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Founder:
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in Chief:John Quinn
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NEW and RECENT ARTICLES
A
Carey Blyton page
Judith Bingham.
A Fiftieth Birthday interview with Christopher Thomas.
Janet
Owen Thomas (1961-2002)
LUCREZIA
- The story of Respighi’s last opera
by Ian Lace
The
Ballet World of RESPIGHI by Ian Lace
Carey
Beckenham’s Other Blyton by
Cliff Watkins
PROKOFIEV
AND HIS MASTERPIECE by Dr David
C F Wright
LOCATELLI AND THE EARLY ITALIANS
by Dr David C F Wright
Composers
- for Love or Money? by Arthur Butterworth
BRAHMS by David Wright
Irvine Fine by David Wright
The Friendship of Miaskovsky and Prokofiev
by David Wright
Joachim
Raff by David Wright
John Veale and Film
Music by David Wright (John will be 80 this month)
Aaron Copland by David
Wright
Heitor
Villa-Lobos by David Wright
JOHN
MARSH 1752-1828 250th
Anniversary Celebrations
The
future of the British music Society
Portrait:
Aaron Rabushkaby Jennifer
Paull
Phil
Scowcroft Garlands: We
have started to add the next 200.
What is a mezzo-soprano ? Chris Howell
part (1),
(2),
(3), (4),
(5), (6),
(7)]
If you
wish to flip between this page and the latest reviews use the button
marked "Return to previous page" to get back to here
BOOK
REVIEWS
The Best Years of British Film Music,
1936
– 1958 by Jan G. Swynnoe The Boydell Press; £40 243 pages
ISBN 0-85115-862-5 [IL]
This
book does few favours for British films or British film music.
In fact it puts back the appreciation of film music in general
by years. Approach with caution.... see Full
Review
CAREY BLYTON Short
Stories £12.50
FAND MUSIC PRESS, The Barony, 16 Sandringham Rd, Petersfield,
Hampshire GU32 2AA
Short
stories - whimsical, ironic, sentimental and one or two autobiographical.
All readable and pleasantly written....
see Full Review
Vivian FINE: A Bio-Bibliography by
Judith CODY 
Greenwood Press Bio-Bibliographies in Music, Number 88
Will
open the way to Fine scholars the world over as well as shedding
illumination for enthusiasts of Fine's music. ...see
Full Review
LIGHT
MUSIC IN BRITAIN SINCE 1870 Book–
A survey of the development of Light Music
By Geoffrey Self, pp.262 [published 2001]
Makes
an enjoyable read for all wanting to widen their knowledge in
this area. … see Full Review
Arturo
TOSCANINI – The NBC Years By
Mortimer H. Frank Amadeus Press. Hardback 358 pages. $29:95. ISBN
1-57467-069-7
A
valuable comprehensive survey of a vital phase in Toscanini’s
long career and one that corrects many misconceptions about the
considerable achievements of one of the 20th century’s
greatest maestros. … see Full
Review
SCORE REVIEWS
RECORDINGS
OF THE MONTH
Ludwig
van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Kreutzer Sonata Bela BARTÓK (1881-1945)
Rhapsody No 1 for Violin and Piano, Violin Sonata No 2 Claude
DEBUSSY (1862-1918) Violin Sonata
Joseph Szigeti, violin Bela Bartók, piano Recorded Library
of Congress, Washington April 13th 1940
VANGUARD OVC 8008 [69’40] [JW]
One
of the most decisively important sonata recitals on record. Vanguard’s
exemplary production is a matter for rejoicing. … see Full
Review
Lili
BOULANGER (1883-1918)
Clairières
dans le ciel* Trois morceaux pour piano, Quatre mélodies§
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt
(tenor)*
Áonia de Beaufort (mezzo soprano)§ Alain Jacquon (piano)
Recorded 16-18 October 1997, Théâtre de Poissy, France
TIMPANI 1C1042
[55.30] [TB]
A
most distinguished issue, and I hope it becomes as widely distributed
as it deserves to be. … see Full Review
Wolfgang
RIHM (b.1952) Jagden und
Formen (1995/2001)[51.02]
Ensemble Modern/Dominique My - Rec. Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks,
Frankfurt, 8/2001
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 20-21 471558-2 [51.02] [AT]
An
explosively dramatic and expressive piece, and the musicians deserve
the highest praise for making it so … see Full
Review
Jean
SIBELIUS(1865-1957)
En
Saga, Op.9 (1892/1902) [18.03] The Dryad, Op.45 No.1
(1910) [5.07] Dance-Intermezzo, Op.45 No.2 (1904/07) [2.47]
Pohjola’s Daughter, Op.49 (1906) [13.10] Night Ride
and Sunrise, Op.55 (1908) [17.20] The Bard, Op.64 (1913/14)
[7.32] The Oceanides Op.73 (1914) [10.03]
Lahti Symphony Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä Recorded at the
Sibelius Hall, Lahti, Finland during August 2000 and May 2001
BIS CD-1225
[75.54]
Vänskä
is keeping up to the incredibly high standards he has set himself.
… see Full Review
Jean
SIBELIUS (1865-1957)
Songs: Illalle,
op. 17/6, Den judiska flickans sång, from Belshazzar’s
Feast, op. 51, 6 Songs, op. 36, Jag är etz träd,
op. 57/5, Necken, op. 57/8, 5 Songs, op. 37, Vem styrde hit din
väg? Op. 90/6, Norden, op. 90/1, 6 Songs, op. 50, Våren
flyktar hastigt, op. 13/4, Under strandens granar, op. 13/1
Katarina Karnéus (mezzo-soprano), Julius Drake (pianoforte)
Recorded 26th-28th June 2001, location not given
HYPERION CDA67318 [65’01"] [CH]
A
disc which surely announces the arrival of a major artist. Sibelius’s
songs are highly individual, poetic creations, and this is an
ideal introduction to them. … see Full
Review
BARGAIN
OF THE MONTH
BARGAIN OF THE MONTH Douglas
LILBURN
(1915-2001) The Three Symphonies Symphony
No. 1 (1949) Symphony No. 2 (1951) Symphony No. 3 (1959)
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra James Judd, conductor Recorded
in the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand, 29th
- 31st May 2001.
NAXOS 8.555862 [77.16] [NH]
A
compulsory purchase for anyone who has not yet encountered these
under-exposed masterpieces. if you only buy one CD this year,
make sure it is this one….. see Full
Review
Leevi MADETOJA (1887-1947)
Comedy
Overture (1923) [8.31] Kullervo - Symphonic Poem (1913)
[14.06] Symphony No. 2 (1918) [42.29]
Helsinki PO/Jorma Panula (Comedy Overture) Finnish RSO/Leif
Segerstam (Kullervo) Tampere PO/Paavo Rautio (Symphony)
rec 1978 (Symphony); 1985
WARNER CLASSICS APEX 0927 43074 2 [65.20] [RB]
Still
the leading version of the Second Symphony - lovely, lissom and
unemphatic. … see Full Review
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NEWS ITEM
YEVGENY SVETLANOV 1928
– 2002
Yevgeny Svetlanov, who died
on 3rd May in Moscow, was one of the most mercurial of Russia’s
post-war conductors – both in his temperament and his music-making.
A frequent visitor to Britain he was due to conduct the Philharmonia
on Sunday 5th May in a typical programme of Russian masterworks,
music in which he excelled. Over the years, British orchestras,
the LSO, LPO and BBC SO amongst them, entrusted the symphonies
of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich to Svetlanov’s
impulsive style of interpretation. But it was the Philharmonia
with which he established the most long lasting relationship
– one that started in the early 1970s and continued almost
annually thereafter. It was rare indeed to find a Philharmonia
season in which Svetlanov did not conduct at least one concert.
It is, therefore, somewhat ironic that he recorded so little
with the orchestra, although the recording he made with the
Philharmonia of Glazunov’s Four Season’s is a very
fine one.
His style of interpretation
owed much to Mravinsky – and like him, Svetlanov was capable
of securing a fabulous string sound from his players. His own
USSR Orchestra had a profoundly sonorous string tone, and this
was something which he partly relished in the European orchestras
he guest conducted. Svetlanov never cared much for the brass
or woodwind in an orchestra and in Russia at least the sound
was often pungent and coarse. If it never sounded too distracting
it was partly because Svetlanov’s interpretations inhabited
a similar world. I remember a couple of years ago a Mahler 9th
which Svetlanov conducted with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
– a performance as dynamic in extremes and explorative
in manner as it would be possible to hear today, and a lifetime
away from the refined interpretations so often heard in London,
Berlin and Vienna. It was a cataclysmic performance which reached
real heights of greatness in the great string perorations of
the final movement. Typical Svetlanov.
His last concert in Britain
was with the BBC SO and critics noticed the sublime playing
of an orchestra clearly enjoying the opportunity to play with
an inspirational conductor. His concerts were rarely less than
inspirational events.
A difficult, even obtuse,
man Svetlanov communicated with orchestras only through interpreters
– and in one famous instance, with the LPO, by saying absolutely
nothing at all for an entire hour and a half of rehearsal; the
results were sublime and emphatic in the concert performance.
Latterly he had spent much time in the Netherlands and guest
conducting elsewhere, a position in part thrust upon Svetlanov
by his summary dismissal as chief conductor of his USSR Orchestra
two years ago, a position he had held without interruption since
the 1960s. His sudden death robs us of a huge talent it is difficult
to imagine being replaced: a younger generation of Russian conductors
have become a little too westernised to give us the sort of
authentic Russian performance Svetlanov excelled at.
Marc Bridle
This year's Proms season has
just been announced and it looks like being a vintage season
with opera and choral works forming the backbone of this greatest
of music festivals. HIghlights of the season must include Prom
30, a performance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony conducted by Simon
Rattle (National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain) and Prom
44 a pairing of Martha Argerich and Claudio Abbado with the
Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester in Bartok, Ravel (the G major
piano concerto) and Debussy. Also promising to be of outstanding
interest are three concerts by the Kirov Opera under Gergiev,
including a complete performance of Boris Godunov and the UK
premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's St John Passion. They conclude
their visit to the Proms with a performance of Prokofiev's Third
Piano Concerto (Toradze) and Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony.
Bryn Terfel and Renee Fleming sing together in a Welsh National
Orchestra Prom spanning Wagner, Strauss, Mozart and light music
whilst there is a rare performance of Schoenberg's Romantic
masterpiece Gurrelieder under the BBC SO and Donald Runnicles.
Visiting orchestras come from Spain, France, Denmark and Holland
with Riccardo Chailly conducting his Royal Concertgebouw in
Mahler's Third Symphony. The Los Angeles Philharmonic under
their chief conductor, Esa Pekka Salonen, play two concerts
the first of Debussy, Ravel and Prokofiev and in their second
concert take on this years Choral Symphony (coupled with Shostakovich's
Second). James Levine makes a welcome return to the Proms with
the wonderful Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in an enterprising
programme of HIndemith, Mozart, Varese (Ameriques) and Ravel.
The LSO have two Proms this year - one under Jansons the other
under Haitink, whilst the Philharmonia bring with them their
Music Director, Christoph von Dohnanyi in Strauss, Beethoven
and Dvorak. The LPO play Elijah under their chief conductor
Kurt Masur.
Full details of all Proms can be read on the BBC's website at:
www.bbc.co.uk/proms. Seen & Heard will be covering much
of the season.
Marc Bridle
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WHETTAM
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Intrepida  BBCSO/Sir Charles
Mackerras. Redcliffe Recordings
RR016 (44' 11'') [PC] Read on
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