Parry: Scenes from Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound'

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Vann has mustered a fine team of soloists. Neal Davies is a commanding Prometheus, while David Butt Philip relishes the ringing Wagnerian Heldentenor declamation Parry allots to Jupiter...Vann’s... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2023, 4 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 5 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

Release Date: 8th Sep 2023
Catalogue No: CHSA5317
Label: Chandos
Length: 70 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

October 2023

Recording of the Month
Presto Recordings of the Year

Finalist 2023
Presto Recordings of the Year

Finalist 2023

Shortlisted - World Premiere Recording (Rediscovery)
Gramophone Magazine

Critics' Choice 2023

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Parry: Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, Part I

Work length34:31

$11.55

$14.30

$17.60

Sarah Fox, London Mozart Players, Neal Davies, Crouch End Festival Chorus, David Butt Philip, Sarah Connolly, William Vann

No. 1, Maestoso, assai lento

Track length2:40

$1.05

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$1.60

No. 2, Monarch of Gods and Dæmons (Prometheus)

Track length1:40

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$1.60

No. 3, Alas! Ah me! (Prometheus)

Track length2:51

$1.05

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$1.60

No. 4, Thrice three hundred thousand years (Voice from the mountains)

Track length2:00

$1.05

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No. 5, Awful sufferer! (Mercury)

Track length3:57

$1.05

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No. 6, Prometheus! Immortal Titan! (Chorus of Furies)

Track length4:06

$1.05

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No. 7, 'I felt thy torture, son (The Earth)

Track length2:59

$1.05

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No. 8, From unremember'd ages we (Chorus of Spirits)

Track length4:19

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No. 9, How fair these airborn shapes! (Prometheus)

Track length3:29

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No. 10, Life of Life! (Voices of Spirits)

Track length2:53

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No. 11, Fair are others (Contralto)

Track length3:37

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Parry: Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, Part II Scene 1

Work length13:28

$4.20

$5.20

$6.40

David Butt Philip, Sarah Fox, London Mozart Players, Crouch End Festival Chorus, William Vann

No. 12, Allegro moderato. Ye congregated pow'rs of heav'n' (Jupiter)

Track length4:16

$1.05

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No. 13, Awful shape, what art thou? (Jupiter) - Eternity (Demogorgon)

Track length2:27

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No. 14, Oh, that thou wouldst make mine enemy my judge (Jupiter)

Track length2:15

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No. 15, Soon as the sound had ceased (Spirit of the Hour)

Track length4:30

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Parry: Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, Part II Scene 2

Work length13:01

$3.70

$4.55

$5.60

Crouch End Festival Chorus, Sarah Fox, London Mozart Players, Sarah Connolly, William Vann, David Butt Philip, Neal Davies

No. 16, The pale stars are gone! (Voice of unseen Spirits) - The voice of the Spirits of Air and of Earth (Semichorus of Hours)

Track length7:03

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

No. 17, We come from the mind (Spirits)

Track length2:20

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

No. 18, Then weave the web of the mystic measure (Chorus of Spirits and Hours)

Track length3:38

$1.05

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Parry: Blest Pair of Sirens

Work length9:41

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

Crouch End Festival Chorus, London Mozart Players, William Vann

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About

Hubert Parry (1848 - 1918), regarded by many (including Edward Elgar) as the finest English composer since Purcell, and as the father of the modern English tradition, is best known for his hymn Jerusalem (immortalised by the Women’s Institute and English cricket supporters alike!). His anthem I was glad, written for the coronation of Edward VII, in 1902, has been used also at the coronations of George V, Elizabeth II, and Charles III (who is a proclaimed fan of Parry’s music). He taught composition at London’s Royal College of Music from 1883 to 1895, when he succeeded Sir George Grove as director of the College, a post he held until his death. His distinguished list of pupils included Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Frank Bridge, and John Ireland. Inspired initially by the German romantics Mendelssohn and Schumann, Parry quickly became a devotee of Brahms and Wagner, whose influences can be heard in much of his output. But, from his earliest works, his own individual voice can be heard very clearly. Commissioned for the Three Choirs Festival, in Gloucester in 1880, his Scenes from Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound is just such an early work. The première received a mixed reception, but despite numerous repeat performances, in Cambridge, Oxford, and London, all with rave reviews, the piece sank into obscurity. Vernon Handley gave a performance for BBC Radio 3 in 1980, to mark the centenary of the première, but this world première recording is the first chance for modern audiences to hear this outstanding work. Recorded in Surround Sound and available as a Hybrid SACD and in Dolby Atmos spatial audio

Reviews

November 2023

Vann has mustered a fine team of soloists. Neal Davies is a commanding Prometheus, while David Butt Philip relishes the ringing Wagnerian Heldentenor declamation Parry allots to Jupiter...Vann’s pacing is almost unerringly adroit; and Parry’s rolling paragraphs are shaped with abiding, affectionate insight. An auspicious Promethean ‘first’.

Jan/Feb 2024

Overall, Scenes from Shelley’s “Prometheus Unbound” is music of grandeur and beauty. Conductor William Vann and his choral and orchestral forces give their all. The same energy and passion are apparent in Blest Pair of Sirens, a brief (10 minutes) choral work.

October 2023

Worthy and welcome as earlier recordings are, they pale in energy, in precision and conviction beside the performances here.

1st October 2023

Remarkably, William Vann’s recording is the first and, thanks to uniformly superb performances, he makes a strong case for it.

14th September 2023

It sounds sumptuous in its own first recording, out on Chandos, with the London Mozart Players and Crouch End Festival Chorus conducted by William Vann, and a top-notch quartet of soloists including Sarah Connolly and David Butt Philip.

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