piece of music listened to far too often in the last few days (and recommended) would have to be the 2nd symphony of _Rutland Boughton_ (British, 1878-1960), nicknamed (the symphony, not the composer) "Deirdre, a Celtic Symphony", probably originally a ballet score or possibly incidental music for the play "Deirdre of the Sorrows" (even more likely!!) by J. M. Synge. (Havergal Brian, another favorite British 20th-century semi-modern of mine, also wrote music for that play but, running into copyright troubles, collected what would have been the some of incidental music- the overture, I think, a substantial, strange and interesting work- into what turned into his 6th symphony, instead.)
The "Deirdre" symphony - I should get back to this since I have things to do tomorrow. It's eerie how it takes digressions, divagations, paths aside... but ... ... gets where it's going... and ... the more I hear it? The more I hear that it was never in any doubt that it was going there. That there was always that current, always that feeling - especially in the long last movement of the symphony (titled "Young and Death"!)- that those shattering final chords were going to come.
(And not the least... and not the only... lovely thing about this symphony by a "very British" composer is how the first of the three movements begins quietly, delicately, with a twisty and lovely tune passed around the orchestra... how that movement encompasses a whole range of moods, some tunes resembling popular shanties and loud ones too :)... (this is rather a sea symphony, and "Deirdre of the Shallows" I do think ends up drowned...)
but that opening movement (The Young Girl: The Old King or the Young Lover) manages still to end in quiet mystery, midflight, midair... then the middle movement (Moonlight Idyll: Deirdre and Naisi) stays in the shadows mostly, as though having some quiet fun in the waves... until a threatening foghorn announces trouble and not without reason (the piece isn't really as point-by-point descriptive of the play as all that- I think- pieces which are like that, like some of those by Hector Berlioz, _not_ being high on my "list")-
I think the opening "harmony" of the finale, like one Elgar uses in a piece of his, is something like this (not these exact notes)- c (held) - f (held) - Bflat (held) - Eflat ... not so much a harmony as a call to "wth?" especially after a mostly _very_ quiet 7 minutes preceding...
again, that the 17 minute finale manages to hold focus despite, well, as many digressions as my own writing (erf) if not even more, says something about the composer's skill... and I think I'll leave that there. Unfortunately the only recording is (of course) out of print- his other two symphonies are available (... well, I think. Symphony 3 is on Hyperion's budget label Helios, symphony 1 is about to be released. Maybe no. 2 will be re-recorded, or the recording I adore so *g*, (Sir) Edward Downes conducting the BBC Philharmonic, might be reissued... who knows.)
Your patients are appreciated, says the doctor on the referral. Nighters! And if you do hear any of this music in here or in stash, or etc., (or etc. or etc., or general conversation continued from there...) good to talk about such things (again, not just this.) Best!
