British Opera

[albion]

British opera lags second-only behind British choral music in the sense that vast swathes remain unrecorded in any form: a list of desiderata would be very long indeed.



However, it might be useful at this point to take stock of the many wonderful opera recordings now in the archive -

Malcolm Arnold - The Dancing Master, Op. 34 (1951)
Julius Benedict - The Lily of Killarney (1862) [excerpts]
Arthur Benjamin - A Tale of Two Cities (1950) [excerpts]
Lennox Berkeley - Nelson, Op.41 (1949-54)
Richard Blackford - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1977)
Arthur Bliss - The Olympians (1948) [excerpts]
Rutland Boughton - Alkestis (1920-22) [excerpt]; The Queen of Cornwall (1923-24) [excerpts]; The Lily Maid (1933-34) [excerpt]
Havergal Brian - The Tigers (1917-29); Faust (1956) [excerpt]; Agamemnon (1957)
Alan Bush - Men of Blackmoor (1954-55); The Sugar Reapers (1962-65) [excerpts]; Joe Hill - The Man Who Never Died (1965-67)
Geoffrey Bush - Lord Arthur Savile's Crime (1972)
Frederick Corder - Nordisa (1887) [excerpt]
Frederic Cowen - Pauline (1876) [excerpt]
Frédéric d'Erlanger - Tess (1906) [excerpt]
Eugene Goossens - Judith, Op.46 (1925-27); Don Juan De Mañara, Op. 54 (1934-37)
Alun Hoddinott - The Beach of Falesà, Op.83 (1970-74) [excerpts]
Joseph Holbrooke - Bronwen, Op.75 (1915-20) [excerpts]
Gustav Holst - Sita, Op.23 (1900-06) [excerpt]; The Perfect Fool, Op.39 (1920-22)
Arwel Hughes - Menna (1950-51)
George Lloyd - John Socman (1951)
Edward Loder - Raymond and Agnes (1855) [excerpts]
Edward Naylor - The Angelus (1909) [excerpt]
Hubert Parry - Guenever (1886) [excerpt]
Cyril Scott - The Alchemist (1917-18) [excerpts]
Humphrey Searle - The Diary of a Madman, Op.35 (1958)
Ethel Smyth - The Boatswain's Mate (1916) [excerpt]
Charles Villiers Stanford - Much Ado About Nothing, Op.76 (1901) [excerpt]; The Travelling Companion, Op.144 (1916) [excerpts]
Arthur Sullivan - Trial by Jury (1875); The Sorcerer (1877); H.M.S. Pinafore (1878); The Pirates of Penzance (1879); Patience (1881); Iolanthe (1882); Princess Ida (1884); The Mikado (1885); Ruddigore (1887); The Yeomen of the Guard (1888); The Gondoliers (1889); The Grand Duke (1896)
Arthur Goring Thomas - Esmeralda (1883) [excerpt]
Malcolm Williamson - The Happy Prince (1965); Julius Caesar Jones (1965-66); The Violins of Saint Jacques (1966)

In terms of what has been recorded (broadcast or otherwise) what would members wish most to see added to the collection ...



... my initial votes would be for Grace Williams' The Parlour (1961) and Daniel Jones' Orestes (1967).

[alberto]

Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers

[albion]

Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers

Although the performance is in several respects less than ideal, I have added the 1994 Proms broadcast to the archive.

[alberto]

Thank you!

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I imagine the 1994 Proms broadcast referred to by Albion is one and the same as the 1994 release on Conifer where we have the BBC PO / Odaline de la Martinez (unless that Conifer set is a recording of a subsequent studio performance). The Conifer number is 75605 51250.

Conifer has, of course, now gone to that great place in the sky. Worth looking out for a S/H copy - and with luck some other label will take over the recording given that many other Conifer recordings have re-emerged. It is an opera I really enjoyed!

[Gareth Vaughan]

The WHOLE of "Bronwen", "Dylan Son of the Wave" and "The Children of Don". Roger Sacheverell Coke's "The Cenci".

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Humphrey Searle's Hamlet (produced at Covent Garden in 1969).

[albion]

The WHOLE of "Bronwen", "Dylan Son of the Wave" and "The Children of Don". Roger Sacheverell Coke's "The Cenci".

Unfortunately not recorded or broadcast as yet.

Humphrey Searle's Hamlet (produced at Covent Garden in 1969).

Broadcast - I'll put a request post up.

[hattoff]

Frank Bridge: The Christmas Rose.

I had it on LP and It has been available on CD, I believe.

A very beautiful work, I would love to hear it again........and again.

[dafrieze]

I have The Christmas Rose - I'll upload it this evening.

[semloh]

I have The Christmas Rose - I'll upload it this evening.

Oh, wonderful! Thank you, dafrieze!

[hattoff]

Yes dafrieze, thankyou very much indeed.

[eschiss1]

Re Bridge's The Christmas Rose- the Pearl performance certainly has been available on CD and under the rules as I understand them here (if they haven't changed) that particular performance shouldn't be uploaded... (I have the CD, in fact. I wish I enjoyed the work more - said sincerely since I enjoy most early and late Bridge I know quite a lot and he spent a good deal of time on the work - but at this time, not that much - but I shall return to it soon, I think.)

[Jimfin]

Very glad to see this thread. British opera is so negelected and there are so many fine works out there which will likely never see an opera house. I would love to hear Smyth's "The Boatswain's Mate" and all of Stanford's operas, particularly "Much Ado", "The Critic" and "The Travelling Companion"

[singablues]

Hello,

Searching the internet trying to listen to The Alchemist of Cyril Scott I came across this forum.
Can you tell me how this works or how can i listen to this piece of music?

Thank you very much

Sandra (Barcelona, Spain)