Mimi Ezust asked:
>Would someone tell me about this work, please. How long is it? What
>are some good recordings? Is it scored for full orchestra? What
>does it sound like? If it is on a cd with other pieces, what are they?
Egdon Heath is a strangely unsettling work inspired by Thomas Hardy. It
starts and ends quietly with a more agitated central section. The general
"feel" is like Saturn from The Planets or the last movement of Vaughan
Williams' 6th. There's also a trumpet figure that reminds me of the
opening of Schmidt's 4th. It's not an easy work to love but it grows
on you. Holst thought it his best.
I know three recordings - Sir Adrian Boult (Decca, not sure of CD
couplings, I know it from LP), Richard Hickox (Chandos, with the Fugal
Overture, Somerset Rhapsody, Scherzo, Hammersmith and Capriccio), and David
Lloyd-Jones (Naxos, with Somerset Rhapsody, Fugal Overture, Hammersmith,
Invocation for Cello and Orchestra and Beni-Mora). It is scored for full
orchestra. The Boult and Lloyd-Jones versions each run about 12:30, the
Hickox about 16:30. I usually find Hickox to my liking but I think he's
miscalculated this time - it's just too slow. The Lloyd-Jones has the
advantage of the comparatively rare Invocation and Beni-Mora, about 12'
more of music on the CD and, of course, a better price. His recordings for
Naxos of English music have generally found favour and, IMHO, rightly so.
Richard Pennycuick
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