Charles Villiers Stanford

[Alan Howe]

Stanford was a composer of the highest calibre

That, I believe, is hyperbole. He was certainly a composer of a very high calibre indeed. But not of the highest...

[Mark Thomas]

I'm second to none, not even Albion, in my admiration for Stanford, whose works give me unfailing pleasure and satisfaction but I do think Alan right to raise an eyebrow at that remark. I'd certainly say that he is amongst those of the highest calibre amongst unsungs. Alan may quibble at that too, and fair enough, but it seems fair to me.

[Alan Howe]

I'm happy-ish with what Mark says. I think there are a few unsungs who have more original voices than Stanford, but he was a very, very fine composer indeed.

[Mark Thomas]

You'll remember that we've debated before those whose genius was to be original and those whose genus was to sum up an epoch. I certainly don't think Stanford's forte was originality, but as a "summer upper" he has only a few equals.

[albion]

You'll remember that we've debated before those whose genius was to be original and those whose genus was to sum up an epoch. I certainly don't think Stanford's forte was originality, but as a "summer upper" he has only a few equals.

A point well made (perhaps I was a little hyperbolic in my eulogy, but I would still strongly recommend the recordings!). Stanford was a composer whose output was uneven, but when on top-form (in the Requiem, Stabat mater, Irish Rhapsodies 3 & 4, Symphonies 5 & 6) he was a composer who can move us and cause us to sit back in wonder at the ethereal spirit called 'inspiration'. 

[eschiss1]

Originality takes many forms on the one hand and its most noticeable forms are overrated (and I say this not to knock modernism, some of whose exponents produce(d) music I like a lot and which hasn't come up, but as something of a truism??... - paraphrasing Anton Rubinstein I think - in the first part -  but I think he got it basically right ...)

[Alan Howe]

And yet when you hear something truly original, it strikes you straight away. Try Rufinatscha 5 and tell me who wrote anything like that before he did...

[Pengelli]

I've had allot of Stanford cd's in my collection for some time,but while I have found some of the music pleasent I have never been quite able to understand the enthusiasm here.
Last night after reading more posts about Stanford I decided to give the symphonies another go. This time I used the program button for my Chandos cd of Symphony No 4, (excluding the other items,so I could focus on the symphony,itself). It stayed on repeat all night! And what a gorgeous slow movement. It's hard to believe that this was a first recording.

[albion]

A new recording from Claves of Stanford's Piano Concerto No.2 coupled with the Down Among the Dead Men Variations (the same pairing of works as on Margaret Fingerhut's Chandos disc) has been awarded an Editor's Choice thumbs-up in the May issue of Gramophone -

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Claves/501101

With three excellent recordings (including Malcolm Binns on Lyrita) currently available, there's no excuse for anyone to turn a deaf ear to this highly engaging and impressive concerto! 

[Alan Howe]

The new Claves recording of PC2 is IMHO the best there is: I have never heard the brass so thrillingly recorded at the start of the piece and overall the marriage of power and sensitivity makes this a very special performance indeed. Thoroughly recommended!

[JimL]

A new recording from Claves of Stanford's Piano Concerto No.2 coupled with the Down Among the Dead Men Variations (the same pairing of works as on Margaret Fingerhut's Chandos disc) has been awarded an Editor's Choice thumbs-up in the May issue of Gramophone -

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Claves/501101

With three excellent recordings (including Malcolm Binns on Lyrita) currently available, there's no excuse for anyone to turn a deaf ear to this highly engaging and impressive concerto! 

I have the Fingerhut disc.  I'll have to dig it up, but IIRC it's on Hyperion, not Chandos.

[albion]

[JimL]

Interesting.  Chandos must have picked up the master from Hyperion somehow.  Those are the same performers as my Hyperion, except that mine doesn't have the Irish Rhaposodies.

[albion]

Hi Jim, it was never on Hyperion - here is the original 1989 incarnation of the CD

 

[JimL]

Great!  Now I'll actually have to go dig it up!  Maybe I've conflated it with my MacKenzie VC/Pibroch CD.  That DEFINITELY is on Hyperion!

P.S.  If you're right, don't laugh too hard.  Juvenile dementia isn't funny!