2011, Music

Essential Delius (2011) by Various Artists

This is a compilation and so we have to treat it with a bit of skepticism. But it does contain most of the major orchestral works of his, and so it does offer a good intro, even the performances aren’t exactly standardized.

I remain slightly reticent to get into Frederick Delius and I can’t exactly say why. But I think if I do find my way into his music and enjoy it as much as I think I’m supposed to, it will likely be through this. But that will no doubt take some time.

7/10

On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring

This is a pretty sounding but pretty standard late Romantic tone poem. It’s adapted from a Norwegian folk song and features instruments (sort of) imitating birds. “Idyll” is a good word to describe it. Earlier I wrote:

This piece is just oozing with Romantic lushness. It’s very pretty but it’s also so damn typical of the British music of its era. I feel like we’re supposed to be swept away by the image of a spring day on some estate in England somewhere; the rain has stopped, the sun is out and we don’t have any work to do because we’re the idle rich. So, in that sense, it’s effective. But should we really celebrate stuff that is so of a moment? I’d much prefer to listen to something that lets us know there’s an arms race on and that is fearful of the future.

Summer Night on the River

This mood piece does an excellent job of conjuring a lazy float down a slow river at night in the summer, or walking by it. But unlike some of Delius’ other pieces, there is mystery here. And I like that.

“A Walk to the Paradise Garden”

This is actually an excerpt from his opera that has been performed on its own because of its popularity. I understand why. It has an immense, lush sound that conjures romance with just a little bit of tension. It’s not really my thing (and I generally hate excerpts) but I appreciate the craft even if I would prefer to listen to the whole opera to see how that is. (I don’t know that I actually want to listen to a Delius opera on the other hand…)

A Song Before Sunrise

Another typically lush tone poem from Delius. Is this all he does? This kind of romance with a title like this makes me wonder if it’s about sex before the sun comes up, or if it’s merely about staying up really late to await the sunrise. Either way, I feel like this is a little too idyllic given that there was a war on.

“La Calinda” from Koanga

As far as I can figure, this is the only part of this opera that has remained in the repertoire. It’s easy to see why it’s stayed popular. At the time, it was likely one of the earlier “Latin” pieces to appear in English music, and the melody is agreeable. I don’t like excerpts, but as they go, I guess this is pretty decent.

Three Small Tone Poems – ‘Summer Evening’ and ‘Sleigh Ride’

“Summer Evening” is pleasant idyll of the kind that Delius seems to have been able to write so effortlessly. Honestly, he’s got tons of these. It’s pretty, it does a good job of conjuring a mood specific to the idle rich of England of the Victorian era. It works. I don’t love it, but it works.

“Sleigh Ride” is Delius’ most famous piece of music, at least to my ears. I have heard it more times than I can count, and I can’t say the same for anything else of his I’ve heard. It’s justly famous as its opening is just about the jauntiest thing ever written. Look up “jaunty” on wikipedia and they should have an audio recording of the first 30 seconds. It’s one of Delius’ best pieces. It conveys the alternate feelings of joy and serenity that likely came from careening through the snow on a sleigh, something that still rather new for some people at this point I assume.

This collection omitted the third poem, “Spring Morning” because why not?

“Intermezzo” from Fennimore und Gerda

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with an intermezzo extracted from an opera. It’s pleasant enough, I guess. And I guess it fits in with this disc I found it on, but on its own there’s nothing to recommend it.

“Prelude” from Irmelin

This prelude for one of Delius’ early operas doesn’t do much to make me want to listen to the rest of the opera. It sounds at turns idyllic and mournful but I don’t really hear drama. Maybe the opera is good, but listening to this prelude, all I hear is “high Romantic.”

Paris: the Song of a Great City

This has so much more life to it than so much of Delius’ work. Honestly, you’d wonder if it’s by the same composer of some of his super lush idylls that just wash over you with “isn’t this pleasant.” Maybe my favourite thing by him.

In a Summer Garden

This fantasy is very typical of Delius. It’s got may be a little more energy than some of his more idyllic tone poems, but it is almost insufferably pleasant. That’s not to say it’s bad, it’s just not my thing and it doesn’t help that I have listened to it part way through a comp which is just an onslaught of this stuff.

“Intermezzo” from Hassan

Another intermezzo listened to out of context. Not only is it out of context, it’s incredibly brief. Don’t know what I’m supposed to make of it, frankly.

A Song of Summer

At this point it’s the 1930s and Delius is still doing his thing. This particular piece has substantially more mystery than most, but it still has that idyllic quality that Delius loved to point of seeming exclusion of everything else. It feels as though this is just what he does and he doesn’t really want to do anything else. (I say that having only heard about 20 works of his, all for orchestra and nearly all on the briefer side.)

Look, there’s nothing inherently wrong with music like this, but this is music that doesn’t challenge the listener in any way. Moreover, it feels completely of a different time, the Victorian era. I’m living through the worst economic depression the world has seen and I’m supposed to find solace in this nostalgia? (In fairness, he began it during World War I… That’s a joke, that.)

To be sung of a summer night on the water

This is a pleasant, brief choral piece that feels a little more ethereal than his usual stuff that tries to conjure summers in the English countryside. It belongs in a film. Well, the first part does. The second part is maybe a little too noodly.

Late Swallows [adapted from his third String Quartet]

Presumably this is adapted from a movement of the string quartet and not the whole thing. Anyway, it’s typical Delius and it makes me think that the quartet may be boring. Of course, this would be the slow movement, but still. Not mournful enough for me and once again just over-infused with that pastoral quality of his that just seems to permeate (nearly) everything he wrote.

There are hints of life here and there, but not enough.

Dance Rhapsody No. 2

This is quite the “dance” and seemingly much more of a rhapsody I think. It’s a sprightly thing with some surprises in addition to the usual lyricism overdose. I like it more than some of his other stuff. Still very Delius.

Cynara

This was supposed to included in a set of songs but was abandoned because he thought it didn’t fit with the other music. Basically it’s Delius’ usual pastoral shtick plus a baritone voice. It’s a little more interesting than that, actually, but it’s still very much the usual stuff for him.

Brigg Fair: An English Rhapsody

I think Delius worked best when he had good inspiration. Too often his inspiration was just “pleasant summer (or spring) feeling” and so the listener is left with an idyll for a time they never knew except from watching stuffy English period dramas. (Really, every British chamber drama set in the late Victorian age should be set to Delius.)

But when the inspiration is a city, Delius comes alive. And it’s true here, too, where the inspiration is a folk song and its choral arrangement by Percy Grainger. The opening is typical pastoral Delius, but with much more mystery than he can usually conjure. But the piece builds with momentum as he runs through the variations and we get excitement and joy and things one does not normally associate with Delius.

It’s not earth-shattering, but it’s a lot better than some of his “pleasant” tone poems.

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