John Wilson recordings- what am I missing

[smittims]

I look forward to the Bliss, which I think is underrated compared with other famous British works for string orchestra. I think this is the sort of thing John Wilson will do very well.

Describing it as a symphonic supergroup is odd when the orchestra here is all strings, and probably nearer 6-6-4-4-2 than a full symphonic string section. And I don;tthink Delius would like being called 'English'! He was echt deutsch.

[cloughie]

I look forward to the Bliss, which I think is underrated compared with other famous British works for string orchestra. I think this is the sort of thing John Wilson will do very well.

Describing it as a symphonic supergroup is odd when the orchestra here is all strings, and probably nearer 6-6-4-4-2 than a full symphonic string section. And I don;tthink Delius would like being called 'English'! He was echt deutsch.

No doubt the City of Culture claims takes the Angle!

[LMcD]

I look forward to the Bliss, which I think is underrated compared with other famous British works for string orchestra. I think this is the sort of thing John Wilson will do very well.

Describing it as a symphonic supergroup is odd when the orchestra here is all strings, and probably nearer 6-6-4-4-2 than a full symphonic string section. And I don;tthink Delius would like being called 'English'! He was echt deutsch.

The Radio Times actually calls it 'a programme of British music', and also points out that tenor Laurence Kilsby is British. It is, however, silent on the subject of Christopher Parkes's nationality, although he may well be British, too.

[Pulcinella]

I look forward to the Bliss, which I think is underrated compared with other famous British works for string orchestra. I think this is the sort of thing John Wilson will do very well.

Describing it as a symphonic supergroup is odd when the orchestra here is all strings, and probably nearer 6-6-4-4-2 than a full symphonic string section. And I don;tthink Delius would like being called 'English'! He was echt deutsch.

I first got to know the Bliss from Boult's recording, coupled with Howells' Concerto for string orchestra, similarly underrated imho.
Maybe first version heard scenario, but I prefer Boult to JW.

https://www.discogs.com/release/8158020-Bliss-Howells-London-Philharmonic-Orchestra-Sir-Adrian-Boult-Music-For-Strings-Concerto-For-String-O

[LMcD]

I first got to know the Bliss from Boult's recording, coupled with Howells' Concerto for string orchestra, similarly underrated imho.
Maybe first version heard scenario, but I prefer Boult to JW.

https://www.discogs.com/release/8158...o-For-String-O

One of my 4 CDs of works by Bliss (all on the Naxos label, as it happens) includes a recording of the Music for Strings with the English Northern Philharmonia conducted by David Lloyd-Jones.

[Pulcinella]

One of my 4 CDs of works by Bliss (all on the Naxos label, as it happens) includes a recording of the Music for Strings with the English Northern Philharmonia conducted by David Lloyd-Jones.

That's pretty good too iirc!

[Pulcinella]

Five stars for the Walton recording in BBC MM's Christmas 2025 edition, where again the concerto is given top billing, as the review features in the Concerto section, not the Orchestral one.

[Roslynmuse]

I gave my CD of Frémaux's Walton 1 (Philharmonia) a spin yesterday - not so far mentioned here, I think. It struck me as a quality reading apart from a patch in the Finale that seemed to hang fire; however, the orchestral sound is badly engineered (in my view) - strings too backward for the bite to really register unless the volume is so high that the wind and brass blast you out of your seat. What a shame. I heard John Wilson do it with BBC Phil in around 2017 or 2018 and was impressed by the last mt but underwhelmed by the rest.

[Maclintick]

Radio 3 in Concert on 1st December features JW and the Sinfonia of London - described in the Radio Times as 'a sort of
symphonic supergroup' - in an all-English programme, recorded at the Barbican on 22nd October:

Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Britten - Serenade for tenor, horn and strings with Laurence Kilsby (tenor) and Christopher Parkes (horn)
Bliss - Music for Strings
Delius - Late Swallows
Elgar - Introduction and Allegro

Richard Whitemore described it as ' a memorable evening's music-making'.

Tuned-in for the first half of this concert, and enjoyed the Britten, Laurence Kilsby and Christopher Parkes clearly up to the challenges. I've heard more dramatic and tonally-varied accounts of the vocal part, but this 27 year-old tenor has time to grow as an artist and possesses immaculate diction. The Barbican is unsurprisingly a difficult acoustic for the RVW Tallis Fantasia, so the performance was a bit lacking in atmosphere. I'll have to play catch-up with the Bliss, Delius and Elgar in the second half later.

[LMcD]

Tuned-in for the first half of this concert, and enjoyed the Britten, Laurence Kilsby and Christopher Parkes clearly up to the challenges. I've heard more dramatic and tonally-varied accounts of the vocal part, but this 27 year-old tenor has time to grow as an artist and possesses immaculate diction. The Barbican is unsurprisingly a difficult acoustic for the RVW Tallis Fantasia, so the performance was a bit lacking in atmosphere. I'll have to play catch-up with the Bliss, Delius and Elgar in the second half later.

RW's review mentions the fact that JW deployed his forces in a particular way in order to adapt to the hall's acoustics.

[smittims]

I think the size of the orchestra is crucial: to get the real antiphony the main orchestra needs to be noticeably bigger than the second. Curiously, though,the spacial effect is actually written into the music, so they don't have to be far apart.

[Maclintick]

I think the size of the orchestra is crucial: to get the real antiphony the main orchestra needs to be noticeably bigger than the second. Curiously, though,the spacial effect is actually written into the music, so they don't have to be far apart.

I'm sure that's right, but have no idea how many strings JW fielded in Orchestra I for this performance. They didn't, at least as heard on the wireless, sound large enough. As you say, the spatial effect is written-in, with the passionate f and ff declamations from Orchestra I contrasted with pp phrases senza espressione in Orchestra II. Barbirolli recorded his classic SoL 1963 account in the Temple Church, doing duty for Gloucester Cathedral, as it were, and the ample acoustic serves the music perfectly. interestingly, he also equates senza espressione to senza vibrato.

Now must catch up with second half of this concert...

[LMcD]

I'm sure that's right, but have no idea how many strings JW fielded in Orchestra I for this performance. They didn't, at least as heard on the wireless, sound large enough. As you say, the spatial effect is written-in, with the passionate f and ff declamations from Orchestra I contrasted with pp phrases senza espressione in Orchestra II. Barbirolli recorded his classic SoL 1963 account in the Temple Church, doing duty for Gloucester Cathedral, as it were, and the ample acoustic serves the music perfectly. interestingly, he also equates senza espressione to senza vibrato.

Now must catch up with second half of this concert...

Richard Whitehouse (not Whitmore - sorry!) reported that the main string body and solo quartet were to the front of the platform with the subsidiary group arrayed along its rear.
I didn't take to the Bliss, but the precision and sheer beauty of sound that the SoL brought to every piece made for a memorable experience for at least this listener.

[smittims]

I found it interesting to compare the VW with the performance the same artists gave in the very different acoustic of the Royal Albert Hall at the 2022 Proms . The main orchestra then was about fifty strong with perhaps ten firsts, six cellos and five or six basses (Tintagel was on the programme) , the second orchestra , nine players in a line at the back right and the quartet in their usual front-desk positions.

It has often been done and recorded with smaller groups. The first recording , by the Boyd Neel orchestra, would have used a very small main section. Neville Marriner and the Acadamy recorded it three times, on Argo at Kingsway hall, ASV and Philips (both Abbey Road) , and I guess skilful microphone placing was partly responsible for the very full sound I hear from those versions.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Very fine performance of the Tallis . Didn’t any else notice the very audible inhalation before some of the sweeping string orchestra phrases? JW getting too enthusiastic or more likely a spot miked string player ? At one point it sounded like wind gusting through the church door…