the rix mix

Frederick Delius: Orchestral Works. Tasmin Little (violin); Welsh National Opera Orchestra / Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. Argo.

Concerto for violin and orchestra.
Two Aquarelles.
On hearing the first cuckoo in Spring.
Summer Night on the River.
Intermezzo from Fennimore and Gerda.
Irmelin Prelude.
Dance Rhapsodies—No. I; No. 2.

Tasmin Little opened the door to Delius for me. I liked the idea of a Frederick Delius more than the reality: English composer born in 1862 of German immigrant parents; managed his father's grapefruit farm in Florida, where he paid attention to African-American music ( & caught the syphillis that later crippled & blinded him), also resided in Virginia & New York; studied music composition in Germany; settled for life in France with his wife. His music has British folk, a touch of Americana, German late-Romanticism, filtered through a kind of French Impressionism, but a style apart. No one knew where he fit. It didn't concern him, he fit himself fine. Was he born a few years too soon? I was never excited by his most famous instrumental pieces, two of them on this album, "Cuckoo" & "Summer Night." Too descriptive, dreamy & picturesque. I paid no attention to him, although he has very vocal supporters. Recently, I happened to read that the Delius violin concerto is unlike any other, & a Brit violinist named Tasmin Little really knew how to perform Delius, a specialty. Music that isn't about anything outside itself.

The Concerto is different, one movement about 25 minutes, fiddle playing continously from start to finish in what sounds at first like a long, long stream of unrepeating melody. But it does reveal a form after a few listenings. The work requires virtuosity without brightly spotlighting it. The orchestral part fascinates me, it's unlike anything I've heard before & I can't figure out why. The winds & strings play together & separately, always in concert with the violin, occasionally picking up the melody but rarely sounding like it's just accompaniment. For no reason I could point to, the orchestra made me think of The Pied Pipers, a versatile vocal group from the 1940's that could do songs as a harmony group, with a solo singer out front, or combination of the two.

Because of the Concerto & Tasmin Little, I enjoyed the remainder of the album, particularly the two dance rhapsodies. I have some nifty small orchestra Brahms symphonies conducted by MacKerras, I think he likes this music. There must be a 100 good professional orchestras in the British Isles. I wonder if musicians play in three or four of them & they're always racing from gig to gig. But I suppose that's where the TV taxes go. The first time the music of Delius has provided listening pleasure. Always fun to get a composer I've ignored.

Labels: music