Feanor: Epic Scenes From the Silmarillion After the Mythology of J R R Tolkien: Part One

Simon Crosby Buttle (Fëanor); Emma Mary Llewellyn (Elbereth); Michael Clifton-Thompson (Maglor, Olwë); Stephen Wells (Maedhros); Philip Lloyd-Evans (Fingolfin, Celegorm); Julian Boyce (Mandos); Lawrence Cole (Morgoth); George Newton-Fitzgerald (Elder King, Caranthir); Jasey Hall (Amras)

Like the theatrical music of Sibelius or Delius, this opera unfolds with an unhurried grace and power. The music is motivically driven but usually atmospheric, with frequent dynamic changes.... — Fanfare, Nov/Dec 2022 More…

Release Date: 22nd Apr 2022
Catalogue No: PFCD178
Label: Prima Facie
Length: 2 hours 2 minutes

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Godfrey, P C: Prelude

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Sampled Orchestra

Godfrey, P C: Scene One: In This Time

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: Then Elbereth Beheld the Darkness

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: And as a Blue Fire Flickered

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: Many Waters Flowed Down Thither

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: Scene Two: Last of All

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: This Is the Counsel of the One

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: This is the Noontide

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: Scene Three: In That Time Was Born

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: And It Came to Pass

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: As Three Great Jewels They Were

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: Scene Four: And Melkor Lusted for the Silmarils

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: Beware! Small Love Has the Proud Son of Miriel

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Laurence Cole, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: King and Father

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Philip Lloyd-Evans, Simon Crosby Buttle, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: Thou Speakest of Thraldom

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Julian Boyce, Philip Lloyd-Evans, Laurence Cole, Simon Crosby Buttle

Godfrey, P C: Scene Five: Beneath the Sheer Walls of the Mountains

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: Do as I Bid

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Laurence Cole, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: As I Promised

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Philip Lloyd-Evans, Simon Crosby Buttle

Godfrey, P C: And Even as Feanor and Fingolfin Stood

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: The Light of the Trees

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Emma Mary Llewellyn

Godfrey, P C: Hearest Thou

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, George Newton-Fitzgerald, Simon Crosby Buttle, Laurence Cole, Julian Boyce

Godfrey, P C: Blood and Darkness

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Stephen Wells, Simon Crosby Buttle

Godfrey, P C: Scene Six: Why, O People of the Stars?

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Simon Crosby Buttle

Godfrey, P C: Be He Friend or Foe

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Simon Crosby Buttle, Michael Clifton-Thompson, Philip Lloyd-Evans, Julian Boyce, Stephen Wells, George Newton-Fitzgerald, Laurence Cole, Jasey Hall

Godfrey, P C: Against the Folly

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, George Newton-Fitzgerald, Simon Crosby Buttle

Godfrey, P C: Scene Seven: Prelude

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Sampled Orchestra

Godfrey, P C: Others of the Elves

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: You Renounce Your Friendship

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Simon Crosby Buttle, Michael Clifton-Thompson

Godfrey, P C: Then Swords Were Drawn

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: Scene Eight: The Way Was Long

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: Tears Unnumbered Ye Shall Shed

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Julian Boyce

Godfrey, P C: We Have Sworn

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Simon Crosby Buttle, George Newton-Fitzgerald

Godfrey, P C: Scene Nine: Blackheart!

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Laurence Cole, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: Now What Ships and Rowers

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Stephen Wells, Simon Crosby Buttle, Volante Demo Chorus

Godfrey, P C: Epilogue

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Paul Corfield Godfrey, Volante Sampled Orchestra

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About

The completion in 1996 of the "epic scenes from The Silmarillion", a four-part cycle drawn from the posthumous writings of J R R Tolkien, constituted the largest-scale work of classical music written in Wales in the twentieth century. With this landmark release of Feanor, following on from their earlier successful issues of Beren and Luthien, The Children of Hurin and The Fall of Gondolin, Prima Facie in collaboration with Volante Opera Productions now completes the recording of that original cycle; and a further episode, The War of Wrath, written in 2019-21, is to follow in due course.

All of these works employ a variety of posthumously published texts by the author with the permission of the Tolkien Estate. As before, the singers are all professional artists from Welsh National Opera; the booklet explains the methods of production in greater detail, and also includes an essay by the composer on the manner in which the author's text has been adapted for music. The late Brian Wilson, reviewing The Children of Hurin for MusicWeb International, drew comparisons between the "genuinely epic" music of the cycle and that of Sibelius, Hildegard of Bingen, Vaughan Williams, Holst and Wagner: "It's a very different ending from that of Gotterdmmerung, but it's worthy of mention in the same sentence and there's not much that is, in my book."

Reviews

Nov/Dec 2022

Like the theatrical music of Sibelius or Delius, this opera unfolds with an unhurried grace and power. The music is motivically driven but usually atmospheric, with frequent dynamic changes. Only listen to the heartbreaking aria of Elbereth in the fifth scene, sung beautifully by Mary Emma Llewellyn, or the shattering epilogue describing the death of Fëanor, to hear the approach in its most glacial and complex guises.

Feanor: Epic Scenes From the Silmarillion After the Mythology of J R R Tolkien: Part One

2 CDs

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