THE VERY BEST OF GRAINGER 2CD

THE VERY BEST OF GRAINGER 2CD

PERCY ALDRIDGE GRAINGER Date of birth: 8 July 1882, Brighton, Victoria, Australia. Date of death: 20 February 1961, White Plains, New York, USA. Notable achievements: Percy Grainger was one of the great pioneers of folk song collection, travelling all over England and Denmark to hear the traditional melodies being sung by villagers and country people, and recording them onto wax cylinders using the newly-invented phonograph. Many of these tunes he then published in his own arrangements, for various combinations of voices and instruments, and it is for these folk song arrangements that he has always been best known, but he was also a highly innovative composer in his own right. A strong believer in music as a democratic art, he wrote many of his pieces for elastic scoring, so that they could be performed on whatever instruments the players had to hand. He disliked rules and formal structures, and dreamed of creating free music using every possible pitch (not just the notes on a piano, but all the pitches in between), and rhythms unfettered by any sense of a regular beat. Grainger was also a virtuoso pianist, his style passionate and flamboyant, if not always free of wrong notes. He was especially famous for his performances of Edvard Grieg s Piano Concerto, which he had studied with the composer in depth. 2

Best-known works: Almost all of Grainger s pieces are short, between two and eight minutes long. The exception is The Warriors, an imaginary ballet of frenzied danceable music : since it requires a huge orchestra including at least three pianos (Grainger used 19 pianos in one performance!), the piece is, understandably, rarely performed. The piece which first made Grainger famous is Country Gardens, an arrangement of a traditional English tune which he regularly used as an encore at his recitals. Other well-known pieces, many of them either based on specific folk tunes or inspired by a general folk music feel, include Handel in the Strand, Irish Tune from County Derry, Brigg Fair, Molly on the Shore, Mock Morris, Shepherd s Hey, Colonial Song and the Danish Folk-Music Suite. What others said about him: A true original in terms of orchestration and imaginative instrumentation. (John Eliot Gardiner) [Percy Grainger] was a genius, there's no doubt. He was an innovator of extreme proportions. And many of his ideas have now been taken up by young composers of today. (Barry Ould) The incredible Percy Grainger. In a way, you could call Percy Australia's first international pop star. (George Negus) 3

CD1 PERCY ALDRIDGE GRAINGER 1882-1961 [70 27] 1 Country Gardens from British Folk-Music Settings (No. 22) 1 43 2 Colleen Dhas (The Valley Lay Smiling) 3 04 3 Mock Morris 3 21 Sydney Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor 4 Molly on the Shore from British Folk-Music Settings (No. 1) 3 50 Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor 5 Willow, Willow from Settings of Songs and Tunes from William Chappell s Popular Music of the Olden Time (No. 1) 4 39 Rhonda Bruce soprano, Jochen Schubert guitar, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor 6 Irish Tune from County Derry (Danny Boy) from British Folk Music Settings (No. 15) 5 23 7 Handel in the Strand (Clog Dance) from Room-Music Tit-Bits (No. 2) 2 41 8 Scotch Strathspey and Reel from British Folk-Music Settings (No. 37) 4 43 Danish Folk-Music Suite (excerpts) 9 I. The Power of Love 3 29 0 II. Lord Peter s Stable Boy 2 47 Claire Clements piano, 4

! Shepherd s Hey from British Folk-Music Settings (No. 16) 2 06 Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor @ Beautiful Fresh Flower (orchestrated by Peter Sculthorpe) 2 32 The Gum-Suckers March (The Cornstalks March) from the suite In a Nutshell 3 33 Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor $ Blithe Bells (Free Ramble on Sheep May Safely Graze by JS Bach) 3 55 Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor % Cradle Song (after Brahms) from Free Settings of Favourite Melodies (No. 1) 3 02 ^ The Man I Love (after Gershwin) 3 28 & Love Walked In (after Gershwin) 3 54 * Spoon River from American Folk-Music Settings (No. 2) 4 09 Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor ( The Nightingale and The Two Sisters from Danish Folk-Music Suite (No. 3) 4 40 ) Country Gardens from British Folk-Music Settings (Unnumbered) 2 08 Sydney Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor 5

CD2 [72 59] 1 A Bridal Lullaby 2 33 Roger Woodward piano 2 I m Seventeen Come Sunday from British Folk-Music Settings (No. 8) 2 47 Cantillation, Sinfonia Australis, Antony Walker conductor 3 Gay but Wistful from In a Nutshell 2 50 Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor 4 Brigg Fair from British Folk-Music Settings (No. 7) 3 04 Dan Walker tenor, Cantillation, Paul Stanhope conductor 5 The Duke of Marlborough Fanfare from British Folk-Music Settings (No. 36) 2 05 Sydney Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor 6 English Dance 8 35 Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor 7 Shallow Brown from Sea-Chanty Settings (No. 3) 6 48 Teddy Tahu Rhodes bass-baritone, Cantillation, Sinfonia Australis, Antony Walker conductor 8 We Were Dreamers 3 55 Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor 9 The Sussex Mummers Christmas Carol from British Folk-Music Settings (No. 2) 2 33 Tamara Anna Cislowska piano 0 Jutish Medley from Danish Folk-Music Suite (No. 4) 7 46 Claire Clements piano, 6

Youthful Suite (excerpts) [14 52]! I. Northern March 6 34 @ II. Rustic Dance 3 53 V. English Waltz 4 25 Sydney Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins conductor $ Hill-Song No. 2 4 33 % Ramble on the last love-duet in Richard Strauss opera The Rose Bearer 7 23 Dennis Hennig piano ^ Dreamery 2 09 Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, David Stanhope conductor Mastering Sony DADC (CD2) Cover and Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd ABC Classics Robert Patterson, Martin Buzacott, Hilary Shrubb, Natalie Shea, Laura Bell, Jonathan Villanueva. www.abcclassics.com This compilation was first published in 2011 and any and all copyright in this compilation is owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2011 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Universal Music Group, under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited. 7

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