Maybe the next time they play the Beethoven 9th at the Proms, the first half could feature Tchaikovsky's 30-minute Graduation Cantata "Ode to Joy." It's scored for the same vocal, choral and orchestral forces as the Beethoven, though the Schiller text is in Russian, naturally enough. Even though it was a student composition, it has many melodic pre-echoes of later works from "Swan Lake" to "Eugene Onegin." The Thomas Sanderling recording on You Tube is particularly impressive, so Tchaikovsky's setting would make a good first-half novelty prior to the Beethoven in what would be its Proms debut ...
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Stockhuasen's 93rd Motet.Comment
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A bit blunted 'cause me spellings bloody awful, aint it? (That's a hint on bad spellin).Comment
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ANY symphony by George Lloyd! If only my Euromillions ticket would hit the jackpot then I could sponsor a complete cycle by Sir Simon and Die Berliner Philharmoniker! (However, I'm aware time is running out...!)Comment
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Nah. Just the Seventh will do, although why it seems to me to be way above anything else of his that I've heard I do not know.Originally posted by pastoralguy View PostComment
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In 2016, they should couple Beethoven 9 with Ginastera's 2nd Piano Concerto, for three reasons: 1. It's the Argentinian composer's centenary next year; 2. It's an epic piece, and 3. Its first movement is a set of 32 variations on a chord from the finale of Beethoven 9.Originally posted by seabright View PostComment
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How about a complete cycle of the symphonic music of William Havegal Brian at the Proms? I know that they did the 'Gothic' a few years ago, which was joyful, but this stuff ought to be heard.
Only joking...Comment
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Indeed - but a handful of these works really do deserve to be heard there - no question - so let the powers that be not try not to get too hung up on the fact of there being 32 of them...Originally posted by Colonel Danby View PostComment
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Lewis Foreman's book on Havergal Brian quotes a 'Music & Musicians' review of the 32nd Symphony by Geoffrey Crankshaw in which he dismissed the first performance of the 32nd Symphony as "an event of singular drabness. From the first bar to the last there was not one arresting idea ... Brian has produced in this symphony a collection of notes scored with the ability I would expect of a third-year student. I can see no case of wicked neglect: in my view he is an utterly mediocre composer."Originally posted by ahinton View Post
Brian was lucky to have had a champion in Robert Simpson, who saw to it that the BBC paid for quite a few studio performances, but since he departed the globe I doubt if anyone else has worked up the same kind of enthusiasm. But then, there are those in the Robert Simpson Society who claim that his symphonies are "masterpieces" but how often does anyone hear them these days?Comment
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How often a work is played has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not it's a "masterpiece". The idea that 'If a work is not played much, there's a good reason for it' is the biggest load of nonsense I've ever heard. Let each of us hear it and form our own opinions.Comment
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Seconded with all possible enthusiasm.Originally posted by Roehre View Post
(Though I have to say, hearing the Tchaikovsky Ode to Joy, and reading the suggestions for Lloyd and Brian [the wrong one] makes me all the more keen to hear the Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler symphonies again!
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[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]Comment
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It has been some time, but, having read this, I feel I should have another listen to Brian's 32nd. I always had the impression it was rather good.Originally posted by seabright View PostComment
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