British Music

[Lionel Harrsion]

Great news in Jones Country!

Not to be confused with Jonestown, one hopes!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Great news in Jones Country!

Not to be confused with Jonestown, one hopes!

Perish the thought!

[eschiss1]

Cooper violin sonata- performance before (or in) 1964 (because violinist Milan Yovanovitch Bratza's dates are 1904-64. He is also mentioned in association with Cooper's violin concerto, I think I saw...) Good to know something about the provenance of the recording- if only that much!

No idea still who Barbara Clamp is or was (unknown pianist under assumed name? Or maybe just a misspelling? or...). I wonder if the Joyce Hatto/Michael Maxwell performance (apparently yes, that recording that's been mentioned in her otherwise almost entirely false performance record/discography, really was Hatto?) of the Cooper 3rd concerto was recorded and survives though?

[Holger]

In one single push of labour, I managed to upload the four Jones symphonies mentioned above already this morning, links should appear in the Downloads section soon. As a bonus, I added two further pieces by Jones: his Sinfonietta No. 1 plus the "Ieunectid" Overture. I also have his Violin Concerto but I remember having read somebody else intends to upload it anyway.

Sound quality varies, for example in case of No. 13 the actual recording was rather quiet, which makes noise a more substantial feature alas. No. 1 is the longest Jones symphony (almost 50 minutes duration), No. 5 is a very powerful piece (with Jones himself conducting!) and Nos. 11&13 show Jones' late mastery, both of them are pieces of commemoration as indicated in the titles.

The more I got to know by Jones the more I am convinced he was a truly great composer, it's hard to understand why there is no commercial recording of the whole cycle of his symphonies.

[albion]

In one single push of labour, I managed to upload the four Jones symphonies mentioned above already this morning, links should appear in the Downloads section soon. As a bonus, I added two further pieces by Jones: his Sinfonietta No. 1 plus the "Ieunectid" Overture. I also have his Violin Concerto but I remember having read somebody else intends to upload it anyway.

Great - thank you for a very generous contribution!

[Dundonnell]

Having started a thread about Daniel Jones on another forum back in January 2009 (a thread which is still running ) in which I lamented the fact that Chandos had not followed their set of the Jones String Quartets with a symphonic cycle and in which I and others grumbled and moaned about the absence of these symphonies.........

For me personally, a month ago there were the five on cd(Nos. 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9), then I found this site which had made two more available (Nos. 2 and 12), then I found my own old tape collection (which includes Nos. 3 and 10) and now, today, Nos. 1, 5, 11 and '13' 

Thank you for your great generosity

I think that it would be worth bearing in mind that it will probably take me another two to three weeks before I am in a position to upload the additional orchestral and choral works in my collection and that there is no guarantee that the quality of my recordings is equal, let alone, superior to yours.
It may yet prove better to have your recordings rather than mine of Symphonies Nos. 3 and 10... but we can see about that in due course

[Dundonnell]

I should add that the other works by Daniel Jones which I have on tape are:

Violin Concerto
Tone Poem "Cloud Messenger"
Suite "Salute to Dylan Thomas"
Dance Fantasy
Concert Overture
Oratorio "St. Peter"
Cantata "Hear the Voice of the Ancient Bard"

[Holger]

You are welcome, I have benefitted myself a lot from all the generous uploads here on this platform!

Of course, I also have the Chandos set of Jones' String Quartets – though it's rather annoying it is already out of print! Indeed, it would have been great if they had also brought out the symphonies.

Dundonnell, whenever you find time to upload the other Jones pieces it will be fine. Collecting music also means learning to have patience, therefore two or three weeks are actually almost nothing. A friend of mine is collecting Soviet symphonies, he has now been hunting for the rarest LPs for nearly 15 years!

We will see about your copies of Jones' Symphonies Nos. 3&10. I have two versions of the Third (Thomson, Hughes) anyway. Regarding the other works you have, I have the Violin Concerto and the Dance Fantasy (which has even appeared on a Lyrita CD) but not the others. In fact, they would all interest me a lot.

[albion]

Many thanks to Holger for these symphony files - at long last we are within sight of a complete Daniel Jones symphony cycle being available. I've placed copies of the new files in the BMB archive (Folder 7) and added some broadcasting dates - strictly speaking it was still the BBC Welsh SO until 1993!

other works by Daniel Jones which I have on tape are:

Violin Concerto
Tone Poem "Cloud Messenger"
Suite "Salute to Dylan Thomas"
Dance Fantasy
Concert Overture
Oratorio "St. Peter"
Cantata "Hear the Voice of the Ancient Bard"

Super, greatly looking forward to these!

[Dundonnell]

Many thanks to Holger for these symphony files - at long last we are within sight of a complete Daniel Jones symphony cycle being available. I've placed copies of the new files in the BMB archive (Folder 7) and added some broadcasting dates - strictly speaking it was still the BBC Welsh SO until 1993!

other works by Daniel Jones which I have on tape are:

Violin Concerto
Tone Poem "Cloud Messenger"
Suite "Salute to Dylan Thomas"
Dance Fantasy
Concert Overture
Oratorio "St. Peter"
Cantata "Hear the Voice of the Ancient Bard"

Super, greatly looking forward to these!

Well, as Holger correctly pointed out, the Dance Fantasy is on a Lyrita cd-which I have but had overlooked-so it can probably be skipped. The other six works, together with Symphonies Nos. 3 and 10 will go up though

(Always, though, counting on quality of recording...I am trying to listen to Derek Bourgeois's Tuba Concerto just now but the recording is really pretty dreadful, I am afraid )

[Arbuckle]

Again, never believed such a treasure as all of Daniel Jones' symphonies would come my way, thanks to this wonderful forum, but especially to Holger. Now just to be able to have time to listen to them all!

[albion]

never believed such a treasure [...] would come my way

It's better than the lottery, any day!"

[Alan Howe]

Absolutely!
BTW, for Jones beginners (like me), which of his symphonies would you rate most highly?

[shamokin88]

I can add a Dobra Niva orchestral suite by Daniel Jones. Shamokin88.

[Holger]

BTW, for Jones beginners (like me), which of his symphonies would you rate most highly?

Rather difficult question. Jones was eager not to repeat himself and always tried to find new concepts. For example, main keys of his Symphonies Nos. 1-12 run through the whole chromatic scale: No. 1 in E, No. 2 in A, No. 3 in B, No. 4 in G sharp, No. 5 in C sharp, No. 6 in D, No. 7 in F sharp, No. 8 in F, No. 9 in C, No. 10 in B flat, No. 11 in E flat and No. 12 finally reaches G. I also think it's no wonder the John Fussell Symphony, i.e. No. 13, is in C Sharp: the Fifth (in other words, his original Symphony in C Sharp) is the only symphony which partly leaves this scheme as it finally moves to D Major.

Critics often praise Jones' Fourth and it is definitely a strong piece, written in memory of his friend Dylan Thomas and very concentrated, dense and powerful. However it's commercially available and thus not to be found among our uploads. Maybe I might recommend No. 2 instead. The reason is that in this piece Jones has definitely found an own voice, e.g. you will find his typical juggling rhythms in this symphony, it's also fine because of its mood of drama (when the main theme of the first movement is rushed through the orchestra near the end of the finale that's really enthralling!). It's a longer than most of Jones' later symphonies, however (none of Nos. 6-13 take longer than half an hour). Basically, I think any Jones symphony is worth a listen. The only symphony I would maybe not recommend to start with is the First, just because it is a slightly earlier piece and probably not as typical of his ripe language as the later ones.

Shamokin88, the Dobra Niva Suite is certainly of interest as well and I'd be grateful for an upload for sure!