Cipriani Potter

[Balapoel]

Greetings to all. This very generous upload by Albion has forced me out of lurker-dom, where I have followed your conversations for about a year and a half. The posts have been for the most part very informative, and I have followed several suggestions for purchase.

[Mark Thomas]

Welcome Balapoel! Lurk no more.

[Pengelli]

Received my s/h Unicorn Kanchana Cipriani Potter cd today. Cd & booklet are fine,but the case was all broken hinges & the back falls off. Still it's a rare release & it's the music that's important & it was a reasonable price,so I'm pretty happy. (Cases can be easily replaced,although replacing double jewel cases is a pain!)
As to the music. It's wonderful,these symphonies really move,in fact I've heard allot of Haydn that's more boring. In fact there's no doubt in my mind now that Britain had a musical tradition worth listening to,not only long before Elgar,but Parry,Stanford & Mackenzie as well. As everyone on this forum allready knows!
I also downloaded all the Potter symphonies from your 'folder',Albion. Thanks! It's very hard to understand why more Potter hasn't or isn't being recorded. Come on Chandos,Cpo,somebody..............

[petershott@btinternet.com]

And come on to you, Pengelli! Which particular Haydn symphony were you referring to when you claimed it was boring? Must be one that I've missed out on!

Peter

[JimL]

And come on to you, Pengelli! Which particular Haydn symphony were you referring to when you claimed it was boring? Must be one that I've missed out on!

Peter

Try #89 for an example of a Haydn snoozefest!

[eschiss1]

Try #89 for an example of a Haydn snoozefest!

As I recall, HC Robbins Landon in a book on the Haydn symphonies just about placed that among the most disappointing... (and he was not uniformly praising of the whole series, finding relative plateaus in the 50s-60s range - Il Distratto maybe excepted - though Haydn's operas, which Landon held in higher regard than many do I think and which occupied much more of Haydn's time when those works were being composed, may have helped account for that.  He placed the end of that particular period, though around the time of the composition of the (original, orchestral) version of the 7 Last Words.  (The most commonly encountered, string quartet version is probably an arrangement by unknown hands.  My own favorite is the late and least-often-heard choral version- an unsung masterpiece by a sung composer indeed!- but that really diverges from topic...)

[Alan Howe]

We're off-topic here, gentlemen. Let's not get into an argument about Haydn!

[Pengelli]

Apologies for this,Alan. I was going a bit o.t.t about the Haydn comparison,anyway. I think it was my excitement at discovering a 'new' composer & getting hold of a 'rare-ish' s/h cd,with a very nice painting on the cover,incidentally! As to Haydn,I will have another go at them later. He is a bit unsung compared to Mozart,say. Perhaps another thread? But maybe,not....
Incidentally,are the performances on the Unicorn cd the ones your folder,(Albion?).

[Pengelli]

Ahem,'in your folder'?!

[albion]

Incidentally,are the performances on the Unicorn cd the ones your folder,(Albion?).

Yes, the Symphonies in E flat (1828) and G minor (1832) in the folder are from the long-deleted Unicorn-Kanchana CD, as my off-air recordings of these (with Davan Wetton conducting the Ulster Orchestra) had not survived.

[Pengelli]

I will transfer these to a cd thingummy as soon as I am able to. Thanks!

[albion]

Listening again to some of the Cipriani Potter broadcasts alongside the really excellent performances of the complete Ries symphonies on CPO under Howard Griffiths, I've been struck again by similarities between the two composers and also by just how wonderful it would be to have an integral cycle of Potter's symphonies played, perhaps, by an orchestra of the size of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. Does anyone have the ear of Howard Griffiths or folk over at CPO?

[eschiss1]

Or some excellent conductor. I like the idea of Dausgaard or Järvi or Noseda if they could be convinced to take an interest And I agree it would be a wonderful idea!

[eschiss1]

at least I see that the manuscripts of quite a few of his symphonies etc. are at the British Library (this may not be a permanent link) - relatively good news, I think, for his music, though republishing in new editions has been I hope in progress (Garland Publishing in 1984 has been helpful here I see.)

[albion]

Autograph scores of all nine symphonies are at the BL, but there have been no further publications:

Autograph manuscripts and printed editions:

Most of the manuscript full scores are now held by the British Library. Six were deposited there as part of the Royal Philharmonic Society Archive:

G minor (1819/26) - RPS MS 159; B flat (1821) - RPS MS 160; G minor (1832) - RPS MS 161; D major (1833) - RPS MS 162; C minor (1834) - RPS MS 163; D major (1834) - RPS MS 164.

The autograph scores of the remaining three symphonies, in C minor (1826), F major (1826) and E flat major (1828) are contained in a single volume - Ms. Add. 31783.

Also included in the Royal Philharmonic Society collection at the British Library are three piano concertos in D minor, E flat major and E major (RPS MSS 170-172) and four overtures - the Overture in E minor (1815 and 1848 versions), Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline and The Tempest (RPS MSS 165-169).

The Royal Academy of Music Library holds the following manuscript full scores: the 1839 revision of the Symphony in B flat (MS 259), two copies of the 1846 revision of the Symphony in E flat major (MSS 191/1154) and the 1830 cantata Medora e Corrado (MS 1152).

The 1832 G minor Symphony was published in full score as volume 77 of 'Musica Britannica' in 2001, whilst the Overture to Antony and Cleopatra was included in 'The Overture in England' (Garland Publishing, 1984). Except for Potter's own piano duet arrangements of the G minor (1832) and D major (1834) symphonies, nothing else has been published.