[Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) is profiled at AfriClassical.com,
which features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography by Prof.
Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.
We
are collaborating with the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation of the
U.K., www.SCTF.org.uk]
Monday 5 August 2013
Andrew Clements
Andrew Clements
Each year the Three Choirs festival
tries to include a major work that has become unfashionable and fallen
out of the regular choral repertory. Last year at Hereford it was George
Dyson's The Canterbury Pilgrims; this time in Gloucester it was the work that made Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's name, The Song of Hiawatha.
Between
the two world wars, Coleridge-Taylor's cantata-trilogy was so popular
that each year the Royal Albert Hall devoted a fortnight to
semi-stagings conducted by Malcolm Sargent, complete with costumes,
scenery and involving up to 1,000 performers. Nowadays even the first
part, Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, is rarely heard, so the complete
performance in Gloucester cathedral with Peter Nardone conducting the
Festival Chorus, the Philharmonia and soloists Hye-Youn Lee, Robin
Tritschler and Benedict Nelson was a brave attempt at rehabilitation.
No comments:
Post a Comment