Parry: Scenes from Shelley''s ''Prometheus Unbound'' Vocal & Song CHANDOS SACD

Parry: Scenes from Shelley''s ''Prometheus Unbound''

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CHSA 5317

Parry: Scenes from Shelley''s ''Prometheus Unbound''

CD UPC: 0095115531723

Release Date: September 2023
Originally recorded in September 2022

Composer
Sir Charles Hubert H. Parry

Soprano Voice (Spirit of the Hour) *
Sarah Fox

Mezzo Voice (The Earth) *
Dame Sarah Connolly

Tenor Voice (Jupiter / Mercury) *
David Butt Philip

Baritone Voice (Prometheus) *
Neal Davies

Choral
Crouch End Festival Chorus

Orchestra
London Mozart Players

Conductor
William Vann

Genre:
Vocal & Song

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SIR CHARLES HUBERT H. PARRY

premiere recording

Scenes from Shelley''s ''Prometheus Unbound'' *

61:02

Dramatic Cantata

for Soloists, Chorus, and Orchestra

Dedicated to C. Harford Lloyd, Esq.

Edited by Jeremy Dibble

Part I. Introduction

Maestoso, assai lento -

2:40

Prometheus: ''Monarch of Gods and Dæmons'',. Maestoso, ma non troppo

1:40

lento - Poco più moto -

Prometheus: ''Alas! Ah me!''. Andante con moto - Più moto -

2:51

Tempo giusto - Sostenuto - Stringendo - Allegro -

Voice from the mountains: ''Thrice three hundred thousand years''. Adagio -

2:00

Mercury: ''Awful sufferer!''. [ ] - Sostenuto - Più moto -

3:57

Molto sostenuto - Più lento -

Chorus of Furies: ''Prometheus! Immortal Titan!''. Allegro -

4:06

Con moto - Più lento -

The Earth: ''I felt thy torture, son''. Andante con moto - [ ] -

2:59

Tempo I - Andante molto sostenuto -

Chorus of Spirits: ''From unremember''d ages we''. A tempo -

4:19

Prometheus: ''How fair these airborn shapes!''. Più moto, ma poco

3:29

più sostenuto - Sostenuto - A tempo più sostenuto -

10.

Voices of Spirits: ''Life of Life!''. Andante con moto moderato -

2:53

11.

Contralto: ''Fair are others''. Meno mosso - Sostenuto ad libitum

3:37

Part II

Scene 1

12.

Allegro moderato -

4:16

Jupiter: ''Ye congregated pow''rs of heav''n''. Slower -

Poco più mosso - Poco meno mosso - Allegro [comodo] -

13.

Jupiter: ''Awful shape, what art thou?''. Maestoso -

2:27

Demogorgon: ''Eternity''. [ ] -

14.

Jupiter: ''Oh, that thou wouldst make mine enemy my judge''.

2:15

Allegro - Allegro molto - Largamente

15.

Andante -

4:30

Spirit of the Hour: ''Soon as the sound had ceased''. [ ] -

[Poco] più moto - [Più moto ma giusto] - Poco sostenuto

16.

Voices of unseen Spirits: ''The pale stars are gone!''. Allegro comodo -

7:03

Semichorus of Hours: ''The voice of the Spirits of Air and of Earth''. [ ] -

Chorus of Spirits: ''Weave the dance on the floor of the breeze''. Allegro

molto - Più allegro - Presto -

Chorus of Hours: ''Whence come ye, so wild and so fleet''.

Allegro moderato -

17.

Spirits: ''We come from the mind''. Andante - Più lento - Poco più mosso -

2:20

18.

Chorus of Spirits and Hours: ''Then weave the web of the mystic measures''.

3:33

Allegro moderato - Più moto ed accelerando -

Allegro molto [tempo giusto] - [Alla breve]

19.

Blest Pair of Sirens

9:41

in E-flat Major • in Es-Dur • en mi bémol majeur

(At a Solemn Musick)

An Ode

for Chorus and Orchestra

To Charles Villiers Stanford and the members of the Bach Choir

Allegro moderto, ma energico -

Animando - Animandosi - Più moto -

Tempo I - Meno mosso, ma non troppo lento -

Allegro - Più mosso

Total time: 70:36

Choral: Crouch End Festival Chorus

David Temple musical director

Orchestra: London Mozart Players

Simon Blendis leader

Conductor: William Vann

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Reviews

Shortlisted for Choral Award

Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2024 – Nominee

“…The performances on this disc are so confident and secure, that I was surprised to learn after my first listening about the longtime neglect of Scenes from Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound. William Vann’s direction of the London Mozart Players and the combined vocal soloists and choir give the impression of coming from a community steeped in this music, of having lived and loved it for ages…”

Néstor Castiglione – Musicwebinternatinal.com – 11 July 2024

“… If you are an enthusiast for the choral music of Elgar and Vaughan Williams, you owe it to yourself to seek this disc out.”

Henry Fogel – Fanfare – January/February 2024

“… Parry’s orchestral writing is very colourful and imaginative as it responds to Shelley’s graceful verbose text. The choral writing is incredibly powerful, the voice parts illuminating the text … The soloists are very good, especially Sarah Fox with her lovely, bell-tone … the Crouch End Festival Chorus is marvellous, a stunning combination of strong singers who listen to and blend well with each other. The London Mozart Players deliver an involving, exciting performance that makes a solid case for this work to be revived more often …”

David Reynolds – American Record Guide – January/February 2024

Critics’ Choice 2023

“..The performers bring enthusiasm and telling insights to Parry’s colourful score and remind us that this work merits its accolades as one of the first significant scores of modern British music.”

Jeremy Dibble – Gramophone magazine – December 2023

Performance **** Recording *****

"... An auspicious Promethean 'first".

Paul Riley – BBC Music magazine – November 2023

Recording of the Month

“… Sarah Connolly fulfils all expectations in an Erda-like arioso to cap the first part … David Butt Philip brings ringing heroism to Jupiter on his throne. Neal Davies’s bass is broader than in former years, and all the better suited to the kind of Wotan-size declamation demanded of him here…”

Peter Quantrill – Gramophone magazine – October 2023

Classical Album of the Week

“…Remarkably, William Vann’s recording is the first [Prometheus] and, thanks to uniformly superb performances, he makes a strong case for it…” ****

Dan Cairns – The Sunday Times – 1 October 2023

“…The performances throughout are uniformly impressive. William Vann seems to have the knack of keeping Parry's music moving without ever making us feel rushed, and as a result the Wagnerian declamation and long paragraphs really do work, whilst chorus and orchestra make the big choral moments really sing. Parry's Prometheus is full of terrific music … because what we have here is a remarkable piece of complex and highly emotional British music that looks forward to Elgar and yet stands up perfectly on its own.”

Robert Hugill – planethugill.com – 22 August 2023

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