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In Reply to: RE: Stabat Mater. posted by jazz1 on August 22, 2015 at 05:01:19
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) is one of those composers whose obscurity becomes especially galling once you read the facts of his life and career, and especially so once you hear his best music.
Stanford was born in Dublin but received his musical education at Cambridge and in Leipzig and Berlin. He was appointed the organist at Trinity College while still an undergraduate, and at age 29 was one of the founding professors of the Royal College of music. Stanford's pupils included Coleridge-Taylor, Holst, Vaughan Williams, and Ireland.
Duuh! So why is he unknown today? My guesses are that there are three reasons. One, having been trained in mid-century Cambridge and Germany, Stanford's musical roots were conservative.
Please bear in mind that Elgar's Catholicism meant that he could not attend a University (really), and while Elgar rued his lack of formal training until his dying day, it was precisely that lack that liberated Elgar to innovate--he had not spent four years having an authority figure tell him, "No, you can't do it that way."
Two, most of Stanford's music that is played today is for Anglican or Anglo-Catholic worship.
Three, Stanford expended a lot of energy on operas that today are totally obscure, as are his 11 concerti.
Stanford's Stabat Mater is a masterpiece. An overused term, to be sure. In this case, what that means to be is a total lack of tentativeness, a total lack of throat-clearing or page-filling. The subject matter did not keep Stanford at a detached and respectful distance. The opening is dynamic but intriguingly mysterious, reminiscent of Elgar but with a stronger than usual touch of Wagner.
There's only one recording, fortunately it is on Chandos and is a knockout.
ATB,
jm
Follow Ups:
John,
While I love Stanford's music, that particular CD was one of the dullest recordings I've I ever heard. Maybe I should dig it out and give it another chance.
His "Song of Peace" is one of my top ten favorite pieces, the best version I have is on a DVD of the girl's choir of Salisbury Cathedral. The way the sixteen girls sing with perfect intonation (it is in unison throughout) is uncanny and very moving. Don't judge this work by the version sung by the wobbly Steven Varcoe on that disc. It is most often done now by choirs such as the Salisbury Cathedral version as a stand-alone piece.
Edits: 08/23/15
QUICK!
Let Sam Tellig know that I used his favorite word!
John
Are you talking about Varcoe's horrendous wobble, so I guess you are joking? It's put his career into eclipse the last ten or twelve years or so. He was once a mainstay for baritone parts on Hyperion and Chandos, but he's pretty much disappeared. Even the wobble-tolerant Brits couldn't take it any more. He was a favorite of mine twenty years ago, but most of his later recordings are unlistenable.
Edits: 08/23/15
Singers are singers and most of them are crazy, with good reason.
If they are good, I enjoy them.
If they are not, I ignore them in a way I cannot ignore a bad string player.
Bad string players can practice harder, go to rehab, or quit.
Bad singers are at the mercy of involuntary muscle responses, and some times it takes getting to the point there are more bad nights than good to bring the curtain down.
jm
Understand. It's difficult to ignore bad singing like that, however.
Randy
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