Hoddinott Vocal and Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Alun Hoddinott
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 12/1989
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ABTD1400
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 6 |
Alun Hoddinott, Composer
Alun Hoddinott, Composer BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra Bryden Thomson, Conductor |
Lanterne des Morts |
Alun Hoddinott, Composer
Alun Hoddinott, Composer BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra Bryden Thomson, Conductor |
Scena |
Alun Hoddinott, Composer
Alun Hoddinott, Composer BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra Bryden Thomson, Conductor |
(A) Contemplation upon Flowers |
Alun Hoddinott, Composer
Alun Hoddinott, Composer BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra Bryden Thomson, Conductor Lillian Watson, Soprano |
Composer or Director: Alun Hoddinott
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 12/1989
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ABRD1400
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 6 |
Alun Hoddinott, Composer
Alun Hoddinott, Composer BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra Bryden Thomson, Conductor |
Lanterne des Morts |
Alun Hoddinott, Composer
Alun Hoddinott, Composer BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra Bryden Thomson, Conductor |
Scena |
Alun Hoddinott, Composer
Alun Hoddinott, Composer BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra Bryden Thomson, Conductor |
(A) Contemplation upon Flowers |
Alun Hoddinott, Composer
Alun Hoddinott, Composer BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra Bryden Thomson, Conductor Lillian Watson, Soprano |
Composer or Director: Alun Hoddinott
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 12/1989
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 62
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHAN8762
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 6 |
Alun Hoddinott, Composer
Alun Hoddinott, Composer BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra Bryden Thomson, Conductor |
Lanterne des Morts |
Alun Hoddinott, Composer
Alun Hoddinott, Composer BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra Bryden Thomson, Conductor |
Scena |
Alun Hoddinott, Composer
Alun Hoddinott, Composer BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra Bryden Thomson, Conductor |
(A) Contemplation upon Flowers |
Alun Hoddinott, Composer
Alun Hoddinott, Composer BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra Bryden Thomson, Conductor Lillian Watson, Soprano |
Author: Michael Oliver
A firm sense of structure is much more immediately apparent in Hoddinott, of course, the gestures are usually bigger and craggier, and if he has an ecstatic, nature-contemplating, time-denying side to him it is not represented here. His melodies are heavier featured, the words 'dark', 'grave' and 'sombre' are likely to spring to the pen more often than with Bax, but I sense a certain kinship none the less. Certainly any collector of Thomson's Bax cycle who decides to give this collection a miss because, after all, Hoddinott is alive and therefore by definition unapproachable would be making a mistake. The symphony is an impressively coherent single-movement structure, a process of contrastful transformation, as so often with Hoddinott's larger pieces; it has very powerful propulsive energy, not least in its richly coloured central slow section, its germinative opening, with tolling bells and dark strings outlining an earnest theme, is immediately impressive, and that music's transformation, 20 minutes later, into a sonorous blaze of consonant chords is most satisfying. Lanterne des morts, inspired by a twelfth-century funerary chapel in the Dordogne and the legends surrounding it, is a solemn tone-poem of gorgeously dark colouring and striking dramatic gesture. A contemplation upon flowers is also a contemplation upon death (all three poems meditate on the transience of flowers, the lessons they offer the mortal protesting at his own withering and decay) but they are rich in beautiful textures and achieve a grave serenity. The Scena is as big a piece as the symphony, still more serious (in its impressively bare central slow movement especially) but enlivened by a vividly resourceful use of string instruments and arriving at a no less positive conclusion. All four works are formidably well played (and sung) and the recordings render Hoddinott's shadowed colours, grainy blacks and brightly seamed granitic textures, with maximum fidelity.'
Explore the world’s largest classical music catalogue on Apple Music Classical.
Included with an Apple Music subscription. Download now.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Events & Offers
From £9.20 / month
SubscribeGramophone Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Events & Offers
From £11.45 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.