Alfred Hill

[Mark Thomas]

I've posted four recently acquired recordings of hard-to-find works by Alfred Hill in the Downloads board and added to the post links to my earlier uploads of some of his symphonies.

[Mark Thomas]

I've now added the Piano Concerto, which I had neglected to include in the original post.

[Gauk]

Considering my mother was was Australian, Hill has always been someone I would like to like, but the old Marco Polo recordings seemed to me to be really rather tedious. I'll be listening to these for sure, though! Many thanks.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I'd love to hear a good modern recording of his viola concerto - a fine piece, IMHO.

[JimL]

The viola concerto is a fine piece.  BTW, its final movement is marked 'Decisivo', with a quarter note=95 BPM.  I already inquired.

[Mark Thomas]

Thank you, Jim. Decisivo, not Deciso?

[semloh]

Hill's symphonic poem, The Lost Hunter, representing a nightmare and dream had by said hunter whilst awaiting rescue, was aired on ABC Classic FM this weekend. The presenter suggested - rather oddly to my ears - that it would make a good ballet!

[JimL]

Thank you, Jim. Decisivo, not Deciso?

Here is the reply I got from the librarian:

From: library@australianmusiccentre.com.au
To: jblev10@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Library Enquiry
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:46:11 +0000

Dear James,

Thank you for your library enquiry.

Our copy of the piano reduction of this work is simply marked "Decisivo" at the start.

We have a recording of the work (Robert Pikler, viola, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra) and I've listened to it with a metronome. The performance is at approximately 'quarter note = 95'.

I hope this is of help.

Best,

James

[Mark Thomas]

How odd, but what a helpful reply. Isn't Decisivo Spanish, rather than Italian? Hill used Deciso in at least one of his other works. Thanks, Jim.

[alberto]

 "Decisivo" exists both in Italian and Spanish, with the same meaning: "conclusive" (but in the meaning of "crucial", not "final, the last of a series").
"Deciso" is like "risoluto" (in A.Hill, Quartet n.5, I, Allegro risoluto), "resolute".

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, Alberto. We live and learn.

[JimL]

Which is still kind of odd.  I wonder if James at the Australian Library misread it? 

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, I wondered that too, but it's really not that important, is it?

[eschiss1]

This also has "Decisivo", btw. (Hrm! And it's nice to see that the viola concerto will be played next month, if I understand that rightly )