MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
Crotchet

 

Judith WEIR (b. 1954)
Three Operas
The Consolations of Scholarship (1985) [21:32]
Linda Hirst (mezzo)
Lontano/Odaline de la Martinez
Missa del Cid (1988) [19:51];
Nick Herrett (narrator)
Combattimento/David Mason
King Harald's Saga (1979) [12:57]
Jane Manning (soprano)
rec. St Luke's Hampstead, 27 June 1989, 17 July 1989, Studio 2, BBC Maida Vale, 1 July 1989.
CALA CACD88040 [55.01]
Experience Classicsonline


This disc confers a welcome opportunity to hear three of Judith Weir's short musical dramas, a form in which she excels. As those who had the pleasure of enjoying the recent live performances of the second two of these works at the Barbican composer festival (also broadcast on BBC Radio Three) will be aware, these are intrinsically theatrical. Any recording must inevitably lose something and sound somewhat two-dimensional. This also reflects creditably on the enthusiasm and talent of those performers involved in the Barbican production - some of them young singers and musicians associated with the Guildhall School of Music. It also reflects the recording being made over ten years ago.
 
The first piece - from the composer's "Chinese period" - is a showcase of female talent; composer, conductor and soloist. This remains sufficient of a rarity not to pass without comment. It is in the style and drama of an early form of Chinese play from the 13th and 14th centuries. This is characterised by dealing with philosophical themes in ostensibly simple cheerful tables and combining speaking, singing, dancing and mime. It is in two acts, their action being separated by twenty years in the libretto and a short instrumental interlude in the music. The first deals with the enforced exile of a virtuous official, Chao, following false accusation by an unscrupulous general. The second describes how his son, who having been brought up by a holy hermit, is able to translate ancient literature from the scrolls in a library. His skills enable the general to be brought to justice. However the music itself hints that threatened military coups will remain a regular feature of history in this province.
 
The second work, ‘Missa del Cid’, uses the format of the Mass but is based on the bloodthirsty legend of El Cid. The text was compiled by the composer from the 13th century Spanish epic Poema de Mio Cid and from the liturgical Latin Mass. A narrator introduces each section and then a sung element based on the components of the Ordinary of the Mass follows. At times different sections of the choir sing, chant or recite different parts simultaneously - representing respectively the Moorish and Christian elements of the population. It is witty, effective and entertaining.
 
The third of these works also takes a warlike theme: an unsuccessful attempt to invade England. Although occasionally known irreverently as ‘1066 in 10 minutes’, it refers to a Norwegian King Harald who fought the English at Stamford Bridge in the North-East, rather than to the better known Battle of Hastings, which took place 19 days later! It is also subtitled "grand opera in three acts for solo soprano" and is regarded as "a vocal assault course". The singer has to portray eight characters plus the Norwegian army in about the same number of minutes, and this is certainly a formidable task. To do so well without the assistance of gesture, facial expression or props is a tribute to the performance here by Jane Mannings, who commissioned the work and gave its premiere: at the Dumfries Music Club.
 
Born in 1954, although from a Scottish family, Judith Weir grew up in Buckinghamshire in the Home Counties. Whilst still at school, she took lessons from John Tavener - who was based not far away - and played the oboe in the National Youth Orchestra. Her musical education then continued at Cambridge University. The composer's work is strongly narrative and her interest in a wide range of mythology and folklore comes to the fore in this disc as in other works.
 
Her writing for the voice is clear and direct, with a simplicity reminiscent occasionally of plainchant. Its style is ideally suited to the setting of poetry, such as in the song-cycle ‘woman.life.song’, a kind of modern-day version of Schubert’s similarly themed work, where texts by Maya Angelou, Clarissa Pinkola Estes and Tony Morrison are sung by Jessye Norman. It also works well in opera and musical drama - as here - where a clear narrative accompanied by occasional dramatic orchestral moments is particularly effective. Her work has been widely praised for its accessible style, which has also found favour in community and educational projects. She has also written full-length opera, songs and chamber music.
 
This is a welcome and entertaining disc, however, these works are even better with the additional benefit of live performance.
 
Julie Williams
 


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.