British Music

[albion]

You've got your work [c]ut out for you here, John!

COWEN: The Butterfly's Ball - Overture
               Intermezzo: Monica's Blue Boy
               The Better Land
               Yellow Jasmine
               Language of Flowers
               Viscaia
               Suite of Old English dances: Stally/Rustic/Country


Historic recordings... artists unknown from RRE LP

I certainly have!

I've split Mike's first file into eight to present -

Frederic Cowen (1852-1935) - The Better Land (1877) – band arrangement; The Language of Flowers, Suite No.1, No.5 Yellow Jasmine (1880); Four English Dances in the Olden Style – No.1 Stately Dance, No.2 Rustic Dance, No.4 Country Dance (1896); Overture, The Butterfly's Ball (1901); The Language of Flowers, Suite No.2, No.6 Viscaria (1914); Monica's Blue Boy – Intermezzo (1917)

These are vintage performances which give a flavour of the music but are often cut and re-orchestrated to accommodate the limitations of the gramophone. I have researched and provided performance details in the BMB catalogue and am currently working on the file of songs.

[semloh]

Latest additions -
from Sicmu
Nigel Osborne (b.1948) - Sinfonia No.1 (1982)

My tape recording of this, also with the BBCSSO under Lionel Friend, is the premiere from the Prom of 2nd August 1982.  What a pity it's languishing on my r2r tapes somewhere!  

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to hear the work again - first time in 25 years! 

[albion]

COWEN : Songs:
                We Sweep the Seas
                The Better Land
                The Children's Home
                Onaway Awake Beloved
                The Swallows
                Fall In
               The Promise of Life
               Border Ballad
               At the Midnight Hour

Historic recordings... artists unknown from RRE LP

I have split the single song file into its nine constituent parts -

Frederic Cowen (1852-1935) - The Better Land (1877); The Children's Home (1881); At the Mid Hour of Night (1892); Onaway! Awake Beloved! (1892); The Swallows (1893); The Promise of Life (1893); Border Ballad (1895); Fall In! (1914); We Sweep the Seas (1915)

and provided performance information in the BMB catalogue.

These Cowen items have entailed a large amount of work, which I wouldn't have undertaken had they not been of such historical interest and had not the composer been so under-represented by modern recordings.

Thanks for the originals, Mike.

[Lionel Harrsion]

When I first encountered the sheet music of Cowen's 'Onaway! Awake beloved!' I recalled what Colerdige-Taylor had written in a letter to Jaeger, who had sent the composer a copy of Cowen's setting when Hiawatha's Wedding Feast was about to be published by Novello.  SC-T wrote, "Some of it I like very much; but why has he missed one beautiful section out altogether and repeated another?  Evidently Onaway's lover in Mr. Cowen's conception is a very different -- and less sentimental, less languid -- person from mine".  It's still well worth hearing though, and thanks to Mike and John for bringing it to us!   

[britishcomposer]

Sorry, but can it be that Mike's recording of Cowen's Butterfly's Ball is the same as this, issued by Dutton:
http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=CDBP9777

[albion]

Sorry, but can it be that Mike's recording of Cowen's Butterfly's Ball is the same as this, issued by Dutton:
http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=CDBP9777

Yes it is, but that is a different transfer.

[britishcomposer]

Sorry, but can it be that Mike's recording of Cowen's Butterfly's Ball is the same as this, issued by Dutton:
http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=CDBP9777

Yes it is, but that is a different transfer.

Ah, I understand. Good for us!

[albion]

When I first encountered the sheet music of Cowen's 'Onaway! Awake beloved!' I recalled what Colerdige-Taylor had written in a letter to Jaeger, who had sent the composer a copy of Cowen's setting when Hiawatha's Wedding Feast was about to be published by Novello.  SC-T wrote, "Some of it I like very much; but why has he missed one beautiful section out altogether and repeated another?  Evidently Onaway's lover in Mr. Cowen's conception is a very different -- and less sentimental, less languid -- person from mine".  It's still well worth hearing though, and thanks to Mike and John for bringing it to us!   

Cowen wrote around 300 songs which vary very much in quality and are never heard now. Nevertheless they have been the subject of a PhD thesis -

Chambers, Audley C. - Frederic Hymen Cowen: Analysis and Reception of His Songs for Voice and Piano (Northwestern University, Illinois, 1997)

According to Christopher Parker, Chambers' thesis is presented in such a meticulous fashion that he (Parker) refrains from covering the songs in his own excellent research. As far as I'm aware this American study is not generally available.

[albion]

I have just added the latest broadcasts from Dundonnell and annotated the BMB catalogue -

Alun Hoddinott (1929-2008) - Clarinet Concerto No.1, Op.3 (1950); Viola Concertino, Op.14 (1958); Sinfonietta No.2, Op.67 (1969)
Gordon Jacob (1895-1984) - Viola Concerto No.2 (1979)
Frank Bridge (1879-1941) - Oration (1929-30)
Lennox Berkeley (1903-1989) - Sinfonia Concertante for Oboe and Orchestra, Op.84 (1973)

Particular points of interest - the Jacob is a first performance and Bridge's Oration features Thomas Igloi as cellist.

Many thanks for these, Colin.

[albion]

Also just added are the following files from Steppenwolf -

Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) - Grand Fantasia and Toccata, Op.38 (1928, rev. 1953); Interlude for Oboe and String Quartet, Op.21 (1933-36); Prelude and Fugue for String Trio, Op.24 (1938)
William Mathias (1934-1992) - Dance Overture, Op.16 (1961)

Many thanks!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Bridge's Oration features Thomas Igloi as cellist.

And a fine performance it is, too. I just listened to it. Colin's treasure trove is the gift that keeps on giving.

[Dundonnell]

Bridge's Oration features Thomas Igloi as cellist.

And a fine performance it is, too. I just listened to it. Colin's treasure trove is the gift that keeps on giving.

Sadly.....my "treasure trove"-certainly of British music- is almost now exhausted Only one major batch of uploads to come, I think.

[albion]

Sadly.....my "treasure trove"-certainly of British music- is almost now exhausted Only one major batch of uploads to come, I think.

It may be approaching the end of the project, but you can rest assured that through your efforts many listeners will have been able to access a vast amount of otherwise-moribund music - the extent of their silent gratitude can only be imagined.

[Dundonnell]

That is very nice of you to say so, Albion

I do appreciate the sentiment immensely

I suppose, in retrospect, that it was the discovery of this site 2 or 3 months ago and, in particular, the discovery of almost all the William Wordsworth symphonies, the Alun Hoddinott 7th and 10th and the Robert Simpson Cello Concerto which acted as the inspiration for all of my uploads.

I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined that within a matter of weeks others would , for example, make all the Daniel Jones symphonies available

My gratitude to other members for their uploads of so much music which-so sadly-stands little chance of commercial recording can hardly be expressed adequately.

That is why I have been so determined to bring back to life all of this British music from 30+ years ago

I do have a not inconsiderable amount of non-British music still to upload of course.....and I do keep finding more works which may be worth preserving as I explore my catalogue

[albion]

My gratitude to other members for their uploads of so much music which-so sadly-stands little chance of commercial recording can hardly be expressed adequately.

That is why I have been so determined to bring back to life all of this British music from 30+ years ago

I do have a not inconsiderable amount of non-British music still to upload of course.....and I do keep finding more works which may be worth preserving as I explore my catalogue

Yes, I can just imagine what 'a not inconsiderable amount' might signify!



You can be sure that there will be broadcasts of importance here that nobody else even knew existed.



Helping to get Colin's collection of British music out into the wider world has been a real pleasure for me in many ways:

firstly, it has, of course, meant that I have personally been able to listen to many (especially mid- to later-twentieth century) composers and works that were previously just names to me, and sometimes not even that;

secondly, the sheer volume of material has required a streamlining of the cataloguing process so that I can (hopefully) now get important contributions sorted and into the archive more speedily, and has prompted me to continually modify the presentation of the archive to a point where I think it begins to 'work' from both sides of the counter;

thirdly, it has been a very harmonious partnership and I'm pleased to call Dundonnell a friend. Ed: That's quite enough emotive gushing, thankyou ...