as with Parry) wrote such a large number of choral works that it would be difficult for a prospective record company to sort the wheat from the chaff. Certainly I would propose the following as worthy of committing to disc: Elegiac Ode (1884), The Voyage of Maeldune (1889), Phaudrig Crohoore (1895), the Te Deum (1898) and Merlin and the Gleam (1919). Unfortunately the full score of the last piece is lost, but I heard it in Jeremy Dibble's re-orchestration at one of the concerts given by the Broadheath Singers years ago in Slough (of all places) and it came across splendidly. Incidentally, the same concert featured a very fine performance of Cowen's Scena The Dream of Endymion (1897). As far as I'm aware, no recording was taken of this special event - more's the pity!

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Rather tangential to British music broadcasts (and thus apologies offered beforehand!) but mention of the Stanford chamber music causes the heart to leap.

So far as I know there is no available recording of String Quartets 3-8, the 1st String Quintet, the 2nd Piano Trio, both Cello Sonatas, and the 2nd Piano Quartet. Those gaps are, in my view, a scandal considering we have countless recordings of similar chamber works by Brahms and other deservedly 'sung' composers.

Those recordings we do have - especially the 3 Hyperion CDs of 2 String Quartets, String Quintet 2, and Piano Quintet - are deeply treasurable. To which I'd add Susanne Stanzeleit's Violin Sonata 1 in a collection of English violin sonatas, an ASV disc of Piano Trio 1, and a Naxos CD of works for clarinet and piano.

I wouldn't hesitate to put all the above on a pedestal, and they give me a pleasure akin to that given by the Brahms chamber music. That's praise indeed. I hope in particular the Vanbrugh Quartet eventually give us the remaining Quartets on Hyperion, before for example the Maggini on Naxos get in first (not that I'd have any objection at all to Hyperion being trumped in such a case!)

There is sometimes an assumption (perhaps in the sort of folk who continue to read the Gramophone) that because Stanford is an 'English' composer (which of course he wasn't) and that he wrote much choral and organ works he must obviously be a rather 'stuffy' composer and not up there with the real progressive figures in musical history. What absolute rot! One glance at those works he championed when deciding on festival programmes, or the very wide range of composers who were once his pupils, decisively blows such an assumption out of the water. He is a composer of the first order, and that's why I treasure the above CDs and also long for more.

Having expressed that view we can now get back to British music broadcasts!

Peter

[albion]

So far as I know there is no available recording of String Quartets 3-8, the 1st String Quintet, the 2nd Piano Trio, both Cello Sonatas, and the 2nd Piano Quartet. Those gaps are, in my view, a scandal considering we have countless recordings of similar chamber works by Brahms and other deservedly 'sung' composers.

Peter, you'll be pleased to learn that both 'cello sonatas have been recorded, by Alison Moncrieff Kelly on Meridian:

http://www.meridian-records.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww.meridian-records.co.uk%2f&WD=stanford&SHOP=%20&PN=CDE_84482_Stanford_Cello_Sonatas.html%23aCDE84482#aCDE84482

PS. It is the first String Quintet that is on that glorious hyperion disc, not the second!

[albion]

Three further recordings have been added to Folder 3 of British music broadcasts:

extracts from Joseph Holbrooke's opera Bronwen, Op.75 (1915-20) and his Serenade, Op.94 (1929) together with Rutland Boughton's Trumpet Concerto (1943).

[eschiss1]

Stanford's 2nd string quintet is op.86 in C minor *nod*.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Many thanks indeed, Albion, for tipping me off about that Meridian disc of the cello sonatas. Somehow it escaped the normally vigilant eye.

And whoops about the String Quintet - I was relying on memory alone (risky!).

Your word 'glorious' is exactly the right word to describe Stanford's chamber music. Personally, I'd travel many miles for a Stanford concert, as opposed to just a few for Elgar.

Peter

[oldman]

"So far as I know there is no available recording of String Quartets 3-8"

The parts and a performance of the Stanford String Quartet #3 is available at the IMSLP  at

http://imslp.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No.3,_Op.64_%28Stanford,_Charles_Villiers%29

Enjoy.

[eschiss1]

Well, including BBC broadcasts - iLink/cadensa (BBC Sound Archive) lists a broadcast of quartet 7 in C op.166 by the Alberni Quartet, and of quartet no.8 in E minor op.167 (London Quartet, broadcast early 1968 I think).
Eric

[albion]

I've just added a number of songs by Granville Bantock to Folder 3: Songs of Arcady (1920), Three Nocturnes (1923), Songs for Children (1922) and Three Robert Browning Settings (1920).

[Pengelli]

Albion,is the Boughton recording  the one on the 'White Line' cd?  You just reminded me of it. The other items on the cd sound interesting,and I was thinking of buying it before it gets deleted & the s/h price rockets!
 

[Pengelli]

What about the 1979 R3 broadcast of Bantock's 'Omar Khayyam'? That would be a big upload! There have been so many complaints about the 'cut' Chandos version. Another broadcast performance crying out to be released on cd?

[albion]

Albion,is the Boughton recording  the one on the 'White Line' cd?  You just reminded me of it. The other items on the cd sound interesting,and I was thinking of buying it before it gets deleted & the s/h price rockets!

No, it was a concert performance, recorded by the BBC.

What about the 1979 R3 broadcast of Bantock's 'Omar Khayyam'? That would be a big upload! There have been so many complaints about the 'cut' Chandos version. Another broadcast performance crying out to be released on cd?

It would be great to hear the 1979 Del Mar performance - unfortunately I don't have a copy, but there must be a number of collectors who do.

Regarding the Chandos recording of Omar, it is peculiar that those small cuts were made, but nevertheless I think that it is a superb achievement which is not spoilt in the least by the loss of about four minutes out of close on three hours - we are very lucky indeed to have it at all!