Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Discovering new composers....
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
......I recently heard a couple of songs (on BBC Radio 3) by Gerald Finzi (1901-1956).
eBay is my friend, so I have obtained two CDs on the Naxos label - songs based on poems by Thomas Hardy (Earth and Air and Rain), and a selection of songs, instrumental, and choral pieces (The Best of Finzi).
IMHO beautiful, sombre, and reflective music of the highest quality, which I am very pleased to have discovered!
Any Shipmates found the same, whether Finzi or any other?
Ian J.
-------------------- Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
My favourite new composer CD is that by Philip Stopford with Truro Cathedral choir. Here is a sampler.
-------------------- Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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kingsfold
Shipmate
# 1726
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Posted
I've a hankering to try this Ola Gjeilo CD. We've sung the Ubi caritas which is absolutely gorgeous and I think I want to explore some more...
Posts: 4473 | From: land of the wee midgie | Registered: Nov 2001
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
Finzi's "God is Gone Up" makes an annual appearance in our Evensong with Eucharist for Ascension. I have to admit that I think the words are a little soupy, but it is a glorious arrangement.
-------------------- "I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by kingsfold: I've a hankering to try this Ola Gjeilo CD. We've sung the Ubi caritas which is absolutely gorgeous and I think I want to explore some more...
Get it! It's absolutely wonderful, and I don't know why it didn't get a Grammy except that the Phoenix Chorale had just won one the year before. I'm just a wee bit biased about the Phoenix Chorale but they are exceptional. Northern Lights is my favorite of their recordings and my "go to" CD when I'm not sure what I want to listen to.
(Ola Gjeilo was composer-in-residence to the Chorale a couple of years ago. He wound up marrying one of their singers.)
-------------------- "...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe." ~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
Dobrinka Tabakova is another new-to-me composer. They performed a couple of her choral works at the Three Choirs Festival last year. I have her CD of string music and hope she releases one of choral music some time.
-------------------- "...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe." ~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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kaytee
Shipmate
# 3482
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Posted
quote:
Dobrinka Tabakova is another new-to-me composer.
Me too! I heard the 3rd movement of the Concerto for Cello and Strings on BBC Radio 3 and it blew me away.
I find listening to R3 in the car is a good way to discover new composers that I might not otherwise pick. They play tracks from the Specialist Classical Chart on Tuesdays from 8am, which is handy for checking out new releases during my commute.
I discovered Finzi when a local choir I was part of sang the Seven Poems of Robert Bridges. I was impressed by how well the music fit the words, not something I would have picked up if I was not singing it myself.
-------------------- 'Lying is a vital survival skill – and a terrible habit.' ~ The Doctor
Posts: 152 | From: Hertfordshire, UK | Registered: Oct 2002
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Gracious rebel
Rainbow warrior
# 3523
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Posted
Finzi is a favourite of mine too. Have come across him in both choral works (I really enjoy singing Clear and gentle stream ) and in clarinet music (both of these are in the context of 'performing' rather than listening).
He has very characteristic harmonies, quirky rhythms, both challenging and soothing.
-------------------- Fancy a break beside the sea in Suffolk? Visit my website
Posts: 4413 | From: Suffolk UK | Registered: Nov 2002
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Yangtze
Shipmate
# 4965
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Posted
I discovered Finzi at the Proms a couple of years ago. Wonderful.
My new one is Benjamin Britten. Obviously I've heard bits over the years (including going to Midsummer Night's Dream twice) but I'd always thought I didn't really like him / found him a bit difficult. But I just went to a brilliant, brilliant illustrated talk on him at Greenbelt which has just opened it all up and now I'm desirous of hearing more.
-------------------- Arthur & Henry Ethical Shirts for Men organic cotton, fair trade cotton, linen
Sometimes I wonder What's for Afters?
Posts: 2022 | From: the smallest town in England | Registered: Sep 2003
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fletcher christian
Mutinous Seadog
# 13919
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Posted
I've recently discovered Nico Muhly, but the material I have heard is so new it hasn't been recorded yet which is a shame.
-------------------- 'God is love insaturable, love impossible to describe' Staretz Silouan
Posts: 5235 | From: a prefecture | Registered: Jul 2008
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
A friend introduced me to Finzi's Eclogue for Piano and Strings
I've heard him play it a few times over the years with some excellent string players from our area.
-------------------- Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Awesome video, Judy! I really enjoyed it. Who is the lady conducting and what is the group?
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Pearl B4 Swine
Ship's Oyster-Shucker
# 11451
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Posted
Jennifer Higdon: blue cathedral
She's not too new (born '62). This orchestral piece is astonishingly beautiful.
-------------------- Oinkster
"I do a good job and I know how to do this stuff" D. Trump (speaking of the POTUS job)
Posts: 3622 | From: The Keystone State | Registered: May 2006
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Ta! It sounds like good music to write to.
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
If you haven't already discovered him, find stuff by Gyorgy Ligeti - breathtaking!
-------------------- Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Listening to now it and it is inspiring and exciting.
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
Funnily enough with this Finzi talk, my current process of discovery is with another English composer, Frank Bridge.
There is a box set of his orchestral works which I picked up on sale based on good reviews and a fond memory of 3 of his piano pieces I learnt years and years ago. I decided to work through the set chronologically. The change in his style is quite marked, from pretty little pieces in the early 1900s to something considerably darker in the 1920s.
The Sea is apparently his most well known work. So far I'd also recommend the Dance Poem from around the same time, and also There Is A Willow Grows Aslant A Brook from later on. I haven't actually tried the largest late works yet.
-------------------- Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Cottontail
Shipmate
# 12234
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Posted
I recently heard a performance of Eric Whitaker's Five Hebrew Love Songs. I thought they were incredibly exciting, and have been exploring the composer ever since. His hypnotic Lux Aurumque is also worth a listen.
-------------------- "I don't think you ought to read so much theology," said Lord Peter. "It has a brutalizing influence."
Posts: 2377 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jan 2007
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kingsfold
Shipmate
# 1726
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Posted
Yes indeed, Lux aurumque is lovely: again, something I've sung.
Posts: 4473 | From: land of the wee midgie | Registered: Nov 2001
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