Unsung Choral Music

[Dundonnell]

Anybody heard Ludvig Irgens-Jensens's Heimferd (Homecoming)? As it is available on Simax it is not completely unsung, but a very good work and mostly unheard outside of Norway.

Yes, indeed....the Simax boxed set sits proudly on my shelves   And a very fine piece of music it is too

[markniew]

I add also:
Aleksander (Alexandre) Tansman (1897-1986)
Prophet Isaiah (1950)

In that case it could not be callad "unsung" because it was performed here in Lodz/Poland on 29.08.2004

[jerfilm]

Just to make some of us feel less guilty, I assumed the "international" thing when I saw Albion's list.  Arthur Foote, Horatio Parker, Anton Rubinstein.   I'd have been surprised if anyone had claimed them to be British.  But then, I suppose, you never know.   

Jerry

[mikehopf]

I've got the Tansman Isaiah on LP ( that makes it kosher , doesn't it?) if anyone wants it.....

[eschiss1]

As the British connection was not (explicitly) mentioned in the first post or title of -these- threads, unlike the cantata thread, I am not actually sure it is relevant (or rather, I mean, I am quite sure it is not, for my own part. I am not an admin, but that would be my own view.)

[Jimfin]

It's an oratorio, I know, but I would love to hear a full decent recording of Sullivan's "The Light of the World", which was very well thought of in its time and which Gounod apparently dubbed a masterpiece. I have an ancient vocal score of it, and spent much time in my teens trying to get an idea of how the work might sound. Now that the (apparently less mature) "Prodigal Son" has been done by Hyperion, might one not hope?

[jerfilm]

I could contribute a fair sized list from my Grove gleanings so will just stick with some American composers and their cantatas.

Frederick Archer (1828-1901)  King Witlaf's Drinking Horn (?)
Hans Balatka (1826-1899)  Festival Cantata
Mrs. H H A Beach  The Chambered Nautilis;  The Minstrel and the King
George Frederick Bristow  Two cantatas, neither title am I familiar with......
and last but not least
John Knowles Paine  The Realm of Fancy, The Song of Promise, The Hymn of the West

If I could only hear one of these pieces, it would be one of Mrs. Beach's.

Jerry

[albion]

George Frederick Bristow  Two cantatas, neither title am I familiar with......

Could they be The Great Republic, Op.47 and The Pioneer, Op.49?



Also, I really like what I have heard of Horatio Parker's music, but there seems to have been hardly anything recorded, orchestral or choral. Even his once-celebrated Hora Novissima, Op.30 (1893) has yet to receive an adequate modern rendition. Some of his other unexplored choral works are -

The Ballad of a Knight and his Daughter, Op.6 (1884)
King Trojan, Op.8 (1885)
Idylle, Op.15 (1886)
The Norseman's Raid, Op.16 (1888)
The Kobolds, Op.21 (1890)
The Dream-King and his Love, Op.31 (1891)
The Legend of St Christopher, Op.43 (1897)
A Wanderer's Psalm, Op.50 (1900)
Hymnos Adron, Op.53 (1901)
A Star Song, Op.54 (1901)
Union and Liberty, Op.60 (1905)
The Spirit of Beauty, Op.61 (1905)
King Gorm the Grim, Op.64 (1907)
A Song of Times, Op.73 (1911)
The Leap of Roushan Beg, Op.75 (1913)
Morven and the Grail, Op.79 (1915)
The Dream of Mary, Op.82 (1918)
A.D. 1919, Op.84 (1919)

[albion]

I can also recommend The World of the Oratorio by Kurt Pahlen ( Amadeus Press)

Thanks for the tip, Mike - I'd not come across this book before, but have just ordered a used copy on Amazon.

[mikehopf]

For my money, the Upton book takes pride of place, though the Pahlen work does deal with a lot of obscure 20th Century works.

I've found a couple of items that may be of some interest to you and which I'll be glad to upload:

COLERIDGE TAYLOR: A Tale of Old Japan

SOMERVELL: Christmas - Cantata

[Alan Howe]

I'd really like to see Draeseke's Requiem in B minor of 1883 given a modern recording. The transfer that I have of the one LP recording of the piece exhibits quite a bit of distortion - unfortunately.

[albion]

I'd really like to see Draeseke's Requiem in B minor of 1883 given a modern recording. The transfer that I have of the one LP recording of the piece exhibits quite a bit of distortion - unfortunately.

If it's no longer commercially available, could it be a candidate for the download section?

I've found a couple of items that may be of some interest to you and which I'll be glad to upload:

COLERIDGE TAYLOR: A Tale of Old Japan

SOMERVELL: Christmas - Cantata

Yes, please!

[mikehopf]

The items that you requested have been uploaded.

Let me know what you think of them.

I have a private recording of On Shore & Sea but I believe that Hyperion are bringing out a recording soon.

[mikehopf]

Jimfin, there is a modern recording ( 2000) of Light of the World available:

Sullivan: The Light of the World
Soloists:
Karen Johnson, soprano
Adrienne Murray, contralto
Paul Dutton, tenor
Stephen Wells, baritone
Richard Wiegold, bass

NFMS North West Festival Choir
Liverpool Youth Choir
St. Julie's R.C. School Choir
Chester Music Society Choir
Hulme Singers

Organist: David Houlder
Conductor: John Bethell

Recorded at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral
25 November 2000

NFMS WRW202-2.
The Light of the World, by Holman Hunt 

[albion]

The items that you requested have been uploaded.

Let me know what you think of them.

I have a private recording of On Shore & Sea but I believe that Hyperion are bringing out a recording soon.

Thanks Mike, I look forward to hearing the Coleridge-Taylor and the Somervell when the post is approved.



I used to have the old Sullivan Society cassette of On Shore and Sea and have heard the cantata performed twice live - under Richard Hickox in Nottingham (1988) and under the auspices of the Sullivan Society down in Portsmouth a few years ago (the same concert at which the rediscovered numbers from The Beauty Stone and The Rose of Persia were first aired).

Could you possibly tell me anything about your source of information regarding a Hyperion recording?

Jimfin, there is a modern recording ( 2000) of Light of the World available: [...] NFMS WRW202-2

With the best will in the world, I could not recommend this recording. The general adequacies of the soloists and the organist are obscured by the cavernous acoustic of LAC, whereas the inadequacies of the chorus are not obscured enough. More reviews are here -

http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/sullvocal-lotw2001.htm



But a positive outcome of the event was that it caused Cramer to produce a brand new vocal score, resetting the complete first edition (275 pp) rather than the more generally-available truncated second edition (259 pp) -