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Sunday, September 28, 2014

Sunday Drive: Goddess of the Woods

The first movement of the Highgrove Suite by Patrick Hawes, commissioned for the 60th birthday of the Prince of Wales in 2008.  I'm not sure if I like it or not - what do you fellows think?




Here is Hawes discussing the piece:




8 comments:

Tim said...

Hhhmm, derivative and not particularly memorable. I think it would work better with the visual image of the gardens as a background, but as a standalone piece it's rather bland - IMHO.

Davis said...

Pleasant enough (how can one go wrong with harp and strings?), but clearly derivative as Tim remarks. Vaughan Williams and Finzi did it better.

Russ Manley said...

Thanks for your thoughts, guys. I noticed that journalist said this "has quickly become a beloved part of the English concert repertoire," but it doesn't grab me - pleasant enough for background music, like Yanni, but quite unmemorable IMO.

I tried to listen to the rest of the suite but gave up in the middle of the second movement - nothing there to keep my attention or interest.

Tim said...

Spooky Davis, I was on the point of suggesting to Russ a Finzi piece for a future Sunday Drive, this one, titled Forlana:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmvoG8cbtWQ

What do you think Russ?

Davis said...

A close one, Tim, but I like his even more mush work here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkQbzZgwfl0

Russ Manley said...

Alas, friends, country boy here is too unsophisticated to appreciate Mr. Finzi's work, I'm sorry to say. But thanks for trying.

Davis said...

We never give up, Russ… ;-)

Russ Manley said...

Appreciate ya, bud.

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