Jubilee Offer: Patriotic Classics for £2.50 |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
BBC Music Magazine
Here’s proof - if it’s still needed - that there was more to Parry than a competent precursor of Elgar who also wrote a couple of rousing hymn-tunes. The Symphonic Variations, one of the few substantial pieces to survive in the repertoire after Parry’s death, is lively, resourceful and finely crafted. From Death to Life is Grand Old Man’s music - in the best and worst senses of the phrase, but Elegy for Brahms probes more deeply, and the long-lost Concertstück is a real surprise: the young Parry as an intense Wagnerian modernist. Performances are authoritative and the recordings are up to Chandos’s highest standards - a perfect introduction to Parry the symphonic thinker.
Performance ****
Sound ****
© BBC Music Magazine 2001
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This disc brings together the important non-symphonic orchestral works of Parry. These span most of his composing life and the tone poem, From Death to Life, is his last important orchestral score. It is traditional to describe Parry's music as "Brahmsian", suggesting he was old fashioned and perhaps a bit staid. But Brahms was very much alive when Parry was developing, so it is not surprising that this musical Titan should have an influence on the younger composer. However, Parry was very aware of contemporary musical developments and, while no radical, was perhaps more innovative than usually supposed.
All the pieces on this disc display the nobility of expression that I find so characteristic and endearing in this composer. He is the first composer I would describe as sounding "English", even before Elgar, and this character is in the cast of his melodies, as with Elgar too, and therefore difficult to pin down.
The original theme forming the basis of the orchestral variations has something of the sea about it. Parry exploits this rather square tune in delightful and varied ways to give us an enjoyable work. The Elegy to Brahms is a deeply felt work and one of Parry's most beautiful utterances, with strong and memorable thematic material worked out with powerful emotional effect. The two movement From Death to Life was composed in the shadow of the First World War, with a deeply elegiac first half and more optimistic ending. The long theme of the opening is a fine example of Parry's ability to express something profound, increasing the emotional tension as the melody itself expands to a climax. He was not a believer but he was a deeply humane man and perhaps this work expressed his view that we must make of life what we can while we are here but death is the end and we must must ultimately accept this.
This is a fascinating collection, beautifully played.
All the pieces on this disc display the nobility of expression that I find so characteristic and endearing in this composer. He is the first composer I would describe as sounding "English", even before Elgar, and this character is in the cast of his melodies, as with Elgar too, and therefore difficult to pin down.
The original theme forming the basis of the orchestral variations has something of the sea about it. Parry exploits this rather square tune in delightful and varied ways to give us an enjoyable work. The Elegy to Brahms is a deeply felt work and one of Parry's most beautiful utterances, with strong and memorable thematic material worked out with powerful emotional effect. The two movement From Death to Life was composed in the shadow of the First World War, with a deeply elegiac first half and more optimistic ending. The long theme of the opening is a fine example of Parry's ability to express something profound, increasing the emotional tension as the melody itself expands to a climax. He was not a believer but he was a deeply humane man and perhaps this work expressed his view that we must make of life what we can while we are here but death is the end and we must must ultimately accept this.
This is a fascinating collection, beautifully played.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Another Great Performance
22 Oct 2003
Format:Audio CD
The London Philharmonic Orchestra once again does a marvelous job with the music of Sir Hubert Parry. Buy this, you will not regret it. This is truly beautiful music. Another great one from Chandos.
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
