I just got the new issue of the BBC Music Magazine; the cover CD features VW 6 and Bridge's The Sea. Now, Bridge may not be "unsung" these days, but when I was starting to discover music, he was just a footnote in Benjamin Britten's biography. And I have no doubt that for many who get the magazine, his music will be unfamiliar.
So here is a little fantasy. Just suppose you received an email from the editor of BBC Music Magazine along these lines:
"We are interested in the opportunity of alerting our readership to the pleasures that can be found in obscure repertoire, so we are scheduling an issue next year that will feature some completely unknown work on the cover CD. Given your expertise in this field, we would like you to choose it. Pick whichever one work you like, that you think will make the biggest impact on readers, and we'll arrange a good performance of it for the CD. Any space left over on the disc, we'll put in lollipops to sweeten the package for buyers off the newsagent shelf. This may be the only time we get to do this, so please choose carefully!"
What would you choose?
It would have to be something by Havergal Brian, probably something between the more difficult and the lighter, so maybe the new recording of the violin concerto. For the lollipop, could I stick in Mackenzie's overture to 'The Cricket on the Hearth' and something from the new Opera Overtures CD from Somm (prob the MacFarren or the Loder)?
Ho, ho! They neglected to place any restriction on the invitation, so I'd choose the complete 'Cauldron of Annwn' cycle of Holbrooke.
That'll teach the BBC for ignoring Holbrooke in his lifetime.
But if sudden rise of the radio and TV licence fee required to finance such a project produced serious civil disorder well, I'd be a decent chap and go for a more modest proposal such as a Raff opera.
I can only second your proposal, Peter. Though I might settle for "Queen Mab" if only a single disk were available.
Gottschalk: A Night in the Tropics. Despite there being recordings available, it's suprising how few people, even musically educated people, know this delightful, fun, infectuous 2-movement work. And in the Gunther Schuller edition, not the Gaylen Hatton that Abravanel recorded. There'd be plenty of room for Hershey Kay's arrangement of Grand Tarantella, another winner.
This is tough.
For myself, I'd love to see an all-Draeseke CD containing the orchestrated Violin Concerto, the Symphonic Andante for Cello and Orchestra and the Overture Bertran de Born.
I believe a CD of the two Gernsheim Violin Concertos would also be a winner. It might also have room for the Piano Concerto, which would clinch the deal.
Hmmmmm.......I would have thought they would be looking for British works and composers. So I'd nominate, becuz I'm curious, the Symphony in a and Piano Concerto in d of John Francis Barnette.
Jerry
And where might we find the scores of these works, please, Jerry?
Hee hee - I guess part of the project would be searching for them....... 8) 8)
Gade's The Mountain Thrall.
Oh to clarify: you can only choose one work. They will choose the fillers, assuming the work is less than 60 mins long, which will be by Tchaikovsky and Bizet. The email did say that these would be to make the CD look commercially more attractive.
Also, it does of course have to be a work that they can find the score of!
I would choose the concert overture "Torquato Tasso" by Alexis de Castillon (I suppose that friends of the forum will know the magnificent Piano Concerto, the Symphonic Sketches for orchestra, the sonata for violin and piano...).
QuoteIt might also have room for the Piano Concerto, which would clinch the deal.
Somewhat off topic, but I believe the Gernsheim PC is among those listed for inclusion in Hyperion's RPC series (Mike Spring having revised his earlier opinion of this work). Like many on this forum, I hope Hyperion may also get round to including the Gernsheim VCs on their RVC series.
Continuing a little off-topic, I'd warmly endorse Alan and Gareth's suggestion of Gernsheim's Piano Concerto and Violin Concertos. (Hyperion have, after all, given us a good recording of the Cello Concerto - and a very worthwhile work it turned out to be.)
However - and I plead guilty to pursuing my own preferences (but nothing selfish about that!) - I'd very much like to hear recordings of the String Quartets. As far as I know there is only a single recording (by the Mandelring Quartet) of No. 2 in A minor, Op. 31. And it didn't surprise me at all to discover that it is a very fine quartet indeed. Now for the other four! (And the two String Quintets?)
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Saturday 16 March 2013, 13:24
Somewhat off topic, but I believe the Gernsheim PC is among those listed for inclusion in Hyperion's RPC series (Mike Spring having revised his earlier opinion of this work).
Good news, Gareth. Fingers tightly crossed, then...
Bantock's Tone Poems No. 4 Hudibras and No. 6 Lalla Rookh should fit onto a single CD.
Another excellent suggestion - if I may say so. I have a great fondness for the music of Bantock.
One of the dilemmas is between choosing something you have never heard because it is likely the only chance you will ever get to hear it; or picking something you know well and know will be a hit. The trouble with the first approach is that the piece might turn out to be a dud. I would love to have a recording, for instance, of Holbrooke's 3rd Symphony, but I can't guarantee what sort of quality it is.
My own first nomination would be Cornelis Dopper's 7th Symphony, which has one of those endings that can hardly fail to bring an entire audience to its feet. The reaction I would like to provoke is "WHY have I not heard this before?"