Some Unrecorded 20th Century British Symphonies

[Dundonnell]

The announcement at the end of Grace Williams Sym no. 1 that I have calls it "Symphonic Impressions on Glendouer(sp?) Scenes of Henry IV, Part One, Her symphony no. 1"

Interesting! ('Glendower' in English, 'Glyndwr' in Welsh

Quote from an Albion post:

"There is an excellent monograph on Grace Williams by Malcolm Boyd (University of Wales Press, 1980). Regarding 'Symphony No.1' -

Its full title, on one of the surviving manuscripts at least, is Symphony no.1 in the form of Symphonic Impressions of the Glendower Scene in 'Henry IV Part 1': the composer usually referred to it simply as Symphonic Impressions. The first three of its four movements are musical portrayals of the character Owen Glendower in Act III scene 1 of Shakespeare's play, each one illustrating a different facet of his character. The first [shows] Glendower as a mighty warrior [, ... the] second movement depicts Glendower the dreamer [, ...the] third movement, entitled 'Scherzo barbaro e segreto', is an impression of Glendower the magician [and] the work ends with an epilogue. Here the composer puts aside Shakespeare's characterization and attempts, in her own words, 'a retrospective impression of Owain Glendwr, great figure of Welsh history'."

[Dundonnell]

Leaving aside those symphonies listed above which have never been performed (like Wordsworth's 6th) the symphonies which I would really like to hear and wonder if anyone has been able to record in the past would be:

David Matthews' 7th
Peter Maxwell Davies 7th
John McCabe 7th

Colin, I have the three above mentioned. I will certainly upload them if you like but only if no other member will offer them. My recordings of Matthews and McCabe are streams by the BBC-Player which offers a very low bitrate. Davies is on an old cassette, a concert from the late 90s or so, but the sound is very dull and muffled.
Well, take what you can get, but I hope there may be better ones!

The Matthews will be recorded by Dutton(the composer has confirmed this!) but the other two I would welcome . I doubt if anyone else has a recording

Okay, but it will take me a week or so. Let's see if we still get a better offer!

That's fine

[Holger]

Leaving aside those symphonies listed above which have never been performed (like Wordsworth's 6th) the symphonies which I would really like to hear and wonder if anyone has been able to record in the past would be:

Arthur Butterworth's 6th
Arnold Cooke's 2nd and 6th
Iain Hamilton's 1st, 3rd and 4th
Alun Hoddinott's 1st, 4th, 8th and 9th
David Matthews' 7th
Peter Maxwell Davies 7th
John McCabe 5th, 6th and 7th
Anthony Milner's 3rd

I happen to have a recording of Iain Hamilton's Symphony No. 3 and will upload it in near future.

[semloh]

The announcement at the end of Grace Williams Sym no. 1 that I have calls it "Symphonic Impressions on Glendouer(sp?) Scenes of Henry IV, Part One, Her symphony no. 1"

Interesting! ('Glendower' in English, 'Glyndwr' in Welsh

Quote from an Albion post:

"There is an excellent monograph on Grace Williams by Malcolm Boyd (University of Wales Press, 1980). Regarding 'Symphony No.1' -

Its full title, on one of the surviving manuscripts at least, is Symphony no.1 in the form of Symphonic Impressions of the Glendower Scene in 'Henry IV Part 1': ..."

Well, I suppose that settles it! Not quite sure how I missed the download available here!

I can't understand why she would have discarded all but the scherzo, as she says, and we are fortunate that the score was not discarded. It's a fine work, and I wonder why there's still no recording?

Maybe we are in the territory discussed elsewhere in the forum, of whether one should resuscitate works that have been discarded by their creators!  I think this owuld be a prime example of what gems we might miss!

[Dundonnell]

Hurrah