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Review
David Lloyd-Jones proves an undisruptive, clear-headed guide, while the playing of the Bournemouth SO has an extra finish, buoyancy and lustre that tip the scales in his favour. --Gramophone
These are remarkably confident and assured performances, paced by David Lloyd-Jones' firm, experienced hand. --BBC Music Magazine
These are remarkably confident and assured performances, paced by David Lloyd-Jones' firm, experienced hand. --BBC Music Magazine
CD Description
Completed in 1887, Stanford's Irish Symphony enjoyed immediate and widespread success, continuing to be played well into the twentieth century. The Irish subtitle indicates its frequent deployment of folk-tunes as melodic material, although the work never strays far from the Austro-German symphonic tradition. The 1905 Sixth Symphony, by contrast, received only two hearings before succumbing to an eighty-year oblivion. The subtitle, In honour of the life-work of a great artist: George Frederick Watts , is important: Watts (1817-1904) was among the most lauded British artists of his era and Stanford's work, if not overtly programmatic, was influenced by instances of Watt s legacy for example the equestrian statue in Kensington Gardens, London.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Naxos survey of the seven symphonies of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) goes from strength to strength. This latest release pairs the Irish composer's best-known symphony, 'The Irish', with his least-known, the sixth. In particular this disc fully vindicates Stanford's own opinion which favoured the sixth above all his other symphonies.
Written in 1905 to commemorate the life and work of the artist George Frederic Watts (1817-1904), the sixth is at last revealed as a work of enormous power and accomplishment with perhaps the most gorgeous slow movement that Stanford (or indeed, any other British composer) ever penned. Throughout the work, Stanford's melodic invention is genuinely inspired (not always the case in his enormously prolific output), whilst the ingenuity and richness of the orchestration are a revelation.
Although not mentioned in the otherwise excellent booklet notes, themes in the sixth symphony are related to paintings or sculptures by Watts: in the first movement (a tremendous rush of dynamic propulsion) we are hearing the musical equivalent of the great equestrian statue 'Physical Energy'. Other themes used throughout the work are linked to the paintings 'Love and Life' and 'Love and Death' whilst the trio of the Scherzo is inspired by the whimsical painting of an angling cupid 'Good luck to your fishing'.
This new performance by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under David Lloyd-Jones makes an even stronger case for the work than did Vernon Handley and the Ulster Orchestra (on a nevertheless very fine Chandos disc). Not only is there a greater sense of momentum in the musical discourse, but superior balance means that crucial orchestral details are clearer (such as the beautiful violin solo in the first movement and the welcome prominence of the harp) and the whole symphony hangs together to a degree that Handley's performance just misses. The imposing arc of the slow movement is wonderfully and cohesively shaped whilst the elision of the Scherzo into the Finale is truly thrilling.
The third symphony (for all its contemporary popular success) in fact emerges as perhaps the lesser work. Written in 1887, it finds Stanford still very much in the grip of the mainstream Austro-German tradition, in spite of the inclusion of genuine Irish melodies. It is a well-crafted and highly enjoyable work, but it lacks the personality which shines throughout the sixth. Perhaps Vernon Handley was better able to disguise the rather obvious 'joins' in the musical structure of this symphony, but Lloyd-Jones and his orchestra certainly play it with relish and bring out all the colour that is there.
The recorded sound is wonderfully clean with all details telling. If you do not have a recording of Stanford's 'Irish' symphony, both Handley and Lloyd-Jones are excellent guides. The major work here, though, is the disgracefully underrated sixth and this Naxos disc is a clear first-choice.
Written in 1905 to commemorate the life and work of the artist George Frederic Watts (1817-1904), the sixth is at last revealed as a work of enormous power and accomplishment with perhaps the most gorgeous slow movement that Stanford (or indeed, any other British composer) ever penned. Throughout the work, Stanford's melodic invention is genuinely inspired (not always the case in his enormously prolific output), whilst the ingenuity and richness of the orchestration are a revelation.
Although not mentioned in the otherwise excellent booklet notes, themes in the sixth symphony are related to paintings or sculptures by Watts: in the first movement (a tremendous rush of dynamic propulsion) we are hearing the musical equivalent of the great equestrian statue 'Physical Energy'. Other themes used throughout the work are linked to the paintings 'Love and Life' and 'Love and Death' whilst the trio of the Scherzo is inspired by the whimsical painting of an angling cupid 'Good luck to your fishing'.
This new performance by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under David Lloyd-Jones makes an even stronger case for the work than did Vernon Handley and the Ulster Orchestra (on a nevertheless very fine Chandos disc). Not only is there a greater sense of momentum in the musical discourse, but superior balance means that crucial orchestral details are clearer (such as the beautiful violin solo in the first movement and the welcome prominence of the harp) and the whole symphony hangs together to a degree that Handley's performance just misses. The imposing arc of the slow movement is wonderfully and cohesively shaped whilst the elision of the Scherzo into the Finale is truly thrilling.
The third symphony (for all its contemporary popular success) in fact emerges as perhaps the lesser work. Written in 1887, it finds Stanford still very much in the grip of the mainstream Austro-German tradition, in spite of the inclusion of genuine Irish melodies. It is a well-crafted and highly enjoyable work, but it lacks the personality which shines throughout the sixth. Perhaps Vernon Handley was better able to disguise the rather obvious 'joins' in the musical structure of this symphony, but Lloyd-Jones and his orchestra certainly play it with relish and bring out all the colour that is there.
The recorded sound is wonderfully clean with all details telling. If you do not have a recording of Stanford's 'Irish' symphony, both Handley and Lloyd-Jones are excellent guides. The major work here, though, is the disgracefully underrated sixth and this Naxos disc is a clear first-choice.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I write merely to agree with other reviewer, and to urge you to hear Stanford's Sixth Symphony, which is surely a victim of totally unwarranted neglect.
Performance and recording are fully up to expectation.
Please do not hesitate.
Performance and recording are fully up to expectation.
Please do not hesitate.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I too must echo the sentiments expressed above. Stanford has received a bad press - I could say that he has been the victim of a savage one. It's well known that he was over-prolific and could write his ideas straight into full score, standing on his head, and I suppose this has created an assumption that he simply churned out masses of colourless mediocrity. His reputation has perhaps also been damaged by his vast output of finely-crafted, but often dull, church music.
My own awakening to Stanford's music has spanned forty years, necessarily so because it has only started to become more widely available over the past twenty. I remember hearing a rare performance of some of his piano music in the sixties and thinking that the criticism was well founded. But then I heard an equally rare performance of a string quartet of his, and I was spellbound by the Irishness and originality of the music - which I cannot remember now. I remember reading that Stanford, on hearing Rachmaninov's second piano concerto, came home and wrote one just like it. Yet when I heard Stanford's second piano concerto, I was amazed, not by how similar it was, but how different.
An artist should be judged by his finest work, and it seems that Stanford has too long been judged on hearsay.
There is plenty of fine work on this disc. I agree that the sixth symphony is the finer of the two (I also like the fourth). Both are characterful, colourful, finely orchestrated, and Stanford's unique voice comes through. Oh yes, Stanford has his own voice, and it's sometimes fitful, but it's there all the same.
If you like this disc, there are the other five symphonies, the second piano concerto, second violin concerto, clarinet concerto, Irish rhapsodies, Requiem, Stabat Mater, and a host of smaller things to explore. Perhaps the tide is at last turning for Stanford. I hope so.
My own awakening to Stanford's music has spanned forty years, necessarily so because it has only started to become more widely available over the past twenty. I remember hearing a rare performance of some of his piano music in the sixties and thinking that the criticism was well founded. But then I heard an equally rare performance of a string quartet of his, and I was spellbound by the Irishness and originality of the music - which I cannot remember now. I remember reading that Stanford, on hearing Rachmaninov's second piano concerto, came home and wrote one just like it. Yet when I heard Stanford's second piano concerto, I was amazed, not by how similar it was, but how different.
An artist should be judged by his finest work, and it seems that Stanford has too long been judged on hearsay.
There is plenty of fine work on this disc. I agree that the sixth symphony is the finer of the two (I also like the fourth). Both are characterful, colourful, finely orchestrated, and Stanford's unique voice comes through. Oh yes, Stanford has his own voice, and it's sometimes fitful, but it's there all the same.
If you like this disc, there are the other five symphonies, the second piano concerto, second violin concerto, clarinet concerto, Irish rhapsodies, Requiem, Stabat Mater, and a host of smaller things to explore. Perhaps the tide is at last turning for Stanford. I hope so.
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