Sullivan: Incidental Music
8.555210 (Naxos, CD)
DDD
REISSUE (25 February 2022)
Playing time: 50'45"
Tracks: 17
Booklet pages: 6
℗ 1995 Naxos Rights US Inc
© 2022 Naxos Rights US Inc
Main country of recording: Ireland
Country of manufacture: Germany
Reviewer: Gerald Fenech
Review of Sullivan: Incidental Music published on 6 March 2022
Maggie McDonald, mezzo-soprano
RTÉ Chamber Choir
Colin Mawby, director
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Andrew Penny, conductor
Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900):
Macbeth - Incidental Music (1888)
1 Overture
2 Andante (first recording)
3 Act V: Prelude - Andante con espressione (first recording)
4 Act VI: Prelude (first recording)
5 Act IV: Introduction (first recording)
6 Chorus of Spirits in the Air - Allegro vivace
7 Chorus of Witches and Spirits - Allegro vivace e con fuoco (first recording)
Arthur Sullivan, edited by Wilfrid Bendall (1850-1920):
King Arthur - Incidental Music (1895) (first recording)
8 Chorus of Lake Spirits
9 Chorus of Unseen Spirits
10 The Chaunt of the Grail
11 The May Song
12 Funeral March and Final Chorus
Arthur Sullivan:
The Merry Wives of Windsor - Incidental Music (1874) (first recording)
13 Prelude, and Dance of Fairies
14 Song - Andante
15 Song - 'As I am a true spirit, welcome!'
16 Dance - Allegro vivace
17 Dance with chorus - Allegro vivace
Recorded 17-19 November 1993 at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland.
Previously released on Marco Polo 8.223635.
Arthur Sullivan is best remembered today for his Savoy Operas with W S Gilbert, but during his lifetime Sullivan was also famed for his church, concert hall and stage works. These three sets of incidental music show his versatility in the genre. The music for The Merry Wives of Windsor has a joviality and lightness that matches its pantomime mood, while the concert suite for Macbeth weaves together nervous tension and impending tragedy. By contrast, King Arthur required one of Sullivan's specialties, a sequence of choruses, edited after his death into this evocative suite.