Chekmate Archive

TIPPETT: Symphony No 2* [ world première]; BLISS: Short works – Boult/Bliss – Pristine Audio

by Audiophile Audition | Feb 23, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

An intriguing collection of English Music from both sides of the coin. TIPPETT:  Symphony No. 2* [ world première]; BLISS:  Welcome The Queen – March; March from ‘Things to Come’; Checkmate (excerpts); Theme and Cadenza for violin and orchestra; Overture: Edinburgh / BBC SO / Sir Adrian Boult*/ BBC Concert Orch. / Sir Arthur Bliss – Pristine Classical PASC460; 78:20 [www.pristineclassical.com] reviewed as a 24-bit download (24 & 16-bit download or CD-R available) ****1/2: Pristine Classical presents a very valuable Janus of a release, the two faces of which are clear from the contents. First we hear the world premiere, together with its unfortunate collapse early on the performance, of Sir Michael Tippett’s knotty and energetic Second Symphony, and then some of the urbane Sir Arthur Bliss’s music on the lighter side.  Widely differing music by widely differing composers make for an intriguing combination and a successful one. Sir Michael Tippett was inspired for his athletic and boldly rhythmic Second Symphony by the insistent rhythms of music by Vivaldi to which he was listening, captivated, while on holiday by the shores of Lake Lugano in the early 1950s. It took some years for the inspiration to gestate and assume the […]