The British Project: Elgar, Britten, Walton, Vaughan Williams
£12.83
Usually available for despatch within 5-8 working days
Despatch Information
This despatch estimate is based on information from both our own stock and the UK supplier's stock.
If ordering multiple items, we will aim to send everything together so the longest despatch estimate will apply to the complete order.
If you would rather receive certain items more quickly, please place them on a separate order.
If any unexpected delays occur, we will keep you informed of progress via email and not allow other items on the order to be held up.
If you would prefer to receive everything together regardless of any delay, please let us know via email.
Pre-orders will be despatched as close as possible to the release date.
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Cat No: 4861547
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Orchestral
Release Date: 6th August 2021
Contents
Works
Sinfonia da Requiem, op.20Sospiri, op.70
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Troilus & Cressida: Symphonic Suite (arr. Christopher Palmer)
Artists
City of Birmingham Symphony OrchestraConductor
Mirga Grazinyte-TylaWorks
Sinfonia da Requiem, op.20Sospiri, op.70
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Troilus & Cressida: Symphonic Suite (arr. Christopher Palmer)
Artists
City of Birmingham Symphony OrchestraConductor
Mirga Grazinyte-TylaAbout
Sound/Video
Paused
-
1Edward Elgar - Sospiri Op 70
-
2Benjamin Britten - Sinfonia da requiem - I Lacrymosa
-
3Benjamin Britten - Sinfonia da requiem - II Dies Irae
-
4Benjamin Britten - Sinfonia da requiem - III Requiem Aeternam
-
5William Walton - Troilus and Cressida - Symphonic Suite - I The Trojans
-
6William Walton - Troilus and Cressida - Symphonic Suite - II Scherzo
-
7William Walton - Troilus and Cressida - Symphonic Suite - III The Lovers
-
8William Walton - Troilus and Cressida - Symphonic Suite - IV Finale
-
9Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis - I Largo sostenuto
-
10Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis - II Poco piu animato
-
11Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis - III Tempo del principo
Europadisc Review
In all her performances, Gražinytė-Tyla combines expressive depth with an infectious sense of animation, and those qualities are much in evidence here. The disc opens with a searching account of Elgar’s Sospiri (1914), an Adagio for strings, harp and harmonium (or organ), with dynamic shading minutely observed, but which has an inexorable momentum thanks to the way in which the wide leaps of the ‘sighing’ motifs are shaped by conductor and players. The work was premiered just weeks into World War I, and there’s a palpable sense of unease here as the world seems to stand on the brink.
A similar feeling, greatly magnified, haunts Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem (1940), written while the pacifist composer was in America, partly in response to the death of his mother, but also against the backdrop of the increasingly bleak international situation. It was supposed to fulfil a commission for the 2600th anniversary of the ruling Japanese imperial dynasty, but was deemed inappropriate by the Japanese authorities, and instead was premiered by the New York Philharmonic under Barbirolli. It has since been recognised as among the greatest of Britten’s orchestral works, and in this account, recorded in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie in October 2019, it receives a performance worthy of its stature.
Starting with thunderous timpani strokes, the bleak ‘Lacrymosa’ opening movement settles into an uneasy rocking motion, and Gražinytė-Tyla expertly maintains the underlying pulse while drawing playing of remarkable intensity from her musicians. The fierce, galloping Dance of Death in the central ‘Dies irae’ is an astonishing example of collective virtuosity, and its final disintegration has rarely sounded so powerful, while the gentle ebb and flow of the concluding ‘Requiem aeternam’ with its densely-clustered harmonies has a marvellous feeling of acceptance to it, as the D minor demons of the preceding movements are resolved in a consolatory D major. This is a work that has enjoyed many fine performances on disc, but for its combination of sonic and technical brilliance with sure pacing and intense musicality this one really stands out from the crowd.
Walton’s opera Troilus and Cressida (1954) has had its detractors over the years, partly on account of its unwieldy libretto, partly its somewhat backward-looking late-Romantic musical style, but Christopher Palmer’s 1988 four-movement Symphonic Suite drawn from the opera’s score dispenses with the first problem while making the strongest possible for the music itself. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla is evidently a believer when it comes to this music, and she brings out all the work’s Romantic lushness, even summoning up echoes of early Stravinsky. This is a brilliantly evocative performance, from the opening invocation to Athena and birth of Aphrodite, through the graceful sweep of the Scherzo (with some divine violin and cello solos), and the impassioned portrait of the titular lovers (ravishingly scored!), to the brooding opening and sweeping conclusion of the Finale. With first-class instrumental solos and a dynamic range to match the luxuriance of Walton’s scoring, this performance makes the strongest possible case for the Troilus music, and it’s no surprise that Gražinytė-Tyla declares ‘I dream about conducting the whole opera’.
Finally comes Vaughan Williams’s much-loved Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910), his first work of unmistakable stamp, a kind of communing between past, present and future, made spatial through the deployment of three groups of strings (main body, smaller chamber section and solo quartet). A sense of space is essential to this music, and Birmingham’s Symphony Hall proves ideal. Gražinytė-Tyla revels in the music’s timbral contrasts and shifting perspectives, while the CBSO strings have never sounded more radiant. And yet, with a total timing of 15 minutes, the underlying momentum once again never flags, offering space without any feeling of inertia. For lovers of British music, it doesn’t get any better than this, and DG’s team have done a magnificent job in capturing the artistry of this outstanding artistic partnership.
Error on this page? Let us know here
Need more information on this product? Click here