Finally, it cometh, in October:
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.660306-07 (http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.660306-07)
Can we also hope for Helvellyn?
David
The recording notes (available at the Naxos site) make for especially interesting and mouth-watering reading.
Feared by the bad, loved by the good ...
(http://cdn.naxos.com/SharedFiles/images/cds/others/8.660306-07.gif)
;D
Oh John, that dates you (and me)...
Let's hope it's as successful a release as Wallace's
Lurline, and that VONW continues to thrive.
Robin Hood was a sensible choice for the first foray into Macfarren's operatic output. I've got a folio copy of the complete vocal score and am really looking forward to hearing the orchestral details not present in the VS (alluded to in the background notes provided on the Naxos site).
Quote from: edurban on Monday 05 September 2011, 22:43Can we also hope for Helvellyn?
David
I'd personally prefer (by the tiniest margin) to see
She Stoops to Conquer resurrected as a priority, but certainly to have
any Macfarren opera recorded complete is incredibly valuable.
;D
all these composers seem rather scandalously schooled (hrm, sorry, mistook what thread I was in. ack!!..) in any event... er... I mean...never mind. Really good recording prospect (and selection of overtures in the other thread) I say even from my ignorance, and to look forward to!
As the nights begin to draw in and the chill wind whistles round the eaves, what better way to spend a quiet evening in -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Puzzles-Alexander-MacFarren-composer-Heritage-Images/dp/B003G9I1Z8/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1315727876&sr=1-3 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Puzzles-Alexander-MacFarren-composer-Heritage-Images/dp/B003G9I1Z8/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1315727876&sr=1-3)
- hours of fun for all the family, trying to distinguish between various shades of brown.
;D
Good grief - $36.44 for a 300 piece puzzle??? That's 12 cents a piece...... How to make it last....?? Speaking of browns, we once had a 500 piece puzzle that was nothing but potato chips spread out on a flat surface. And not even a picture to go by.
We digress. Sorry......Jerry
Well, tonight's the night!
Bottles of knock-down wine from Tesco's finest range at the ready and dust blown off the enormous Cramer, Beale & Chappell vocal score (at 35/- circa 1870, what a bargain), I'm about to enter the Greenwood in the company of Macfarren and his Merry Men. :o
Oh, the joys of mid-Victorian opera - 'unsung' (at least in this household) no more!
;D
Albion - what a real delight to hear about your anticipation of this release. I think it confirms perhaps one of the very few sensible things Nietzsche ever said, as footnoted by one of our number - "A world without music would be a mistake!"
I wish I had somewhere here in Northern Australia to buy these CDs... I have to buy them on line from the UK and that means 30-50% extra for postage in the case of cheapies like Naxos. Blimey, I wish had shares in British Telecom, or whatever the GPO is called nowadays! But this CD is another example of a rush of 'too-good-to-miss' CDs from Naxos, so maybe I had better bite the bullet and use a pay-per-download source!
I am looking forward to hearing your reactions when you finally get to hear it! :)
That Nietzsche quoted always has me searching for one by Pettersson about how we enter the world without music but when we leave it...
Quote from: semloh on Thursday 29 September 2011, 21:32
Albion - what a real delight to hear about your anticipation of this release. I am looking forward to hearing your reactions when you finally get to hear it! :)
If Wallace's
Lurline is cake and champagne, Macfarren's
Robin Hood is most definitely bread and ale. Gone is the harp-festooned luxury and easily-assimilated melody of the former, replaced with – what, exactly?
There is a bluff open-heartedness in the musical idiom which suits the story and setting down to the ground. The lack of surface allure may seem somewhat stark to listeners on first hearing, but on repetition little melodic motifs catch the attention and the folk-like character of many of the tunes begins to etch them in the mind. There is colour in the orchestration, but it seldom pushes its way forward for prime attention.
From the opening of the overture to the final chorus, we are in no doubt that this is most definitely a self-conscious attempt to continue and advance a specifically English operatic style, with its evocative horn calls, simple diatonic melodies and occasional 'rustic pipe-and-tabor' approach. The influence of Weber is shown in several extended scenas, but for the most part this is very much a 'ballad' opera in the honourable English tradition.
There is quite a substantial quantity of purely orchestral music in the opera, with lengthy character-entrances, Entr'actes and a section of country dances in Act II; and there is considerable work for the chorus to do – several numbers are effectively unaccompanied part-songs (there is a particularly lengthy one towards the end of the last act which, beautifully sung though it may be, perhaps outstays its welcome as a second verse is taken). This is a long opera on two discs filled to capacity, but I was so fascinated by what Macfarren was clearly trying to do (and largely succeeding) that my attention was held throughout.
The performance is, on the whole, extremely capable: if you can listen past the occasional violin frailty or lack of absolute choral precision there is more than enough good work on display to ensure that the opera comes to life. Although the impression is of simple melodies, this is not easy music to sing – Macfarren's vocal lines often have unexpected interval leaps and turns to catch the unwary: the soloists acquit themselves well in this completely unfamiliar music. The one concession to the public's appetite for show involves Marian's occasional coloratura trilling and swooping up and down scales (in the Act III finale she literally stops the show with an extraordinary display of vocal gymnastics) – otherwise, it is remarkable how little Macfarren relies on operatic 'tricks' to tickle the ear.
Shaw's comment that Sullivan's
Ivanhoe was no great advance on Macfarren's opera was, of course, an intentionally provocative piece of 'smart' journalism with very little substance but there
are distinct links between these two composers. Sullivan's melodic talent and orchestral sophistication was leaps and bounds ahead of his predecessor, but to hear "Englishmen by birth are free" may well put you in mind of the (real or mock) patriotism in several Sullivan scores, and Sullivan's skilled economy of instrumentation may have at least some of its roots in Macfarren's lean, no-nonsense scoring. The first act opens with what develops (briefly) into a double-chorus, a structure later to become so characteristic in Sullivan's armoury.
Am I glad to have heard this recording, will I want to listen to it again, and do I now still want to hear Macfarren's other large-scale operas
Charles II,
She Stoops to Conquer and
Helvellyn? Yes.
:)
Albion - as I'm sure others will agree, this review is not only very informative but is also beautifully written. I really appreciate the opportunity to capitalize on the expertise of people such as yourself. Thank you!
Quote from: semloh on Friday 30 September 2011, 14:08
Albion - as I'm sure others will agree, this review is not only very informative but is also beautifully written. I really appreciate the opportunity to capitalize on the expertise of people such as yourself. Thank you!
Well I'll agree for a start! ;D
Not being a regular listener to Classic FM I hadn't realised on 24th September David Mellor's CD of the week was "a wonderful recording of George Alexander Macfarren's finest opera, Robin Hood". Whatever reservations one may have about the radio station in general, Mellor's programme is one of their better productions and this is great exposure for this work in particular and the genre as a whole.
:o, but then ;D
For those who like to have an image of the composer in question, here is an excellent carte-de-visite portrait of Macfarren (c.1875) -
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/macfarren.jpg?t=1317983836)
:)
Quote from: Albion on Friday 07 October 2011, 11:41
For those who like to have an image of the composer in question, here is an excellent carte-de-visite portrait of Macfarren (c.1875) -
The vicissitudes of his life appear etched into his face, poor chap.
Quote from: Lionel Harrsion on Friday 07 October 2011, 11:54
Quote from: Albion on Friday 07 October 2011, 11:41
For those who like to have an image of the composer in question, here is an excellent carte-de-visite portrait of Macfarren (c.1875) -
The vicissitudes of his life appear etched into his face, poor chap.
Goodness, me! Quite so, Lionel. I can only imagine the bullying that made him stand so unwillingly in front of a camera. And, to what end? It's hardly one to to put on display or show friends when they visit.
I wonder if the vicissitudes of life are etched into his music too.
Well, it does say "Done & Co." in the corner of the photo. "Done for" or "Done in", more like ;)
And Maritana by William Vincent Wallace is in the November release lists on mdt.
And yet there is a quiet dignity about the face.
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Friday 07 October 2011, 16:54
And yet there is a quiet dignity about the face.
Indeed there is.
Actually there's an equally somnolent-looking Macfarren in the booklet that accompanies the cpo recording of symphonies 4 and 7 - but there's nothing somnolent about the music here. As I listen again to the 7th especially, I am reminded of its vigour and integrity. What a shame that cpo didn't make a complete cycle over in Australia (although of course I've no idea what state the scores are in...)
Quote from: Alan Howe on Sunday 09 October 2011, 17:37the cpo recording of symphonies 4 and 7
At the time of release, CPO touted this disc as the beginning of a Macfarren symphonic cycle - I can only assume that poor sales discouraged them from continuing. However, in truth, the recording does not perhaps present the music in the best light - there is a peculiar 'edge' to the recording at times and a sense of 'going though the motions' about the interpretation.
Perhaps there are stronger orchestral works in his catalogue - for instance, it would be fascinating to compare his Shakespearean overtures with those of Cipriani Potter (
Antony and Cleopatra, 1835;
Cymbeline, 1836;
The Tempest, 1837). There is certainly more orchestral and concertante music by Macfarren to explore (those works already recorded are given in bold type):
Symphony No.1 in C (1828)
Symphony No.2 in D minor (1831)
Overture in E major (1832)
Symphony No.3 in E minor (1832)
Symphony No.4 in F minor (1833)Symphony No.5 in A minor (1833)
Overture,
The Merchant of Venice (c.1834)
Piano Concerto in C minor (1835)
Symphony No.6 in B flat major (1836)
Overture,
Romeo and Juliet (1836)
Overture, Chevy Chace (1836)Concertino for Cello and Orchestra in A (1836)
Symphony No.7 in C# minor (1839–40)Overture,
Don Carlos (1842)
Symphony No.8 in D major (1845)
Overture,
Hamlet (1856)
Flute Concerto in G (1863)
Violin Concerto in G minor (1871–4)
Symphony No.9 in E minor (1874)
Festival Overture (c.1874)
Idyll in Memory of Sterndale Bennett (1875)
and several chamber works including five string quartets which have been recorded as noted on this forum earlier.
Very pleased with 'Robin Hood': I've always liked 'Chevy Chace', though I must confess to finding the CPO symphonies fairly lacklustre. It would be good to hear more, though. If the last couple of decades and the rediscovery of, say, Stanford and Holbrooke is that one can't believe the sweeping statements made by musical historians about neglected composers whose work they've never heard.
The work had definite shades of Sullivan, but not so much the Sullivan of 'Ivanhoe' as of 'The Foresters', (which of course stars Robin Hood himself). The Act II number 'There is no land like England' in the Sullivan is almost self-consciously similar to 'Englishmen by Birth' are bold. To my ear, at least. Anyway, what a great release: Naxos don't do that many British operas, but they've chosen some gems lately: Tom Jones, Lurline and now Robin Hood.
I'm eagerly looking forward to hearing this recording. I'd like to find that vocal score. I hope consideration will be given to Benedict's Lily of Killarney, the missing link in the English Ring on records and, no question, Maritana needs to be redone. The Marco Polo was so heavily cut as to misrepresent the opera. It even cut music present on 78rpm recordings of extracts. I wish Bonynge had undertaken it along with Bo Girl which he recorded for Argo.
Quote from: BrianB on Saturday 19 November 2011, 20:19I'd like to find that vocal score.
VONW have republished the VS - http://www.victorianoperanorthwest.org/Sales.htm (http://www.victorianoperanorthwest.org/Sales.htm)
:)
QuoteThere is certainly more orchestral and concertante music by Macfarren to explore (those works already recorded are given in bold type)
But where is it all?
I had a recording of 'The Lily of Killarney' on a tape, made from a Library LP years and years ago. The tape is somewhere back in England (I live in Japan) and doubtless almost useless, but it shows there was definitely a complete or quasi-complete recording in existence, and a very lovely work it was too. Does anyone have a copy, please, please? There was even a film of it the 30s, wasn't there, though it was probably about as 'complete' as the films of 'The Bohemian Girl' and 'The Threepenny Opera', ie about two songs were probably used. But I'd quite like to see it. 'Eily Mavourneen' is one of my favourite Victorian arias ever.
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Saturday 19 November 2011, 21:33
QuoteThere is certainly more orchestral and concertante music by Macfarren to explore (those works already recorded are given in bold type)
But where is it all?
Possibly at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge - after all, they do have the autographs scores of the operas ....
???