New Duttons for February

[Gareth Vaughan]

The German disk sounds delicious bit I would dearly love to see Dutton record "The Seasons" eventually. Nevertheless, this new crop of CDs is riches indeed.

[Alan Howe]

For me the most interesting single item has to be the Sherwood as, despite poring over piles of his scores, I've never actually heard a note of his music...

[Dundonnell]

I have already expressed certain reservations about this new batch of recordings from Dutton.

There are certainly some important gaps filled and I shall definitely be ordering the Foulds Cello Concerto (coupled with the Sainsbury). I hope that the Sainsbury turns out to be a good piece; I must confess that his Violin Concerto did not quite works its magic on me The German disc also looks appealing but the coupling of a revised version of RVW's 5th and the Christopher Wright Violin Concerto still strikes me as rather odd.

My gripe-and I know that I shall be in a minority in saying this-is that there is a 'sameness' about the group of composers whose works have been recorded.
Edward German died in 1936, Foulds and Sherwood in 1939, Austin wrote little after 1939.
The only two active after 1939 are Sainsbury and Wright and with the greatess of respect to both neither seem to me to be among the most important British composers of the mid to later 20th century whose works languish unrecorded. All I had hoped is that alongside recordings of Foulds and German and Sherwood might have been some slightly more modern offerings. (I accept that there is also a light music collection on offer.)

Still, I would not wish to be too critical of the wonderful work Dutton has done and continues to do for British music. The recordings of the Joubert 2nd Symphony and the Martelli symphony and the Arnell String Quartets are reviewed with great enthusiasm in the new issue of 'Tempo' magazine

[Alan Howe]

I'm afraid this is not a gripe which I share; my main disappointment is that the Austin Symphony is a re-release. Otherwise, I rather applaud the choice of repertoire, especially as it is likely to be more to my taste! It would be nice if it were a case of 'both...and', rather than 'either...or', but Dutton have clearly made certain choices. And after all, they have recorded one of our most important contemporary symphonists - namely, David Matthews.

[Dundonnell]

I'm afraid this is not a gripe which I share; my main disappointment is that the Austin Symphony is a re-release. Otherwise, I rather applaud the choice of repertoire, especially as it is likely to be more to my taste! It would be nice if it were a case of 'both...and', rather than 'either...or', but Dutton have clearly made certain choices. And after all, they have recorded one of our most important contemporary symphonists - namely, David Matthews.

I did not expect you to, Alan   And, of course, I recognise your applause for their choice which will indeed appeal to the musical taste of a number of people....including, I have to say, my own I shall purchase the Foulds disc with enthusiasm. I look forward very much to hearing the Sherwood and the German.

All I was requesting was a greater degree of balance with other music which is also to my taste. And, yes, I certainly commend the recording of David Matthews, an important contemporary composer. It is the folk in between Austin and Matthews I am referring to.

[Jimfin]

Let me begin by saying that Dutton are a wonderful company who have given me a lot of joy, and that I shall be ordering most of these. However, I feel some disappointment that Edward German is being recording to the last note in his incidental music, but only *one* of his seven operas has a satisfactory complete recording available (Tom Jones). 'Merrie England has a half-century old cut version knocking around, 'The Emerald Isle' only an amateur one, and the lovely scores (albeit theatrically disastrous) of "A Princess of Kensington" and "Fallen Fairies" are untouched.
     I had also hoped for some follow-up to the Havergal Brian double-whammy that accompanied last year's spring release and helped with the stress of the earthquake and tsunami here.

But I look forward to the Sainsbury and Foulds with great aniticpation and wish Dutton a long and prosperous life as a company!

[Alan Howe]

All I was requesting was a greater degree of balance with other music which is also to my taste. And, yes, I certainly commend the recording of David Matthews, an important contemporary composer. It is the folk in between Austin and Matthews I am referring to.

We can all wish that record companies should achieve the sort of balance which you are advocating. However, I am simply grateful for the particular set of choices that Dutton have made and would argue that they make a valuable contribution towards achieving an appropriate balance regarding repertoire within the recording industry as a whole.

[BFerrell]

We can all purchase them after Dutton's new sale ends on February 27th.

[M. Henriksen]

Not to ask too much from Dutton, but shouldn't we expect a couple of "International" discs as well!?
Any thoughts/ideas?


Morten

[jerfilm]

will these be available for download/purchase anywhere?   Amazon, perhaps?

Jerry

[herrarte]

Here's the link to buy the Catoire.

http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=CDLX7287

[jerfilm]

Thanks for the link but i'm hoping to find a download purchase.....

Jerry

[M. Henriksen]

I've never seen Dutton CDs available for download at amazon, but you can find them at itunes. I think most of the catalogue should be available there now, but I think you'll have to wait some more before the newest discs are added. Those releases are still not available for purchase at Dutton's website.


Morten

[Alan Howe]

I phoned Dutton yesterday - still no luck...

[herrarte]

"I've never seen Dutton CDs available for download at amazon"

The Godard is available for download at Itunes.