Richard Hickox, City of London Sinfonia - Alwyn: Autumn Legend, Pastoral Fantasia, Tragic Interlude, Lyra Angelica (1992)
Richard Hickox, City of London Sinfonia - William Alwyn: Autumn Legend, Pastoral Fantasia, Tragic Interlude, Lyra Angelica (1992)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 252 Mb | Total time: 63:51 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 9065 | Recorded: 1991
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 252 Mb | Total time: 63:51 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 9065 | Recorded: 1991
William Alwyn valued his Lyra Angelica concerto for harp above all his other music, and it is indeed very beautiful. It was premiered at the first night of the 1954 Proms and, not surprisingly, made an immediate impression. The work is inspired by stanzas written in the seventeenth century by the English metaphysical poet, Giles Fletcher, and Alwyn prefaces each of the movements with a line from his poem, ''Christ's Victorie and Triumph''. The music opens mistily and then a wondrous tune appears, like a carol, and it almost fits the words of the first quotation, ''I looke for angels' songs, and hear Him crie''. This glorious theme dominates the work through the first three movements, which are essentially reflective and then blossoms even more gloriously in the jubilant finale: ''How can such joy as this want words to speake?''. Alwyn is a master of texture as well as form and the textures here, delicately embroidered by the solo harp, are harmonically rich, and the effect on the listener is very moving. The concerto is played with a real feeling for the music's rapture, and the expansive recorded sound, with rich string timbres and a perfect balance with the solo harp is very fine indeed.
The score of the Pastoral fantasia for viola and strings had been lost for half a century and was only recently rediscovered. It was written in 1939 and looks back nostalgically to a more peaceful England. The music opens like Delius, but the entry of the viola brings an immediate affinity with Vaughan Williams as the solo viola begins in rhapsodic soliloquy. There is a momentary but very tangible hint of Sibelius (1'57'') and then the viola line floats free and one is reminded of The lark ascending, only Alwyn's lark is more troubled and does not soar quite so high. The Tragic Interlude dates from 1936 when the composer's foreboding of the imminence of the war brought an eloquent protest at the waste of life. The piece opens passionately and gathers momentum, but after its climax, disolves into a moving elegaic threnody. The Autumn Legend is much later (1954). It has a particularly lovely opening, with shafts of sunlight on the strings piercing the clouds, and the music's disconsolate manner has an underlying romantic feeling, rather than conveying pessimism. Yet the dark-hued cor anglais line has a pervading melancholy and has much in common with Sibelius's Swan of Tuonela, although the writing is more animated. It is a fine if ambivalent piece, and Nicholas Daniel, the soloist, captures its mood persuasively, while Richard Hickox shows himself in complete affinity with Alwyn's world, which may be eclectic in influences, but has strong individuality too. The Chandos recording is outstandingly fine.–Ivan March
Performer:
Rachel Masters, harp (4-7)
Nicholas Daniel, cor anglais (1)
Srephen Tees, viola (2)
City of London Sinfonia
Richard Hickox, conductor
Tracklist:
William Alwyn (1905-1985)
01. Autumn Legend: Molto moderato
02. Pastoral Fantasia: Moderato
03. Tragic Interlude: Adagio, marcato e appassionata
Lyra Angelica
04. I. Adagio
05. II. Adagio, ma non troppo
06. III. Moderato
07. IV. Allegro jubiloso
Exact Audio Copy V1.6 from 23. October 2020
EAC extraction logfile from 23. January 2024, 9:34
Alwyn - Hickox / Autumn Legend, Pastoral Fantasia, Tragic Interlude, Lyra Angelica
Used drive : ATAPI iHAS122 F Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" -T "BAND=%albuminterpret%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %haslyrics%–tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" %hascover%–picture="%coverfile%"%hascover% %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 11:57.65 | 0 | 53839
2 | 11:57.65 | 13:06.02 | 53840 | 112791
3 | 25:03.67 | 8:22.63 | 112792 | 150504
4 | 33:26.55 | 8:06.35 | 150505 | 186989
5 | 41:33.15 | 7:09.10 | 186990 | 219174
6 | 48:42.25 | 8:43.37 | 219175 | 258436
7 | 57:25.62 | 6:26.13 | 258437 | 287399
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename G:\Tubarec rips\Alwyn - Hickox - Autumn Legend, Pastoral Fantasia, Tragic Interlude, Lyra Angelica.wav
Peak level 93.3 %
Extraction speed 8.6 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 91209724
Copy CRC 91209724
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [34DBE7C7] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [AC4457E7] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [3ECEC7F2] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 6) [2DA3573F] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [B46DEB28] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [82D513BA] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 7) [7061EAF2] (AR v2)
All tracks accurately ripped
End of status report
–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6
[CTDB TOCID: 8hUgyTLLm4xv8.EQbZTpttI9Fq8-] found
Submit result: 8hUgyTLLm4xv8.EQbZTpttI9Fq8- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (27/27) Accurately ripped
2 | (27/27) Accurately ripped
3 | (27/27) Accurately ripped
4 | (27/27) Accurately ripped
5 | (27/27) Accurately ripped
6 | (27/27) Accurately ripped
7 | (27/27) Accurately ripped
==== Log checksum A0AA0F0BF86658B203FEB754CCCDD6B2B4625D218FB8DB41E29A42F50E87EDE6 ====
Richard Hickox, City of London Sinfonia - Alwyn: Autumn Legend, Pastoral Fantasia, Tragic Interlude, Lyra Angelica (1992)
Thanks to the original releaser