Notes and Editorial Reviews
Programs of English string orchestra music have been recorded many times—and why not? The music is beautiful, immediately accessible, and, well, so English: replete with images of gently meandering streams, meadows never visited by a stinging insect, inviting, tame woods (no dark German forests here!), festive country celebrations, and pastoral scenes straight from Hardy and Milne and Grahame. Who wouldn’t want to go there? This program—a set of very fine performances recorded in London by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in 2003—is an intelligently chosen collection of mostly 20th-century works modeled on earlier forms or styles—Fantasia; Passacaglia; Lachrymae—or, in the case of the Purcell Chaconne, represent the original Baroque model.
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Arvo Pärt’s Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten is the only work on the disc by a non-English composer, but its purpose and theme give it a credible reason to be here—and the music itself brings a moving if decidedly minimalist dimension to the proceedings. It’s not difficult to find excellent performances and recordings of most of these works, especially the Purcell, Britten, Vaughan Williams, and Walton, but these are equal to any of them. My only complaint is the annoyingly audible breathing in the Britten Lachrymae (the violist?), and the applause at the disc’s conclusion—who buys a CD to hear applause? Nevertheless, this is one of those reissues whose musical and programmatic value warrants the effort, and your serious attention.
– David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Chacony for Strings in G minor, Z 730 by Henry Purcell
Conductor:
Richard Egarr
Period: Baroque
Written: England
Venue: St John's Smith Square, London, England
Length: 6 Minutes 41 Secs.
2.
Lachrymae for Viola and Strings, Op. 48a by Benjamin Britten
Performer:
Nicholas Bone (Viola),
Nicolas Bône (Viola)
Conductor:
William Conway
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1950/1976; England
Venue: St John's Smith Square, London, England
Length: 14 Minutes 49 Secs.
3.
Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten by Arvo Pärt
Conductor:
William Conway
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1976; Estonia
Venue: St John's Smith Square, London, England
Length: 6 Minutes 8 Secs.
4.
Dido and Aeneas: Dido's Lament (When I Am Laid in Earth) by Henry Purcell
Conductor:
Richard Egarr
Period: Baroque
Written: 1689; United Kingdom
Venue: St John's Smith Square, London, England
Length: 4 Minutes 17 Secs.
5.
Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Conductor:
Douglas Boyd
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1910/1919; England
Venue: St John's Smith Square, London, England
Length: 16 Minutes 16 Secs.
6.
Pieces (2) for strings (from Henry V) by Sir William Walton
Conductor:
Douglas Boyd
Period: Modern
Written: 1944
Venue: St John's Smith Square, London, England
Length: 4 Minutes 59 Secs.
7.
Fantasia concertante on a theme of Corelli by Michael Tippett
Performer:
Vesna Stankovic Moffat (Violin),
William Conway (Cello),
Marieke Blankestijn (Violin)
Conductor:
Douglas Boyd
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1953; England
Venue: St John's Smith Square, London, England
Length: 18 Minutes 46 Secs.
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