This week on “Picture Perfect,” with the arrival of spring, we travel to “England’s green and pleasant land” for an hour of documentary music. The playlist will include scores by some of the country’s most respected composers.
We’ll hear selections by Ralph Vaughan Williams, from “The People’s Land” (1941), Benjamin Britten, from “The King’s Stamp” (1935), William Alwyn, from “The Green Girdle” (1941), and Master of the Queen’s Music, Sir Arthur Bliss, from “The Royal Palaces of Britain” (1966). All four films are patriotic utterances on distinctly English themes.
Historically, in the United States, writing music for the movies has often been regarded as “hack work,” but overseas it has been accepted as just another aspect of what it means to be a working artist. There is no disgrace in a composer earning a living, and some of the nation’s greatest musicians – including those in the employ of the Royal Family – have contributed finely-crafted scores to its body of cinema.
You may not have seen any of these shorts, but the music sure is beautiful. I hope you’ll join me for music from English documentaries, on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX Classical Oregon!
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Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
https://kwax.uoregon.edu
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In the meantime, if you’re having a slow day, why not get a taste of the films themselves?
“The People’s Land,” score by Vaughan Williams:
https://film.britishcouncil.org/resources/film-archive/the-peoples-land
“The King’s Stamp,” score by Benjamin Britten:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x21r04k
“The Green Girdle,” score by William Alwyn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOlnnshTsvQ
Tag: Benjamin Britten
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Spring Into Documentary Music from England’s Green and Pleasant Land
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Poulenc and Britten/Britain
I had difficulty accessing my website this morning, from whence I’ve been sending my posts of late. So I’ll save what I wrote for tomorrow, perhaps, lest nobody see it. In its place, here’s a quick acknowledgment of Francis Poulenc’s birthday, by way of a photo of the composer, flanked by tenor Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten.
Britten and Poulenc were friends and knew one another quite well. I read a charming anecdote somewhere that Britten and Pears were present at a recording session of Pierre Bernac singing Poulenc’s songs, and that Britten himself turned the pages – but now I can’t remember where I read it!
Britten did turn pages for Bernac and Poulenc at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, when they performed “Le Bestiaire.” The recording at the link was made in London in 1945.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF0wjmzAZeo
Happy birthday, Francis Poulenc! -
Benjamin Luxon Cornish Baritone Dies at 87
The Cornish baritone Benjamin Luxon has died.
Luxon made more than one hundred recordings, many of them devoted to English song. One of my favorites was a recital on Chandos Records devoted to the songs of Peter Warlock. Of course, Warlock being Warlock, a percentage of those songs are about drinking and milkmaids.
As an up-and-coming singer, Luxon joined Benjamin Britten’s English Opera Group and went on to appear in a number of the composer’s productions. Britten conceived the title role of his television opera “Owen Wingrave” specifically for Luxon’s voice.
Luxon sang at Covent Garden, the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, and most of the major European houses. He also performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. In his quiver of roles were Falstaff, Wozzeck, Don Giovanni, Eugene Onegin, and Papageno.
As a recitalist, his repertoire was broad, ranging from early music to lieder to contemporary song, music hall, and folk music. With tenor Robert Tear, he worked to revive forgotten and dimly-recollected parlor songs. In recital, he was frequently accompanied by pianist David Willison.
Beginning around 1990, Luxon began to experience hearing loss. He retired from singing, but continued to appear as a reader and narrator and to give masterclasses and direct. He lived his final years in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, also home to the Tanglewood Music Center, where he had been a frequent guest.
Luxon died on Thursday at the age of 87. R.I.P.
Channeling “MacArthur Park”-era Richard Harris (but in better voice)
“Johnny, I hardly knew ya’”
Peter Warlock, “Captain Stratton’s Fancy”
As Verdi’s Falstaff (1 of 2)
Falstaff (2 of 2)
Vintage music hall
Narrating Stravinsky’s “A Soldier’s Tale” at 82
A Cornish tale
2009 radio interview
“Give Me a Ticket to Heaven”
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St Cecilia Music Playlist for Thanksgiving
Alas, it’s too late for me at this point to come up with a fresh acknowledgment of St. Cecilia on her feast day, as the holiday may as well have begun. However, you can still celebrate the patron saint of music as you get started on your Thanksgiving preparations with this evergreen playlist of Cecilia inspirations. All hail!
William Boyce, “Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day” (overture also published as Boyce’s Symphony No. 5)
Benjamin Britten, “Hymn to St. Cecilia” (Britten was born on this date)
Ernest Chausson, “La légende de Sainte Cécile”
Norman Dello Joio, “To Saint Cecilia”
Gerald Finzi, “For St. Cecilia”
Charles Gounod, “St. Cecilia Mass”
George Frideric Handel, “Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day”
Franz Joseph Haydn, “Missa Sanctae Caecilia”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhA7LEd56ts
Herbert Howells, “A Hymn for St. Cecilia” (text by Ursula Vaughan Williams)
Franz Liszt, “Hymn to St. Cecilia”
Arvo Pärt, “Cecilia, vergine romana”
Henry Purcell, “Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day (Hail! Bright Cecilia)”
Joaquin Rodrigo, “El Album de Cecilia” (written for the composer’s daughter; Rodrigo was born on this date)
Alessandro Scarlatti, “St. Cecilia Mass”
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Odyssey on the Radio This Sunday
I’d be the first to admit that some of my shows have been more like groundouts to first. But this one is a guaranteed Homer.
This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” tune in for an hour of high adventure and satisfied bloodlust, as we listen to musical evocations of “The Odyssey.”
We’ll hear Ernst Boehe’s symphonic poem “Departure and Shipwreck,” from his cycle “From Odysseus’ Voyages” (1903-05), and Benjamin Britten’s radio play “The Rescue of Penelope” (1943), narrated by Dame Janet Baker.
Odysseus, of course, is one of the heroes of the Trojan War, waylaid time and again, on his homeward journey, by Poseidon and the frailties of his own men. It takes him ten years to make his way back to Ithaca. When he gets there, he finds his wife beset by boorish suitors all vying for her hand and his throne.
What happens next pushes all the same buttons that are still pushed whenever Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger apply the camouflage, strap on the bandoliers, and sheathe the big knives. Along the way, there’s also some meaningful father-son bonding. Leave it to Homer, who always knew how to lend a little class to the classics.
Zing goes the string of Odysseus’ bow! Just as Grandma rendered in needlepoint, there’s no place like “Home Sweet Homer,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
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