Various Composers - Scottish Overtures [Gibson-Scottish National Orchestra]
Here's a clever little recital of lesser known works, all around a Scottish theme, it's a nice disc to own as it hardly duplicates much in your collection, shame that it only has fifty minutes of music though, a couple more Overtures wouldn't have gone amiss, i enjoyed all of the music on this disc, appeared in my Blog over four years ago [8th January 2011].
This disc was recorded in 1981, an early Chandos release, and the front cover photograph [by Derek Forss] shows two red highland cows on the Isle Of Skye, the lettering is skillfully placed, and the different fonts and symmetry of it all is really pleasing to the eye.
Well on this listen i enjoyed so many things, it was good to hear the Berlioz / Waverley Overture again, not something i'm greatly familiar with, and i want to get to know it better, also Arnold's Tam O'Shanter is a riot of cacophony at times, sounds like he had fun composing that one, but the best piece was Mendelssohn / Hebrides Overture, and probably the best known / popular on this disc also, i haven't heard it for a while, i got to know it early in my love for Classical music, and it's such a wonderful piece, it's so good to hear it again today,
Here's my feeling on the Mendelssohn / Hebrides Overture, it has a rise and fall motif on lower strings at the beginning, complemented by the same motif on the violins, inspired by a visit to Fingal's cave, it's a cave which is flooded on the floor, but is a huge cathedral like structure, and has excellent acoustics, you can feel the vastness of the ocean on the Hebridean coast, and it's solitariness also, the Overture is full of romantic sweeps, of course the music has angry episodes too [3:03-3:41], where the brass come to the fore, there's a march like central episode [5:46+], which builds up into some excellent string work [6:18+], but the opening motif is never far away, towards the end the music becomes nostalgic, the clarinet has a lovely solo [7:41-8:26], before the frenzy of the whole thing takes off [8:42+], furiously driven strings, and resplendent brass, and right at the end the open motif is played gently by woodwind / flutes [9:59-10:10].
Here's Gardiner conducting this Overture on YouTube.
This disc was recorded in 1981, an early Chandos release, and the front cover photograph [by Derek Forss] shows two red highland cows on the Isle Of Skye, the lettering is skillfully placed, and the different fonts and symmetry of it all is really pleasing to the eye.
Well on this listen i enjoyed so many things, it was good to hear the Berlioz / Waverley Overture again, not something i'm greatly familiar with, and i want to get to know it better, also Arnold's Tam O'Shanter is a riot of cacophony at times, sounds like he had fun composing that one, but the best piece was Mendelssohn / Hebrides Overture, and probably the best known / popular on this disc also, i haven't heard it for a while, i got to know it early in my love for Classical music, and it's such a wonderful piece, it's so good to hear it again today,
Here's my feeling on the Mendelssohn / Hebrides Overture, it has a rise and fall motif on lower strings at the beginning, complemented by the same motif on the violins, inspired by a visit to Fingal's cave, it's a cave which is flooded on the floor, but is a huge cathedral like structure, and has excellent acoustics, you can feel the vastness of the ocean on the Hebridean coast, and it's solitariness also, the Overture is full of romantic sweeps, of course the music has angry episodes too [3:03-3:41], where the brass come to the fore, there's a march like central episode [5:46+], which builds up into some excellent string work [6:18+], but the opening motif is never far away, towards the end the music becomes nostalgic, the clarinet has a lovely solo [7:41-8:26], before the frenzy of the whole thing takes off [8:42+], furiously driven strings, and resplendent brass, and right at the end the open motif is played gently by woodwind / flutes [9:59-10:10].
Here's Gardiner conducting this Overture on YouTube.
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