Michael Tippett - Complete Symphonies - Chandos: CHAN10330(3)X - 3 CDs or download

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The riot of proliferating counterpoint that is Tippett's Symphony No 1 presents enough problems of orchestral balance to give recording teams nightmares. Chandos has managed creditable degrees... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 12th Sep 2005
Catalogue No: CHAN10330(3)X
Label: Chandos
Series: Classics
Length: 3 hours 13 minutes

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Tippett: Symphony No. 1

Work length37:22

$6.95

$8.45

$10.40

Richard Hickox, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

I. Allegro vigoroso

Track length11:12

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

II. Adagio

Track length12:11

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

III. Presto

Track length6:20

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

IV. Allegro moderato ma con brio e più tarde con delicatezza

Track length7:39

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

Tippett: Symphony No. 2

Work length36:14

$6.40

$7.80

$9.60

Richard Hickox, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

I. Allegro vigoroso

Track length9:38

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

II. Adagio molto e tranquillo

Track length11:47

$2.15

$2.60

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III. Presto veloce

Track length5:43

$1.05

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IV. Allegro moderato

Track length9:06

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

Tippett: Symphony No. 3, Part I

Work length28:24

Album only

Richard Hickox, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

I. Allegro non troppo e pesante

Track length12:02

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

II. Lento

Track length16:22

Album only

Tippett: Symphony No. 3, Part II

Work length28:42

$6.35

$7.80

$9.60

Richard Hickox, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Faye Robinson

I. Allegro molto

Track length6:21

$1.05

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II. Slow Blues. Andante. As I drew nurture from my mother's breast

Track length3:32

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III. Fast Blues. Allegro. O' I'll go walking

Track length2:22

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IV. Slow Blues. Largo. I found the man grown to a dwarf

Track length4:55

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V. Pochiss. Meno mosso. They sang that when she waved her wings

Track length11:32

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

Tippett: Symphony No. 4

Work length33:40

$7.90

$9.75

$12.00

Richard Hickox, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

I. Introduction and Exposition. Tempo 1

Track length3:42

$1.05

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II. Development 1. Tempo 3

Track length4:29

$1.05

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III. Slow Movement. Tempo 1

Track length7:56

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

IV. Development 2. Tempo 2

Track length3:22

$1.05

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V. Scherzo and Trios. Tempo 3

Track length4:10

$1.05

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VI. Tempo 1 - Development 3

Track length4:37

$1.05

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VII. Recapitulation

Track length5:24

$1.05

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$1.60

Tippett: Suite from 'New Year'

Work length28:54

$13.65

$16.90

$20.80

Richard Hickox, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Timothy Holmes, Kyle Horch, Melanie Bush, Steven Smith, Alan Taylor, Robert Millett

I. The Space Ship Lands

Track length0:41

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II. Prelude

Track length0:40

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III. The Shaman Dance

Track length1:12

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IV. The Hunt for the Scapegoat

Track length1:29

$1.05

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V. Donny's Skarade

Track length3:50

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VI. Donny's Dream

Track length3:39

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VII. Dream Interlude

Track length0:45

$1.05

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VIII. Jo Ann's Dreamsong

Track length4:36

$1.05

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IX. Love Scene for Jo Ann and Pelegrin

Track length6:25

$1.05

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X. Paradise Dance

Track length2:24

$1.05

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XI. The Beating-Out of the Scapegoat (the Bad Old Year)

Track length0:47

$1.05

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XII. Ringing in the New Year

Track length1:07

$1.05

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XIII. The Space Ship Takes Off Again

Track length1:19

$1.05

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$1.60

Reviews
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Reviews

2010

The riot of proliferating counterpoint that is Tippett's Symphony No 1 presents enough problems of orchestral balance to give recording teams nightmares. Chandos has managed creditable degrees of containment and clarity, without loss of realism, and the impact, when the last movement finally settles on to its long-prepared harmonic goal, is powerful and convincing. Doubts as to whether initial impetus is sufficient to keep the complex structures on course prove groundless.
This is a fine account, well balanced between lively rhythmic articulation and broad melodic sweep.
The balance Hickox achieves between attention to detail and large-scale symphonic sweep is exemplary, and especially impressive in the tricky finale of Symphony No 2, where he conveys the essential ambiguity of an ending which strives to recapture the optimistic élan of the work's opening without ever quite managing it.
The recording, too, gives us much more of the symphony's contrapuntal detail. The first recording of music from Tippett's opera NewYear, premiered in 1989, is thoroughly welcome.
The music of this suite may seem over-emphatic to anyone who hasn't experienced the opera in the theatre, and the recording relishes the booming electric guitars and wailing saxophones, as well as the taped spaceship effects.
The Third Symphony (1972) is one of Tippett's most complex and highly charged attempts to create a convincing structure from the collision between strongly contrasted musical characteristics.
The first two movements (Part 1, as Tippett calls it) remain a considerable technical challenge, especially to the strings, but this performance manages to sustain an appropriate level of tension without sounding merely effortful, and without skimping on the opportunities for eloquence of phrasing. It could well be that Tippett has over-indulged the percussion in the slow movement, but this vivid and well-balanced Chandos recording lets us hear ample detail without exaggerating the bright colours and hyper-resonant textures. The later stages have the advantage of a superbly characterful singer in Faye Robinson who has the power, the edge, and also the radiance, to make Tippett's progression from idiosyncratic blues to Beethovenquoting peroration utterly convincing.
It is good to find Richard Hickox and the Bournemouth SO taking on some imposing competition and holding their own so well.
Hickox's Fourth Symphony is more broadly conceived than Solti's for Decca, and it's a considerable success, for despite giving even more weight to the work's strong contrasts, as is evident especially in the final stages, Hickox avoids any impression that the work is merely a succession of separate episodes. This well-integrated reading receives a well-rounded recording, and playing which needn't fear comparison with the best Chicago has to offer. (The individual works are also available as downloads.)

Offer,Michael Tippett - Complete Symphonies

3 CDs

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