|
BANTOCK: Pagan Symphony. Fifine at
the Fair. Two Heroic Ballads. Royal Philharmonic Orch/Vernon Handley, cond. HYPERION CDA 66630 (F) (DDD) TT: 79:38 BUY NOW FROM ARKIVMUSIC  |
British composer Sir Granville Bantock (1868-1946) was a conductor and
educator as well as a composer. A friend and admirer of Richard Strauss,
his music was strongly influenced by Liszt and Wagner. A master of
orchestration, he wrote many symphonic works as well as operas, chorus
and music for solo voices and instruments. Often his music was based on
rather exotic subjects: tales of the Orient, tales of Celtic and
Classical mythology.
This Hyperion CD offers two of his finest and best-known works.
Pagan Symphony was composed in 1927-8, an episodic one-movement
work of about 36 minutes' duration. Bantock said of it, "the music may
be described as a vision of the past, when the Greek god Dionysus (Bacchus)
was worshipped as the bestower of happiness and plenty, the lover of truth
and beauty, the victor over powers of evil. Immortal Aphrodite appears for
a brief moment as the goddess of Love, to remind the world of her supreme
power and glorious beauty." The score includes a gentle, soft opening,
pastoral scenes, a scherzo, fanfare, and evocation of Aphrodite. It is all
quite grand, indeed. The other major work is Fifine at the Fair, a
tone poem subtitled "In Defence of Inconstancy." Sir Thomas Beecham
championed this work, recording it, with some small cuts, with the RPO in
1949 (available on EMI 63405). This is the third of Bantock's six tone
poems, completed in 1911, based on Robert Browning's 1872 poem, which
muses on man's inconstancy when distracted by a thing of beauty he finds
irresistible. In this the hero is on the "sea of life," tempted by the
exotic dancer, Fifine. Eventually he realizes this is just a fleeting
passion and returns to his forgiving wife, Elvire. The score is highly
evocative, with a brilliant carnival scene, and Fifine represented by a
lengthy clarinet solo (played on the Beecham recording by Jack Brymer, on
the Handley by Roy Jowitt). Two of Bantock's ventures into Celtic
mythology conclude this disc, two Heroic Ballads, completed in
1944, "Cuchullan's Lament" and "Kishmul's Galley."
Performances on this Hyperion CD are magnificent, the sonic quality rich
and full, with a very wide dynamic range. You will not find French horns
recorded more vividly that what is heard on this CD (try the opening of "Kishmul's Galley." If you enjoy this CD, you surely also will wish to
investigate two other CDs in the series: Hyperion CDA 66450 (Celtic
Symphony, The Witch of Atlas, The Sea Reivers, A Hebridean Symphony),
and Hyperion CDA66810 (The Cyprian Goddess, Helene, Dante and Beatrice)
all also featuring the RPO/Handley and highly recommended.