Mstation Classical Reviews

Age of the Diva Albinoni Almost Christmas Arias, Hampson, Harnoncourt Bach Keyboard Concertos Bach Viola Bach, Barenboim Bach, Cantatas Bach, Concertos Bach, JS, Keyboard Works Bach, Mass in B Minor Bach, Mutter Bach, trio-sonatas Baroque Christmas Album Baroque Trumpet Bartok, Concertos Bartoli Bartoli, Opera Proibita Bax, Baroque Beethoven Piano Beethoven String Quartets Beethoven and Brahms Beethoven, piano Bella Donna: Courtly Love Belle Epoque Melodies Berlioz, Les Troyens Binchois, Dufay Boccherini, Cello Concertos Boxed Baroque Boyce, Eight Symphonies British Light Classics British Piano Concertos Brubeck, The Gates of Justice Bruch, Violin Concerto Callas Canteloube, Chants d'Auvergne Carols Chanticleer, Sound in Spirit Charpentier Charpentier, Lebegue Christmas 04 Christmas Vespers Contemporary and Medieval Copland Delius Der Rosenkavalier Dukachev - Beethoven, Prokofiev, Rachminov Elgar Elgar, Marches Elgar, The Enigma Variations Faure songs French Medieval Songs Fux Gounod, Faust Graham: Causon, Ravel, Debussy Great Ballets Grieg, Franck Handel Arias Handel, Deborah Handel, Messiah Handel, The Triumph ... Handel, Water Music DVD Hapsburg Music Haydn Haydn, Handel DVD's Herz Piano Jane Austen's Songbook Josefowicz Recital King's Singers La Fille Mal Gardee Lang Lang and Yo Yo Ma: Farewell Isabella and Chinese things Lauridsen Llibre Vermell Luci, Bartoli, and a dead diva Lully, Comedies-ballets, Phaeton Maerzmusik sampler Mahler Symphony No 7 Mahler, Berg Mantovani Matsudaira Medieval French Songs Mendelssohn Sacred Mendelssohn, Dvorak Messa di Gloria Michael Haydn Miles Davis ... sorta Monterverdi, Orfeo Monteverdi Vespers Monteverdi, Poppea Monteverdi, The Sacred Music 3 Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Handel Montiverdi Vespers Morricone Mozart Symphonies Mozart, Cosi fan tutte Mozart, Exsultate Jubilate Mozart, Mass in C Minor Mozart, symphonies 40, 41 Mozart: Die Zauberflote Mozart: the string quartets Mozrt Requiem Mutter Mozart New English Hymnal New RSS system and Feeds Nikolay Roslavets Peerson, Latin Motets Penguins March Pergolesi, La Serva Padrona Philip Glass, Symphonies 2 and 3 Poulenc concerto Proms Purcell - Dido and Aeneas Purcell Sonatas Purcell: Dido and Aeneas Rachmaninov, Piano Ramallah - Beethoven No. 5 Rameau, Les Paladins Reger, Bach and Telemann Variations Renaissance Organ Music Romantic Cello Concertos Romantic Violin Russian Album -Anna Netrebko Rutter Mass Sanctuary, the heart has its reasons Scarlatti, The complete Keyboard Sonatas Schubert and Mozart piano Schubert Ð Death and the Maiden Shostakovich Shostakovich and Schnittke, Cello Shostakovich/Josefowicz Sibelius String Quartets Sixteen: Ikon South American Baroque Stainer, The Crucifiction Sting does Dowland Strauss tone poem Takemitsu Tallis Tchaikovsky, Symphony No 5, Verdi, Sibelius The Kirov celebrates Nijinsky Toshiro Mayazumi Vaughan Williams Verdi View from a dark tunnel Virginal -Susann van Soldt Vivaldi Cello Vivaldi, Motezuma Vivaldi, Sacred Music Vivaldi: Dixit Dominus Von Otter Wagner, Das Rheingold Wagner, Gotterdammerung DVD Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks Weir, Gillian Weiss / Lindberg Lute Whitacre, Cloudburst Williams, Bingham: Mass von Weber, Chamber Music

Mon, 01 May 2006 Delius Frederick DELIUS (1862-1934) March Caprice [4.08] Three Small Tone Poems Summer Evening [6.17] Winter Night [5.42] Spring Morning [7.24] American Rhapsody [9.29] The Walk to the Paradise Garden [9.11] Two Pieces for Small Orchestra On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring [5.53] Summer Night on the River [6.19] A song before Sunrise [5.25] Fantastic Dance [3.49] Royal Scottish National Orchestra/David Lloyd-Jones rec Aug 2002, Henry Wood Hall, Glasgow, Scotland NAXOS 8.557143 [63.38] This charming disc shows that there is more to the orchestral music of Delius than is generally perceived. The normal thought about Delius is that his music surges from pianissimo to climax in a mighty mezzo-piano and is all slow and impressionistic. There is plenty of that aspect here, but much more besides. In a clever piece of programming the disc opens with a rather unexpected Marche Caprice, with prominent brasses and a jaunty rhythmic style. This would be an interesting one with which to play "Name the Composer"; few people would guess Delius. Also included here are Delius' two most famous works "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring" and "The Walk to the Paradise Garden", the latter being the famous orchestral interlude from Delius' opera A Village Romeo and Juliet. Both of these well known works are given sympathetic readings by Lloyd-Jones and RSNO. Their collaborations in English symphonic music for Naxos have become highly regarded - not least their splendid series of the complete symphonies of Arnold Bax. The recording is also highly enjoyable, the Naxos engineers by now knowing the ways of the Henry Wood Hall in Glasgow of old. Here is clarity and lucidity in the string sound, with excellent balance where the brass do get to open out. As an example, another of the more well-known works is the second of the Three Small Tone Poems, Winter Night, which is a jolly and light-hearted Sleigh ride, complete with sleigh bells. Also, however, there is orchestral power in which the brass and horns do get their big moment. The Two Pieces for Small Orchestra, which include On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, are typically Delius. Translucent colours and subtle textures abound and the performance is definitely worthy of repeated listening. Added to this the addition of further rarities such as the large (for Delius) American Rhapsody; more of a landscape tone poem of the mid-west plains than a Gershwin-esque jaunt through the jazz streets of Chicago; and the languid flute, bassoon and strings of A Song before Sunrise, and you have a well worthwhile collection of enjoyable orchestral pieces. ((c) 2006 Peter Wells) [] permanent link