Classical > Sullivan, Arthur (Seymour) Classical

A paradox, a paradox, that most ingenious paradox

Advantages: Piratical humour, songs, dance; A great operetta, good to see it re-released
Disadvantages: None

“Pirates of Penzance” features many of the familiar characteristics of Gilbertian plot twists. Age and time are hopelessly entangled. Logic is upended and sat rudely upon its end. Everyone loves everybody else in an unrequited fashion that is properly requited(!) at the end – and nobody gets seriously hurt. By the time this operetta opened in London in 1880, Gilbert and Sullivan were taking the world by storm and were reaching the pinnacle of their ...
...of the English comic opera and had made that medium firmly their own. This, the second of the ‘Big Five’, remains after over 120 years one of the most commonly played and is the vehicle for some of England’s finest and most stirring tunes. As well as the opera house, these themes have been heard to issue from the bandstand, the music hall, the military band and the brass band. THE PLOT The opera opens on a beach in Cornwall. Frederic has just reached ...

Newfloridian 02.04.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Sullivan: (The) Pirates of Penzance; Trial by Jury.

Fill The Bowl With Lesbian Wine

Advantages: The final flourish from Britain's best loved Classical duo.
Disadvantages: Patchy musically with some pleasant "highs"; rather weak and ponderous libretto.

Let me ask you a couple of questions. What do you know of Schikaneder and Mozart's "Die Zauberflaute"? Can you whistle any of the tunes from Paive and Verdi's "La Traviata"? When was "Orpheus Aux Enfers" by Halevy, Cremieux and Offenbach first performed? What is it that made Gilbert and Sullivan unique in the realm of classical music? It is of course immediately clear that the three named operas ("The Magic Flute", "Traviata" and "Orpheus in the ...
...the composer; the contribution of the librettist is considered to be of minor secondary importance. It is perhaps astonishing - and a testament to the dominance of his personality and the forcefulness of his position as director - that history has favoured W.S. Gilbert (Librettist) in the pole position of the duo over Arthur Sullivan (Composer). Coming from the twilight years of the partnership "The Grand Duke" was their final work. After its initial ...

Newfloridian 17.07.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Sullivan: (The) Grand Duke

Love, the Housemaid, lights her kitchen fire

Advantages: The pivotal opera in the G&S catalogue
Disadvantages: Rather lightweight compared with what was to follow

The names Gilbert and Sullivan evoke sentiments of a quintessentially Victorian England. Even if you do not know their work by name you will be familiar with the toe-tapping, whistle provoking musical entrances of the Lord High Executioner (“The Mikado”); the peers of the realm (“Iolanthe”) or the Tower Warders (“Yeomen of the Guard”). You will also know – although maybe not easily placed – such songs as “Take A Pair Of Sparkling Eyes” (“The Gondoliers”), ...
...Is Not A Happy One” (“Pirates Of Penzance”). The libretti and compositions have become woven into the fabric and historical memory of this country. Depending on your definitions there are fourteen titles in the catalogue (including the now lost “Thespis”). The most popular of the ‘big five’ – and those now most frequently performed – are “The Mikado”, “HMS Pinafore”, “The Gondoliers”, “Pirates of Penzance” and “Iolanthe” . “The Sorcerer” was the ...

Newfloridian 26.03.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Sullivan: (The) Sorcerer

Sumptuous works by a little-known composer

Advantages: Good recordings of unfamiliar, but rewarding works
Disadvantages: None

Karlowicz is a relatively unknown composer whose chief claim to fame was his untimely death in a skiing accident just before the First World War. He left a small collection of works, the later of which (figured in this disc) show a talent that was tragically snuffed out before he could achieve greatness. The Symphonic Poems featured here reveal a composer adept at interesting orchestral effects (try the sad theme at the start of the Lithuanian Rhapsody, ...
...writing for the lower-toned instruments of the orchestra. Karlowicz has clearly learnt a lot from Richard Strauss, whose shadow fell across much pre-1914 music, but it often lacks the extrovert quality of the Gernman composer's tone poems; as the inlay notes say, there is a 'brooding' quality to much of this music, particularly evident in the middle sections of these works. Another feature of Karlowicz's writing is his tendency to pick himself up ...

chivhu 15.09.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Karlowicz: Symphonic Poems Vol 1

Music for Meditation

Advantages: A good introduction to sacred music
Disadvantages: A rather niche album on which those into the genre will find nothing new

...the same. Requiem is subtitled "music for Reflection and Meditation". It takes various well known settings of the requiem mass, together with a couple of other fitting pieces and puts them together in one place. If one is so minded, one should note that this album is NOT a requiem mass. The pieces don't follow in the right order but, having said that, to the knowledgeable, the whole album stands on its own as a good religious set. One of the other ...
...who are less well-known. When one says "requiem" one might think of Verdi or Mozart but here we also have offerings from Spanish composer Lobo (a motet) and the Italian Pergolesi (an extract from his Sabat Mater). I feel that Naxos have really got it right with this compilation. The perfect balance between the known and the unknown is struck with excerpts from the more well known Requiems by Mozart and Verdi featuring more than once meaning ...

CareBear 15.09.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Requiem - Classical Music for Reflection & Meditation