Cyril Scott Symphony No.1

[Alan Howe]

I'd forgotten - if I ever knew - what an enjoyable piece this is. It often seems on the border of light music (nothing wrong with that), but how beautifully it is written for the orchestra and what tunes it has! And it is absolutely lacks any pretension to be a 'major statement'. How refreshing!

[Mark Thomas]

Aha, I must investigate. I don't know the work at all.

[MartinH]

Indeed it's a delightful work. I know an English Horn player who is dying to play this symphony - such a juicy part. I wonder who publishes it?

[Alan Howe]

It can be auditioned here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2ba7SYyKsc

[eschiss1]

The score and parts are available at the Free Library of Philadelphia Fleisher Collection I gather - http://www.worldcat.org/title/symphony-no-i-for-full-orchestra-in-g-major/oclc/64557458&referer=brief_results. No publisher, per se, I believe.

[chill319]

Fond of this one myself. Not a pretentious note in it, but full of youthful confidence.

[adriano]

Cyril Scott is a great composer!
There are 4 Chandos CD, magnificently played and interpreted by the BBC Philharmonic and Marty Brabbins: Three Symphonies (No. 3 dedicated to Thomas Beecham), two Piano Concertos, a Cello and a Violin Concerto and, what is urgently recommended: Neptune (Poem of the Sea) for large Orchestra, dedicated to Albert Coates.
On the same series there is also the tone poem "Early One Morning", which had already been (somnolently) recorded (together with Piano Concertos 1 and 2) by John Ogdon and by Bernard Herrmann on Lyrita in 1972.
In 1993, Marco Polo producced a CD with "Aubade", "Neapolitan Rhapsody", "Three Dances", "Suite Fantastique", and "Two Passacaglias" with the NSO of the SABC conducted by Peter Marchbank.
In 2005, my Munich friend, the pianist Michael Schäfer recorded on the Genuin label Scott's three Piano Sonatas and five additional pieces for piano.
In 1937, Scott had written a highly original and very beautiful Harpsichord Concerto, which Jory Vinikour premiered posthumosuly in 2008, with the Orion Orchestra conducted by Toby Purser.
Off topic: for Jory I composed my own harpsichord concerto :-)

[Christopher]

I have a 1970s Melodiya record which includes his Lotus Land (op. 47) orchestrated for saxophone and orchestra (orchestration and solo by Margarita Shaposhnikova). It is total "zen" music - very calm and other-worldly. I hadn't heard of Cyril Scott before so was amused to discover him via an obscure Russian LP.

[Gareth Vaughan]

It is perhaps worth pointing out that Chandos also recorded the Three Symphonic Dances, which is the revision of the 2nd symphony, the composer having withdrawn the original "Symphony". The harpsichord concerto was recorded at my suggestion on Cameo Classics with Michael Laus as soloist and the Malta Philharmonic. I do agree with Hadrianus that it is a very fine and beautiful work.

[Jimfin]

I must try again. Scott is one of those composers I seem to buy lots of but never quite get into, Bainton being another.

[Alan Howe]

There's a huge difference between early Scott and his later, more esoteric music. If possible, audition before buying!

[matesic]

Of course by the 1930's Scotty was completely potty! If I remember correctly (without reading it all again, please) one of the more esoteric ideas expounded in his Music. Its Secret Influence Throughout the Ages dedicated to the Initiate Master Koot Hoomi was that the prevalent music of a particular cultural age, for example the oratorios of Handel whose "exalted mission (was) to revolutionise the state of English morals", has a direct influence on the moral character of the people, even if they don't actually get to hear it! Opening the book pretty much at random I find (p147) "we still await the time when concord and discord shall be united in perfect euphony" (huh?). On p 152 he concedes that organ grinders "..help to educate 'the gutter'" but laments that "After the dissemination of jazz, which was definitely 'put through' by the Dark Forces, a very marked decline in sexual morals became noticeable".

[Alan Howe]

As I said, audition before buying!

[MartinH]

Of course, Scott was not the only composer who went off the rails as he got older. There are so many whose early work promised so much and bacme less loveable later: Stravinsky, Gretchaninov, Nielsen. Same with conductors who didn't age particularly well.

[eschiss1]

Some (like me) often prefer e.g. later Nielsen and the last works of Stravinsky (I've heard very little by Scott as yet) but I understand that your views are probably more representative of this group (In the most "literal" sense of "lovable" however I- among most others- can't say that those statements are true. Maybe just stick with less Romantic...)