Frederick Delius - Hassan, Sea Drift, Arabesque / Beecham

Frederick  DELIUS (1862-1934)

Hassan, 

Sea Drift, 

Arabesque 

Sir Thomas Beecham

MONO Recordings

Works on This Recording

1. Hassan by Frederick Delius 

Performer:  Leslie Fry (Baritone), Frederick Riddle (Viola), Arthur Leavins (Violin) 

Conductor:  Sir Thomas Beecham 

Orchestra/Ensemble:  Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,  BBC Symphony Chorus 

Written: 1920-1923; France 

Date of Recording: 02/1958 

Venue:  London 

Length: 27 Minutes 11 Secs. 

2. Sea Drift by Frederick Delius 

Performer:  Bruce Boyce (Baritone) 

Conductor:  Sir Thomas Beecham 

Orchestra/Ensemble:  Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,  Royal Philharmonic Chorus 

Written: 1903-1904; France 

Date of Recording: 12/1954 

Venue:  London 

Length: 24 Minutes 28 Secs. 

Language: English 

3. Arabesque by Frederick Delius 

Performer:  Einar Norby (Baritone) 

Conductor:  Sir Thomas Beecham 

Orchestra/Ensemble:  Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,  BBC Symphony Chorus 

Written: 1911; France 

Date of Recording: 10/1955 

Venue:  London 

Length: 12 Minutes 57 Secs. 

Language: English 

This CD has three vocal works by Frederick Delius. We often hear his orchestral pieces but the vocal works are less often aired. There are two main works with one shorter piece. First we have incidental music that Delius wrote for the poetic drama `Hassan or The Golden Journey to Samarkand' by English poet James Elroy Flecker. So this is a kind of opera with a libretto by Flecker. There are 11 extracts to the incidental music lasting just under 30 min. The work is written for baritone (Leslie Fry) accompanied by the BBC Chorus and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by that Delius champion, Sir Thomas Beecham, with solo parts for violin and viola.

The other major work on the disc is Delius' `Sea Drift', a setting for the same forces except that the baritone here is Bruce Boyce. The text here comes from Walt Whitman's poem `Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking'. It is a poem of despair, but the music is very beautiful. The final work on this CD is another poem for baritone (Einar Nørby), chorus and orchestra. Overall this is a very satisfying disc and it is good to hear some of the choral music that Delius as well as the more familiar orchestral pieces.