Unsung Composers

The Music => Recordings & Broadcasts => Topic started by: Dundonnell on Sunday 02 October 2011, 19:48

Title: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Sunday 02 October 2011, 19:48
Perhaps oddly enough British Cello Concertos have fared better on disc than concertos for other instruments.

The Malcolm Arnold, Havergal Brian and Joseph Holbrooke have now joined the Bax, Bliss, Britten (Cello Symphony), Delius, Elgar, Finzi, Leighton, George Lloyd,
James Macmillan, David Matthews(Concerto in Azzuro), Moeran, Rawsthorne, Cyril Scott, Stanford, Bernard Stevens, Sullivan, Tovey, Walton and Hugh Wood on disc.

Unrecorded British Cello Concertos would include:

Sir Lennox Berkeley:             composed in 1939, apparently forgotten by the composer and not given a first performance until 1982.
                                                      (available to download on this forum)
Arnold Cooke:                      composed in 1972/73 (available to download on this forum)
John Foulds:                        composed in 1911 (available to download on this forum)
Daniel Jones:                      composed in 1986 (available to download on this forum)
John McCabe:                     'Songline' composed in 2007 (available to download from this forum)
Robert Simpson:                  composed in 1991 (available to download from this forum)

Dutton may well get round to recording the Foulds. It is however vey strange that the Simpson has not yet been recorded by Raphael Wallfisch who commissioned and gave the first performance of the work.

There are of course other works, not titled as concertos, for cello and orchestra by British composers on disc, including recent releases of works by York Bowen and Alan Bush. We could certainly do with a new version of the Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Sussex Folk Tunes.

Who have I missed? ;D
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: vandermolen on Sunday 02 October 2011, 20:39
Isn't there a fragment of Vaughan Williams's incomplete Cello Concerto going to be released?
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Sunday 02 October 2011, 22:25
Quote from: vandermolen on Sunday 02 October 2011, 20:39
Isn't there a fragment of Vaughan Williams's incomplete Cello Concerto going to be released?

Is there?
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: britishcomposer on Sunday 02 October 2011, 22:41
Quote from: Dundonnell on Sunday 02 October 2011, 22:25
Quote from: vandermolen on Sunday 02 October 2011, 20:39
Isn't there a fragment of Vaughan Williams's incomplete Cello Concerto going to be released?

Is there?

David Matthews based his "Dark Pastoral" on fragments of RVW's Cello Concerto. It was premiered at last year's Proms with Steven Isserlis. Perhaps you meant this?
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Monday 03 October 2011, 01:22
Added the Daniel Jones Cello Concerto to the list above.

We are immensely fortunate that each of the concertos on the list can be obtained here :)
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Thursday 06 October 2011, 00:20
Quote from: Dundonnell on Monday 03 October 2011, 01:22
Added the Daniel Jones Cello Concerto to the list above.

We are immensely fortunate that each of the concertos on the list can be obtained here :)

Last sentence was a hostage to fortune :(

John McCabe's Cello Concerto 'Songline'(2007) was first performed in Manchester in 2008 by Truls Mork with the Halle Orchestra under Elder.
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Thursday 06 October 2011, 15:47
Quote from: Dundonnell on Thursday 06 October 2011, 00:20
Quote from: Dundonnell on Monday 03 October 2011, 01:22
Added the Daniel Jones Cello Concerto to the list above.

We are immensely fortunate that each of the concertos on the list can be obtained here :)

Last sentence was a hostage to fortune :(

John McCabe's Cello Concerto 'Songline'(2007) was first performed in Manchester in 2008 by Truls Mork with the Halle Orchestra under Elder.


....and of course what then happens?.....It duly appears ;D ;D

Many thanks to britishcomposer :)

List amended again ;D
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Greg K on Friday 07 October 2011, 03:47
Besides McCabe's "Songlines", there are never commercially recorded (to my knowledge) Cello Concertos by Denis ApIvor, Francis Routh, & Nigel Osborne.  Broadcast recordings, however,
exist for each of these works.
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Friday 07 October 2011, 13:58
Quote from: Greg K on Friday 07 October 2011, 03:47
Besides McCabe's "Songlines", there are never commercially recorded (to my knowledge) Cello Concertos by Denis ApIvor, Francis Routh, & Nigel Osborne.  Broadcast recordings, however,
exist for each of these works.

I am planning to make the Francis Routh Cello Concerto available here for download :)
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: eschiss1 on Friday 14 October 2011, 02:51
According to the Foulds Facebook page, Dutton has recorded the Foulds concerto already, with Wallfisch, this past summer. If this is true, perhaps they'll release it in the next few months... (yes, same soloist, but presumably they haven't just gone and resurrected the 1988 broadcast - it didn't sound/read/look that way. ... well, one will see :) )
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: albion on Friday 14 October 2011, 07:07
Thank Eric - this is great news if true - coupled with more Foulds or more cello repertoire, I wonder.......

:)

Quote from: eschiss1 on Friday 14 October 2011, 02:51the Foulds Facebook page

I've just poked Cipriani Potter.

;D
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: eschiss1 on Friday 14 October 2011, 07:14
have at. Join our Rufinatscha page while about, such as it is. :D
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: albion on Friday 14 October 2011, 10:54
Quote from: Albion on Friday 14 October 2011, 07:07I've just poked Cipriani Potter.

He was a bit crumbly.

(http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSNNP0ETPolfY9t4WNBgOl_ZHIanwDnjG9sKGbM4ScKWsf7dH2dpw&t=1)

:o
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: JimL on Friday 14 October 2011, 12:27
Halloween must be coming soon...
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Alan Howe on Friday 14 October 2011, 13:28
But not soon enough. Meanwhile, back at the thread...
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Friday 14 October 2011, 13:54
Quote from: eschiss1 on Friday 14 October 2011, 02:51
According to the Foulds Facebook page, Dutton has recorded the Foulds concerto already, with Wallfisch, this past summer. If this is true, perhaps they'll release it in the next few months... (yes, same soloist, but presumably they haven't just gone and resurrected the 1988 broadcast - it didn't sound/read/look that way. ... well, one will see :) )

Oh, it is certainly true ;D

There is a very sad story too on that page about the previous recording of the piece for Toccata in 2003. The sound engineer disappeared soon after the recording with the tapes :(

I very much hope that the coupling will be the Simpson Cello Concerto (which Wallfisch commissioned). The two works would make an odd coupling....but who cares ;D
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: eschiss1 on Friday 14 October 2011, 15:36
I'm sure some excuse could be found for such a coupling. Please find one, Dutton. If it absolutely can't be the Simpson, maybe Standford's which Wallfisch recorded for BBC some years back (broadcast June 18 1981, Brian Wright, BBC Northern) - I'm not familiar with it but - could be interesting. (scratch scratch- no, it hasn't, it seems?, been commercially recorded- what I found is a recording of Standford conducting McKuen's cello concerto - editing something out there...)
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Friday 14 October 2011, 16:05
The Foulds is around 30 minutes long, the Simpson 23 minutes and the Arnold Cooke 25 minutes........so they might just fit on a single disc ;D

...or-if not-then the Daniel Jones at 20 minutes certainly would fit.
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: albion on Friday 14 October 2011, 16:08
They might as well just have done with it and make a double-album.

;D
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Friday 14 October 2011, 16:17
We are all getting a bit greedy ;D ;D

Well...I speak for myself, naturally ;D

Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Friday 14 October 2011, 16:22
The Lennox Berkeley is a mere 21 minutes long ;D
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: albion on Friday 14 October 2011, 16:24
Better pop that one in as well then.

;)
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: eschiss1 on Sunday 16 October 2011, 19:38
Full score of the Standford (cataloged as Patric Stanford, it figures) is at LoC too, it seems...
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: albion on Sunday 16 October 2011, 19:48
Quote from: Albion on Friday 14 October 2011, 16:24
Better pop that one in as well then.

;)

And if there is still some room left over, they could do the decent thing and give us Stanley Bate's Concerto (c.1953) - autograph at the RCM (MS 5881).

;)
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Greg K on Monday 24 October 2011, 02:30
Another work I don't believe has been mentioned is Wilfred Josephs' 1962 Concerto
"Cantus Natalis" (Op.34).  If I can ever get the hang of uploading on mediafire I'll
make available the 1971 W.P. performance with Thomas Igloi, the BBC Northern SO,
& Bryden Thomson.  It's a brooding, even morose piece. 
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Monday 24 October 2011, 03:51
Quote from: Greg K on Monday 24 October 2011, 02:30
Another work I don't believe has been mentioned is Wilfred Josephs' 1962 Concerto
"Cantus Natalis" (Op.34).  If I can ever get the hang of uploading on mediafire I'll
make available the 1971 W.P. performance with Thomas Igloi, the BBC Northern SO,
& Bryden Thomson.  It's a brooding, even morose piece.

Please do ;D ;D
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: BFerrell on Saturday 19 November 2011, 21:39
Dutton will release the Foulds Cello Concerto in February 2012.
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Saturday 19 November 2011, 22:25
Quote from: Tapiola on Saturday 19 November 2011, 21:39
Dutton will release the Foulds Cello Concerto in February 2012.

Do you happen to have heard what Dutton are coupling the Foulds with?
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: BFerrell on Saturday 19 November 2011, 22:42
Dutton is extremely tight lipped. I know they had Wallfisch for the sessions in late June. It may be an all cello disc. I'll try to find out more but they can be challenging to deal with. ;D
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: Dundonnell on Saturday 19 November 2011, 23:16
Exciting to speculate at least ;D.....as we did in those previous posts on this thread :)
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: chill319 on Friday 02 December 2011, 07:54
To my taste Scott's Symphony 1 and unnumbered piano sonata are among the cream of what young British composers were writing in 1899. Does anyone happen to know if his 1902 Cello Concerto has been performed in recent decades?
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: BFerrell on Friday 02 December 2011, 12:05
Dutton is silent.
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: albion on Friday 02 December 2011, 12:15
Quote from: chill319 on Friday 02 December 2011, 07:54To my taste Scott's Symphony 1 and unnumbered piano sonata are among the cream of what young British composers were writing in 1899. Does anyone happen to know if his 1902 Cello Concerto has been performed in recent decades?

The complete autograph score of Scott's early Cello Concerto, Op.19 is at the Grainger Museum, Melbourne (MG C2/SCO-44), but the work has never been played.

:(
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: musiclover on Friday 29 June 2012, 04:28
VW/Matthews Dark Pastoral has been recorded I believe by Guy Johnstone, Martin Yates & the RSNO for Dutton.....also there is a whisper that Dutton will be recording the early Cyril Scott Cello Concerto with Wallfisch & Yates....worth watching for I think
Title: Re: Unrecorded British Cello Concertos
Post by: albion on Sunday 01 July 2012, 08:58
Quote from: musiclover on Friday 29 June 2012, 04:28there is a whisper that Dutton will be recording the early Cyril Scott Cello Concerto with Wallfisch & Yates....worth watching for I think

Thanks for this, even if it is only a whisper - the more often that we have the opportunity to hear Scott's larger works in first-class performances the better. Wallfisch is undoubtedly a great asset to Dutton, as is Martin Yates - long may they remain active for the company. There are at least two other pieces for cello and orchestra - Philomel (c.1925) and The Melodist and the Nightingales (1929), besides several other unrecorded concertos and various orchestral works. It would be nice to see another all-Scott orchestral disc (to supplement the four magnificant ones from Chandos), but, if this is not practicable, the Concerto would do very nicely!

:)