Arthur Bliss - Bliss: The Composer Conducts (Live) (2025) [Hi-Res]
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BAND/ARTIST: Arthur Bliss, John Ogdon, Cyril Smith, Phyllis Sellick, Donald Douglas, Alexandra Choir, Croydon Philharmonic Society, Bbc Symphony Orchestra, BBC Northern Orchestra
- Title: Bliss: The Composer Conducts (Live)
- Year Of Release: 2025
- Label: SOMM Recordings
- Genre: Classical
- Quality: flac lossless (tracks) / flac 24bits - 44.1kHz +Booklet
- Total Time: 02:35:49
- Total Size: 553 / 836 mb
- WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist
CD1
01. A Colour Symphony, Op. 24, F. 106: I. Purple. The Colour of Amethysts, Pageantry, Royalty and Death (Live)
02. A Colour Symphony, Op. 24, F. 106: II. Red. The Colour of Rubies, Wine, Revelry, Furnaces, Courage and MAgic (Live)
03. A Colour Symphony, Op. 24, F. 106: III. Blue. The Colour of Sapphires, Deep Water, Skies, Loyalty and Melancholy (Live)
04. A Colour Symphony, Op. 24, F. 106: IV. Green. The Colour of Emeralds, Hope, Youth, Joy, Spring and Victory (Live)
05. Piano Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 58, F. 108: I. Allegro con brio (Live)
06. Piano Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 58, F. 108: II. Adagietto (Live)
07. Piano Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 58, F. 108: III. Andante maestoso - Molto vivace (Live)
08. Sir Arthur Bliss Speaks After a Birthday Presentation (Live)
09. March, F. 94 "The Phoenix" (Live)
CD2
01. Morning Heroes, F. 32: I. Hector's Farewell to Andromache (Live)
02. Morning Heroes, F. 32: II. The City Arming (Live)
03. Morning Heroes, F. 32: III. Vigil - The Bivouac's Flame (Live)
04. Morning Heroes, F. 32: IV. Achilles Goes Forth to Battle - The Heroes (Live)
05. Morning Heroes, F. 32: V. Now, Trumpeter, for Thy Close - Spring Offensive - Fawn on the Somme (Live)
06. Concerto for 2 Pianos & Orchestra, F. 110 (Arr. for Piano 3 Hands & Orchestra by Clifford Phillips): I. Allegro giusto (Live)
07. Concerto for 2 Pianos & Orchestra, F. 110 (Arr. for Piano 3 Hands & Orchestra by Clifford Phillips): II. Larghetto tranquillo (Live)
08. Concerto for 2 Pianos & Orchestra, F. 110 (Arr. for Piano 3 Hands & Orchestra by Clifford Phillips): III. Allegro (Live)
09. Mêlée fantasque, F. 119 (Live)
Sir Arthur Bliss (1891 – 1975) was an excellent conductor of his own music, but he sadly made only a limited number of commercial recordings. SOMM celebrates the 50th anniversary of Bliss’s death with a 2-CD set of important archive performances, all but two of which he didn’t record commercially, making them of particular interest.
These live performances, mostly recorded at the BBC Proms and not previously made available, are skilfully remastered by long-time SOMM collaborator and executive producer, Lani Spahr. At the invitation of Edward Elgar, Bliss wrote a new work for the Three Choirs Festival in 1920. He was inspired by a book on heraldry to compose a full-scale symphony incorporating symbolic meanings associated with primary colours. Hence, the four movements of A Colour Symphony are Purple, Red, Blue, and Green. The performance issued here is with Bliss conducting his 70th birthday concert at the Proms in 1961. For his 75th birthday concert at the Proms in 1966, Bliss conducted his Piano Concerto, commissioned by the British Council in 1939. Bliss and his younger brother served during World War I, and Kennard was killed at the Battle of the Somme.
In 1930, haunted by nightmares of the war and grief about his brother, Bliss composed Morning Heroes, dedicating it “to the memory of my brother Francis Kennard Bliss and all other comrades killed in battle.” The work is a symphony for orator, chorus, and orchestra, with poetry ranging from The Iliad to Walt Whitman and Wilfred Owen. Lady Bliss considered the pre-eminent orator of this work to be Donald Douglas, featured here with Bliss in 1968—surprisingly, the only performance to date of Morning Heroes at the Proms. The much-revised Concerto for Two Pianos is presented in a version for two pianos and three hands, which Bliss arranged after Cyril Smith suffered a stroke that paralysed his left arm. This performance with Bliss leading Cyril Smith, Phyllis Sellick, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra is from the 1969 Proms.
Two shorter works complete this Bliss anniversary tribute. Mêlée Fantasque from 1921, influenced by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, is a precursor to many ballet scores Bliss would produce. The Phoenix, subtitled “Homage to France August 1944,” is noted in the score as symbolizing “the imperishable life and the transcendent beauty of France.”
CD1
01. A Colour Symphony, Op. 24, F. 106: I. Purple. The Colour of Amethysts, Pageantry, Royalty and Death (Live)
02. A Colour Symphony, Op. 24, F. 106: II. Red. The Colour of Rubies, Wine, Revelry, Furnaces, Courage and MAgic (Live)
03. A Colour Symphony, Op. 24, F. 106: III. Blue. The Colour of Sapphires, Deep Water, Skies, Loyalty and Melancholy (Live)
04. A Colour Symphony, Op. 24, F. 106: IV. Green. The Colour of Emeralds, Hope, Youth, Joy, Spring and Victory (Live)
05. Piano Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 58, F. 108: I. Allegro con brio (Live)
06. Piano Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 58, F. 108: II. Adagietto (Live)
07. Piano Concerto in B-Flat Major, Op. 58, F. 108: III. Andante maestoso - Molto vivace (Live)
08. Sir Arthur Bliss Speaks After a Birthday Presentation (Live)
09. March, F. 94 "The Phoenix" (Live)
CD2
01. Morning Heroes, F. 32: I. Hector's Farewell to Andromache (Live)
02. Morning Heroes, F. 32: II. The City Arming (Live)
03. Morning Heroes, F. 32: III. Vigil - The Bivouac's Flame (Live)
04. Morning Heroes, F. 32: IV. Achilles Goes Forth to Battle - The Heroes (Live)
05. Morning Heroes, F. 32: V. Now, Trumpeter, for Thy Close - Spring Offensive - Fawn on the Somme (Live)
06. Concerto for 2 Pianos & Orchestra, F. 110 (Arr. for Piano 3 Hands & Orchestra by Clifford Phillips): I. Allegro giusto (Live)
07. Concerto for 2 Pianos & Orchestra, F. 110 (Arr. for Piano 3 Hands & Orchestra by Clifford Phillips): II. Larghetto tranquillo (Live)
08. Concerto for 2 Pianos & Orchestra, F. 110 (Arr. for Piano 3 Hands & Orchestra by Clifford Phillips): III. Allegro (Live)
09. Mêlée fantasque, F. 119 (Live)
Sir Arthur Bliss (1891 – 1975) was an excellent conductor of his own music, but he sadly made only a limited number of commercial recordings. SOMM celebrates the 50th anniversary of Bliss’s death with a 2-CD set of important archive performances, all but two of which he didn’t record commercially, making them of particular interest.
These live performances, mostly recorded at the BBC Proms and not previously made available, are skilfully remastered by long-time SOMM collaborator and executive producer, Lani Spahr. At the invitation of Edward Elgar, Bliss wrote a new work for the Three Choirs Festival in 1920. He was inspired by a book on heraldry to compose a full-scale symphony incorporating symbolic meanings associated with primary colours. Hence, the four movements of A Colour Symphony are Purple, Red, Blue, and Green. The performance issued here is with Bliss conducting his 70th birthday concert at the Proms in 1961. For his 75th birthday concert at the Proms in 1966, Bliss conducted his Piano Concerto, commissioned by the British Council in 1939. Bliss and his younger brother served during World War I, and Kennard was killed at the Battle of the Somme.
In 1930, haunted by nightmares of the war and grief about his brother, Bliss composed Morning Heroes, dedicating it “to the memory of my brother Francis Kennard Bliss and all other comrades killed in battle.” The work is a symphony for orator, chorus, and orchestra, with poetry ranging from The Iliad to Walt Whitman and Wilfred Owen. Lady Bliss considered the pre-eminent orator of this work to be Donald Douglas, featured here with Bliss in 1968—surprisingly, the only performance to date of Morning Heroes at the Proms. The much-revised Concerto for Two Pianos is presented in a version for two pianos and three hands, which Bliss arranged after Cyril Smith suffered a stroke that paralysed his left arm. This performance with Bliss leading Cyril Smith, Phyllis Sellick, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra is from the 1969 Proms.
Two shorter works complete this Bliss anniversary tribute. Mêlée Fantasque from 1921, influenced by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, is a precursor to many ballet scores Bliss would produce. The Phoenix, subtitled “Homage to France August 1944,” is noted in the score as symbolizing “the imperishable life and the transcendent beauty of France.”
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