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SOMM Recordings

Bliss: The Composer Conducts

$29.99

Details

Composer
Sir Arthur Bliss
Artist
John Ogdon, Cyril Smith, Donald Douglas, BBC Chorus and Choral Society, Alexandra Choir, Croydon Phi
Format
CD
Label
SOMM Recordings
Released
Jul 04, 2025
Catalog #
ARIADNE 5039-2
UPC
758871503921

About

Sir Arthur Bliss (1891 - 1975) was an excellent conductor of his own music, but he sadly made only a limited number of commercial recordings. SOMM celebrates the 50th anniversary of Bliss's death with a 2-CD set of important archive performances, all but two of which he didn't record commercially, making them of particular interest. These live performances, mostly recorded at the BBC Proms and not previously made available, are skilfully remastered by long-time SOMM collaborator and executive producer, Lani Spahr, whose recent 6-volume "Bruckner from the Archives" received no less than two Editor's Choices from Gramophone magazine. At the invitation of Edward Elgar, Bliss wrote a new work for the Three Choirs Festival in 1920. He was inspired by a book on heraldry to compose a full-scale symphony incorporating symbolic meanings associated with primary colours. Hence, the four movements of A Colour Symphony are Purple, Red, Blue, and Green. The performance issued here is with Bliss conducting his 70th birthday concert at the Proms in 1961. For his 75th birthday concert at the Proms in 1966, Bliss conducted his Piano Concerto, commissioned by the British Council in 1939. Following this birthday concert, Bliss wrote that he felt "indeed positively youthful; perhaps that rejuvenation was accentuated by the exuberantly fine performance that John Ogdon gave of my Piano Concerto." That "exuberantly fine performance," along with Bliss's brief speech of thanks, are included in this set. Bliss and his younger brother served during World War I, and Kennard was killed at the Battle of the Somme. In 1930, haunted by nightmares of the war and grief about his brother, Bliss composed Morning Heroes, dedicating it "to the memory of my brother Francis Kennard Bliss and all other comrades killed in battle." The work is a symphony for orator, chorus, and orchestra, with poetry ranging from The Iliad to Walt Whitman and Wilfred Owen. Lady Bliss considered the pre-eminent orator of this work to be Donald Douglas, featured here with Bliss in 1968-surprisingly, the only performance to date of Morning Heroes at the Proms. The much-revised Concerto for Two Pianos is presented in a version for two pianos and three hands, which Bliss arranged after Cyril Smith suffered a stroke that paralysed his left arm. This performance with Bliss leading Cyril Smith, Phyllis Sellick, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra is from the 1969 Proms. Two shorter works complete this Bliss anniversary tribute. Mêlee Fantasque from 1921, influenced by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, is a precursor to many ballet scores Bliss would produce. The Phoenix, subtitled "Homage to France August 1944," is noted in the score as symbolizing "the imperishable life and the transcendent beauty of France." The extraordinarily vast repertoire of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau over his 45-year career comprised lieder, operas, cantatas, and oratorios. He sang these in German, Italian, French, Russian, English, Hebrew, Hungarian, and Latin, from eras that spanned the Baroque to the latter part of the 20th century. Particularly, it was the controlled power and beauty of his voice, and the dramatic intensity and poetry of his interpretations, that led him to excel in the genre of German lieder. In this form he exerted a virtually unprecedented stylistic and interpretative influence-not only on the musical world of his day, but also on generations of performers to come. SOMM's centenary tribute opens with four songs by Ferruccio Busoni, all being works that were written late in the composer's career. They come from a programme that Fischer-Dieskau gave with Gerald Moore in 1962.  At the 1971 Helsinki Festival, Fischer-Dieskau presented a recital with Irwin Gage, which was devoted entirely to songs with texts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The recital, described by a contemporary critic as "a landmark event," featured compositions by contemporaries of Goethe, who lived from 1749 to 1832, such as the Countess Anna Amalia, Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Reichardt, and Goethe's friend Carl Friedrich Zelter. The more familiar composers represented on this Goethe-inspired recital were active during the first part of the 20th century. They include Richard Strauss, Max Reger, and Ferruccio Busoni. This tribute to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau also includes six songs from a programme of works by Gustav Mahler, which was presented with his long-time collaborator, Karl Engel. Three of the songs are from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, based on texts of German folk poems, and three are from the collection of five Ruckert-Lieder, after poems written by Friedrich Ruckert. The musical component of this collection closes with a concert performance of three songs by Zoltan Kodaly, sung in Hungarian by Fischer-Dieskau. The composer proves himself an outstanding interpreter of his own music in conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. In the two interviews included on the bonus CD, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau discusses his early years, his teachers, the development of his career, and a small but revealing cross-section of his enormous repertoire.

Tracklist 18 tracks

  1. Disc 1
  2. 1 I. Purple: Andante maestoso 06:12
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Purple: Andante maestoso
    Duration
    06:12
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  3. 2 II. Red: Allegro vivace 07:21
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Red: Allegro vivace
    Duration
    07:21
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  4. 3 III. Blue: Gently flowing 09:37
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Blue: Gently flowing
    Duration
    09:37
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  5. 4 IV. Green: Moderato 08:22
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Green: Moderato
    Duration
    08:22
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  6. 5 I. Allegro con brio 16:22
    Track
    5
    Title
    I. Allegro con brio
    Duration
    16:22
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Performer
    John Ogdon
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  7. 6 II. Adagietto 09:14
    Track
    6
    Title
    II. Adagietto
    Duration
    09:14
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  8. 7 III. Andante maestoso - Molto vivo 11:32
    Track
    7
    Title
    III. Andante maestoso - Molto vivo
    Duration
    11:32
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  9. 8 Sir Arthur Bliss speaks after a birthday presentation 00:48
    Track
    8
    Title
    Sir Arthur Bliss speaks after a birthday presentation
    Duration
    00:48
    Composer
    na Not Applicable
    Performer
    Arthur Bliss
  10. 9 March, F. 94, "The Phoenix" 07:13
    Track
    9
    Title
    March, F. 94, "The Phoenix"
    Duration
    07:13
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  11. Disc 2
  12. 1 I. Hector's Farewell to Andromache 11:42
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Hector's Farewell to Andromache
    Duration
    11:42
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Ensemble
    The Alexandra Choir, BBC Chorus, Croydon Philharmonic Society, BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  13. 2 II. The City Arming 10:59
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. The City Arming
    Duration
    10:59
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Ensemble
    The Alexandra Choir, BBC Chorus, Croydon Philharmonic Society, BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  14. 3 IIIa. Vigil - IIIb. The Bivouac's Flame 12:22
    Track
    3
    Title
    IIIa. Vigil - IIIb. The Bivouac's Flame
    Duration
    12:22
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Ensemble
    The Alexandra Choir, BBC Chorus, Croydon Philharmonic Society, BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  15. 4 IVa. Achilles Goes to Battle - IVb. The Heroes 08:14
    Track
    4
    Title
    IVa. Achilles Goes to Battle - IVb. The Heroes
    Duration
    08:14
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Ensemble
    The Alexandra Choir, BBC Chorus, Croydon Philharmonic Society, BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  16. 5 Va. Now, Trumpeter, For Thy Close - Vb. Spring Offensive - Vc. Dawn on the Somme 11:37
    Track
    5
    Title
    Va. Now, Trumpeter, For Thy Close - Vb. Spring Offensive - Vc. Dawn on the Somme
    Duration
    11:37
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Ensemble
    The Alexandra Choir, BBC Chorus, Croydon Philharmonic Society, BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  17. 6 Allegro giusto - 04:23
    Track
    6
    Title
    Allegro giusto -
    Duration
    04:23
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Performer
    Cyril Smith, Phyllis Sellick
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  18. 7 Larghetto tranquillo - 03:11
    Track
    7
    Title
    Larghetto tranquillo -
    Duration
    03:11
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Performer
    Cyril Smith, Phyllis Sellick
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  19. 8 Allegro 04:44
    Track
    8
    Title
    Allegro
    Duration
    04:44
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Performer
    Cyril Smith, Phyllis Sellick
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss
  20. 9 Mêlée fantasque, F. 119 11:50
    Track
    9
    Title
    Mêlée fantasque, F. 119
    Duration
    11:50
    Composer
    Arthur Bliss
    Ensemble
    BBC Northern Orchestra
    Conductor
    Arthur Bliss