Brailey / Burton / Blachly / Experiential Orch. & a -The Prison (Weltersteinsp.) -Chandos SACD+CD Grooves.land/Playthek

Details / Tracklist:

Part I - Close on Freedom

01. "The Prisoner Communes with His Soul"

02. "Voices Sing of Immortality"

03. "The Prisoner Askes The Secret of Emancipation"

04. "His Soul Replies"

05. "He Asks In What Shape Emancipation Will Come"

06. "The Voices Reply"

07. "Orchestral Interlude: 'The First Glimmer of Dawn'"

08. "The Prisoner Understands His Own Immortality"
Part II - The Deliverance

09. "The Prisoner Awakes"

10. "His Soul Tells Him The End Of The Struggle Is At Hand"

11. "He Hears His Guests Moving to Depart"

12. "Pastoral - Sunset Calm"

13. "He Disbands His Ego"

14. "Voices Sing The Indestructibility of Human Passions"

15. "Death Calls Him"

16. "His Farewell"

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Extra-Infos:

.. The Prison / James Blachly / Sarah Brailey

Description:

The world premiere recording of Smythâ??s last large-scale work. Following extensive research and the creation of a new performing edition, James Blachly and his team deliver a vivid and convincing performance of this long-neglected work. - .. THE PRISON / JAMES BLACHLY / SARAH BRAILEY

August 18th marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Constitutional Amendment, granting women in the US the right to vote. A fitting time then for our release of the World Premier Recording of Ethel Smyth's late masterpiece The Prison. Smyth left home at nineteen to study composition in Leipzig. In the company of Clara Schumann and her teacher Heinrich von Herzogenberg, she met and won the admiration of composers such as Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Dvorák, and Grieg. Smyth was the first woman to have an opera performed at the Met, in 1903. (The second was Kaija Saariaho, whose L'Amour de loin appeared there in 2016!) Smyth later became central to the Suffragette movement in England, writing the March of the Women. Her gender politics and sexuality were cause for attacks by critics, and she famously went to prison herself for throwing a stone through an MP's window. Composed in 1930 and premiered in 1931 in Edinburgh's Usher Hall, The Prison is a Symphony in two parts, 'Close on Freedom' and 'The Deliverance', set for soprano and bass-baritone soloists, chorus, and full orchestra. The text is taken from a philosophical work by Henry Bennet Brewster and concerns the writings of a prisoner in solitary confinement, his reflections on life and his preparations for death.

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Manufacturer No.:

CHSA5279

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