More "what next after GG?"

[Alun Severn <alun@ukiah.demon.co.uk>]

Dear All,

Following recent discussions about what List members listen to after GG,
I'd like to put in a plea for a handful of essential, beautiful, sometimes
challenging Tippett pieces which I think will appeal to folks out there in
Glenngouldland. (Actually, I like that and shall henceforth address this
List as Glenngouldland.)

        - His DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR STRING ORCHESTRA written just
        before (?) the  second world war throbs with echoes of
        the baroque, pulses with syncopation, beautiful swelling music.
        Not dischordant, but intense, yes. Truly lovely. And the
        hushed, melancholy and almost unbelievably beautiful adagio
        is stunning.

        - LITTLE MUSIC FOR STRINGS -- four linked movements,
        prelude, fugue, air, finale. Radiant, singing lines built
        on a baroque bass-ground, reminiscent of Purcell and also
        Britten's experiments with the baroque. Just over ten
        minutes of bliss.

        - FANTASIA CONCERTANTE ON A THEME OF CORELLI, a homage
        to Italian baroque.

These three seminal Tippett works add up to just fifty minutes or so. If
you want to sample a fine recording, try William Boughton and the English
String Orchestra on Nimbus, a wonderful digital recording from 1995,
recorded in the Great Hall, Birmingham University; Dorchester Abbey,
Oxfordshire; and St John's College, Cambridge.

It isn't late spikey Tippett; but Tippett never wrote a shallow or easy
work, I don't think. The catg. number, BTW, is: NI 7026.

This disc couples the string music with a couple of odder things: FIVE
NEGRO SPIRITUALS from A Child of Our Time, one of Tippett's nutty operas --
though the spirituals are just that: rather lovely; and a seven minutes
EVENING CANTICLES.

Anyone out there want to support my case for this "alternative to GG"?

Very best,  Alun

-------------------------------------------------------------------
                 o  Home                     1 Chestnut Rd  Oldbury
                                        W.Midlands  B68 0AX England
ALUN SEVERN                                      tel: 0121 422 9509
                                      email: alun@ukiah.demon.co.uk
                 o  Work      tel 0121 643 4343 + fax 0121 643 0661
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Solitude is the prerequisite for ecstatic experience..."
                                                      - Glenn Gould
-------------------------------------------------------------------