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In Reply to: RE: Heard Aztec Two-Step in person posted by rbolaw on July 14, 2015 at 16:22:55
Hi rbolaw - for me too, Britten is a clear no. 1 among British composers by miles. One that you left out, which I would put a clear no. 2, is Henry Purcell. Some of the comments on this particular thread are downright absurd, so much so that I am not even going to try to reason with them. I'll just say that for one thing, Britten is fantastic at the expression of emotion - much like Shostokovitch in this respect. The only other qualm I have about your list is that I would definitely leave Delius off of it - otherwise I like your list.
Follow Ups:
I'll never understand the appeal of Britten -or Delius -or Shostakovitch. I'm speaking "for the most part". And, yeah, I know it's my loss, and you feel sorry for me, etc., etc. But can you honestly tell me with a straight face that the by-turns-overblown-and-vapid War Requiem is a better work than the Mass in G minor? Or that some stupid opera such as "Albert Herring" even belongs on the stage? Please!And don't even get me started on Britten as an interpreter! That clunky St. John Passion, or his amateurish duo performances with Richter. . . words fail me!
No! The great British composers are without doubt: Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Stanford, Parry. . . (And Will and Kate evidently agree with me about Parry, considering all of his music they used at their wedding!) Those composers at least wrote real music that stirs the soul. In fact, in this respect (now that I think of it), the Tallis Fantasy may be the greatest work ever composed in the history of music!
Edits: 07/15/15
The two greatest composers of the 20th century.
I am ducking now . . . .
Jeremy
I'd agree with that goldenthal.
But you see how lonely we are, P.C.
Best,
Jeremy
I am a Britten admirer but there is very little of his music that I love. He wrote a considerable amount of vocal music which, as a genre, doesn't do much for me. I've recently become acquainted with Britten's string quartet works via the BIS SACD's performed by the Emperor Quartet. Of particular note is an early quartet in F from 1928. I reviewed this over at SACD_net and noted:
"This sounds a bit like the 15-year-old composer channeling Haydn though the tonality is more advanced than anything Haydn would have written. This is skillful writing for the string quartet medium. The booklet note writer, Arnold Whittall, cites a "Dvorak-like ebullience" with which I agree. The brief second movement (andante) presents an eerie, pulsing two-note chord (from the second violin if I'm not mistaken) while the other strings take turns interjecting somber melodic lines. And then, like gossamer, it fades away. This is quite an outstanding 3 minutes of string quartet writing. While the rest of the quartet doesn't rise to that level of inspiration, I am glad to have heard it and will return to it if only to experience that wonderful second movement."
That second movement is worth price of the SACD IMO. Alas, Britten "grew up" and left this style for browner pastures.
Thanks for the review link and excerpt!
And, yeah, I should have included Bax too! ;-)
Edits: 07/15/15
. . . sitting at a dinner. Von Bulow gets up and declares, "Bach, Beethoven, Brahms! All the rest are cretins!". So Moszkowski gets up, and, in a voice imitating Von Bulow, declares, "Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, Moszkowski! All the rest are Christians!"
To your post however, Ceremony of Carols (on the Shaw recording you showed) is fairly tolerable for me. ;-)
-except that I don't know whether the embedded file actually showed up, since I finally took Steve Jobs' five-year-old advice yesterday and banned Flash from my computer. I can see it on YouTube in HTML5, but not embedded here in Flash. Here's the link, which you've no doubt seen, but just in case:
The occasion was Henri Temianka's birthday party--years ago, obviously.
IIRC Temianka came in third behind Neveu and Oistrakh in the first Wieniawski competition.
There were giants in the earth in those days... .
jm
Moore was a brilliant pianist aside from the comedy shtick and gave concerts throughout his career. Unfortunately in his later years a debilitating illness and depression took their toll.
Yup - and Dudley Moore was one of them too! ;-)
Back in the halcyon days of my childhood, I remember my parents still laughing uncontrollably years after they had seen Beyond the Fringe on Broadway.
Yes -- I can't argue with you on either point. Purcell was a major omission on my part, and for me Delius is not nearly in the same league as Britten or Vaughan Williams. Or Purcell, for that matter.
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