COMPOSERS: Parry
LABELS: Chandos Collect
WORKS: Symphonic Variations; Concertstück in G minor; From Death to Life; Elegy for Brahms
PERFORMER: LPO/Matthias Bamert
CATALOGUE NO: CHAN 6610 Reissue (1991, 1992)
Here’s proof – if it’s still needed – that there was more to Parry than a competent precursor of Elgar who also wrote a couple of rousing hymn-tunes. The Symphonic Variations, one of the few substantial pieces to survive in the repertoire after Parry’s death, is lively, resourceful and finely crafted. From Death to Life is Grand Old Man’s music – in the best and the worst senses of the phrase, but Elegy for Brahms probes more deeply, and the long-lost Concertstück is a real surprise: the young Parry as an intense Wagnerian modernist. Performances are authoritative and the recordings are up to Chandos’s highest standards – a perfect introduction to Parry the symphonic thinker. Stephen Johnson
Parry: Symphonic Variations; Concertstück in G minor; From Death to Life; Elegy for Brahms
Here’s proof – if it’s still needed – that there was more to Parry than a competent precursor of Elgar who also wrote a couple of rousing hymn-tunes. The Symphonic Variations, one of the few substantial pieces to survive in the repertoire after Parry’s death, is lively, resourceful and finely crafted. From Death to Life is Grand Old Man’s music – in the best and the worst senses of the phrase, but Elegy for Brahms probes more deeply, and the long-lost Concertstück is a real surprise: the young Parry as an intense Wagnerian modernist.
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 1:18 pm