Bellini: La Sonnambula

Day 287

Bellini: La Sonnambula

Soloists

London Opera Chorus

National Philharmonic Orchestra

Richard Bonynge

I don’t know much Bellini. I did see a performance of Norma years ago but as far as I remember I haven’t heard any of his operas. I know some of the famous arias but that’s about it. As far as La Sonnambula is concerned I know the famous sleepwalking aria Ah non Credea from the recording by Adelina Patti, a fascinating glimpse into 19th century performance traditions and also the ensemble D’un Pensiero, which Sullivan parodied so brilliantly in Trial by Jury.

Bellini has a reputation as a melodist and there is no doubt that the finest parts of the score are the lyrical moments, particularly those where Bellini’s ability to devise melodies with a real overlay of dreamlike melancholy really has an impact. But some of the vigorous moments have an energy and momentum which creates a real sense of drive. But, as with many Italian operas of the period there is also a fair amount of what I call ‘painting by numbers’ music, where the composer goes into autopilot using all of the cliches of early-romantic opera. This is especially true of the end. After the beautiful atmospheric sleepwalking scene Bellini brings down the curtain with what can only be described as a ‘jolly knees up’ of a final ensemble. It really does jar.

All told, however, I really enjoyed the opera. I won’t displace my affection for Rossini but it certainly expands my knowledge of the broader Italian opera repertoire.

Messiaen: La Nativité du Seigneur

Day 286

Messiaen: La Nativité du Seigneur

Jennifer Bate

This was a tough listen.

I first encountered Messiaen at school when the choir sang O sacrum Convivium. That is quite a gentle piece and not really characteristic of the composer’s mature style. The only couple of Messiaen pieces I know reasonably well are the Quartet for the end of time and Turangalila- I don’t think that I have ever listened to any of his organ music. I couldn’t really find my way into the piece. I don’t find the sound of the organ particularly appealing, particularly with some of the very jarring sonorities that the composer calls for, Then I find he music rhythmically flaccid - his additive rhythms don’t give any real sense of shape or momentum. Stylistically it seems to me all over the place - some of it is highly dissonant but into other places it seems almost naive. 

To be honest there were moments when I really wanted the music to stop. I found it almost unbearable. Obviously listening in a domestic setting via headphones is a very different experience to listening to a live performance in a cathedral setting but even so I can’t ever imagine wanting to listen to this music again.

This has to go on the list of the pieces I actively disliked during this project.

Bantock: Omar Khayyám

Day 285

Granville Bantock: Omar Khayyám

Soloists

BBC Singers and Symphony Orchestra

Norman Del Mar

I have enjoyed listening to quite a bit of the orchestral music of Granville Bantock - the Hyperion series of CDs conducted by Vernon Handley has been a source of real pleasure. I’ve also heard a couple of his symphonies for unaccompanied voices, which are perhaps a bit more of an acquired taste.

I knew about Omar Khayyám  - his massive 3-hour long setting of the complete Rubaiyat in the Fitzgerald translation - but had not got round to listening to it. But this project seemed like an ideal opportunity so I devoted a considerable part of the day to listening to the whole thing.  What an extraordinary piece it is. Rambling is one way to describe it. There is a great variety of styles in the peice. Some of it is highly sophisticated in a post Straussian idiom with some complex chromatic harmonies but some of it can only be described as naive - indeed some of the more overtly ‘oriental’ music seems to be straight out of the shool of Albert Ketelby’s In a Persian Market. Nothing wrong with that of course - I rather like Ketelby’s music but it hardly a model for this sort of serious work.

But nonetheless I found a great deal to enjoy. Some of the choral writing is thrilling - it is a sign of just how virtuosic amateur choirs could be at the beginning of the 20th century. There are also some passages of great intensity - Bantock certainly had a strong sense of how to drive the music forward. His lyrical writing can be highly effective - his sense of word setting is much more intuitive than in some of the 20th century English music that I have listened to in this project. 

Of course the whole thing is quite impossible. It is hard to imagine that there will be anything but a very occasional revival as a special festival event and even that seems unlikely. I don’t suppose that I will listen to the whole thing again for a long time (if ever) but I am very glad I did devote the time to it today. Bantock music is certainly worth hearing and the best parts of Omar are I think as good as anything else that was being written in England at the time. But only the very greatest of composers can sustain consistently high level music invention over a three-hour period.

Smetana: Hubička

Day 284

Smetana: Hubička (the Kiss)

Soloists

Chorus and Orchestra of the Janáček opera Brno

František Vajnar

My knowledge of Smetana is fairly limited - I know Vltava and a couple more of pieces from Ma Vlast, and the E minor string quartet and did see the Bartered Bride many years ago. But thats about it.

The Kiss is a later opera (1876), by which time Smetana was completely deaf. But you would never believe it from this music, which is full of life and vigour.  As you might expect that spirit of Czech folk music and the dance permeates the entire score and gives it a real sense of energy. But it is not all dance music - there are some very tender passages for the two main characters - they finally kiss at the end of the opera after a series of misadventures.

The mood changes for the second act, which is set in the Forest where some smugglers are hiding. Smetana counjours up a real sense of menace here which took me a bit by surprise. To be honest I thought that the second act flagged a bit after this scene but all does sort itself out by the end, with some strong music to bring the opera to a rousing conclusions.  I’d certainly want to explore Smetana’s operatic repertory in more details after this project has finished.

Dittersdorf: Sinfonia in A

Day 283

Dittersdorf: Sinfonia in A Sinfonia nazionale nel gusto di cinque nazioni

Failoni Orchestra

Uwe Grodd

I first came across Dittersdorf when I was a school - I heard the double bass concerto which I remember as quite a fun piece. Since then I have got to know the six sinfonias based on Ovid’s metamorphoses, which I find quite fascinating. This symphony is not quite in that league but it is nevertheless well worth listening to. Each of its five movements is based on the music of different country - Germany, Italy, France, England and Turkey. It hovers between affectionate tribute and outright parody. In particularly the Italian movement is full of cliches and clearly the composer didn’t think much of his Italian contemporaries. The French movement is much more sophisticated and shows a real affection for the style.  The piece could never be more of a curiosity and could never form part of the regular repertoire, but it was quite fun to hear it once.

This is the last in this current series of symphonies. From tomorrow I will be exploring some of the more important composers who have not so far featured in this blog, plus I am also taking the opportunity to listen to some longer pieces that I would not otherwise be likely to have the time to listen to.

Lloyd: Symphony no 6

Day 282

George Lloyd: Symphony no 6

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

George Lloyd

George Lloyd is an interesting figure. He had some early success but then his music was largely ignored by the musical establishment of the 1950s through to the 1970s on the basis that is was old-fashioned and not worthy of serious attention. But then towards the end of his life the mood changed. Performances started to happen and almost all of his music, including 12 symphonies, was recorded. A society was formed to promote his music. But after his death (1998) that revival rather faded away and now performances of his music are rare.

I don't think that I have heard any of his music before. I chose this symphony simply because at some point I had acquired a CD including it. It dates from 1956 and must have seen very old fashioned at the time. It seems to inhabit a world somewhere between Edwardian light music and smaller late 19th century symphonies. But on its own terms it was very attractive - beautifully put together with an immediacy which which really came across to the listener. The slow movement was particularly beautiful. 

It is very difficult to assess music like this which is so out of its time. From what I understand this is probably the most lightweight of Lloyd's works, and I wonder how he dealt with more emotionally challenging large-scale structures. Perhaps I will do a bit more exploring. But I am certainly glad to have heard this piece. I can see what his music eventually did receive quite a following - a reaction to some of the extremes of the avant garde in the 1960s was certainly one of the factors that brought him back into prominence.

Brun: Symphony no 1

Day 281

Brun: Symphony no 1

Moscow Symphony Orchestra

Adriano

I purchased this CD on spec at a charity shop, having never heard of the composer and knowing nothing about his music. It turns out that he was a Swiss composer working in the first half of the 20th century. His music is mostly unpublished and received very few performances in his life. Brun was also a conductor and was quite well connected to several mainstream figures in European music of the time but he was very much a minor figure. Indeed the conductor of this CD - who goes by the single name Adriano - seems almost singlehandedly to have promoted Brun's work - the extensive notes that go with the recording are among the most pretentious I have ever seen and make some very exaggerated claims about his music.

It turns out that this is a fairly competent symphony in a conservative Brahmsian style written by an obviously capable musician - nothing more nor less.  There must be hundreds of such symphonies written by students (Brun was in his early 20s when this was written) lurking in dusty cupboards in the music conservatoires of Europe. I suspect that they all are like this - not unpleasant but entirely unmemorable. To be fair to Brun, there are some quite striking ideas in the first two movements, but they go nowhere and the other two movements have less to offer.  The whole cycle of Brun's symphonies has been recorded by Adriano - I can't imagine ever wanting to acquire the rest of them to follow his development as a composer over 50 year - there are some pretty scathing reviews of the complete set on the internet.