# SS 27.10.18 - Stanford #4



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening! 
_*
*_For your listening pleasure this weekend:*

Charles Villiers Stanford** (1852 - 1924)*

Symphony No. 4 in F major, Op. 31

1. Allegro vivace e giojoso
2. Intermezzo
3. Andante molto moderato
4. Finale: Allegro non troppo
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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Another weekend is upon us and another symphony is up for your listening enjoyment. This weekend it's Irish composer Charles Villiers Stanford's Fourth. This is another work that doesn't seem to get heard much but I enjoy it and I look forward to hearing it again as it's been a while.

There are a few recordings of this one out there, but I'll post a YouTube video as well. I'll be listening to this one on CD:




Vernon Handley/Ulster Orchestra


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

My choice


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I'll be doing the Handley/Ulster Orchestra recording -- again.

By coincidence I listened to this a few days ago. I wanted to hear another Stanford symphony after listening to his 1st last week, but felt in a major-key mood. The 4th, in F major, was his first major-key symphony after his 1st.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Interesting to compare the merits of Stanford with last week's Parry offering. Personally I think higher of Parry as a symphonist, but Stanford has his good points, in fact plenty.

I have the Handley set as a download, and Lloyd Jones on CD. I will try and find time to give both a spin, once back from holiday.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

realdealblues said:


> Another weekend is upon us and another symphony is up for your listening enjoyment. This weekend it's Irish composer Charles Villiers Stanford's Fourth. This is another work that doesn't seem to get heard much but I enjoy it and I look forward to hearing it again as it's been a while.
> 
> There are a few recordings of this one out there, but I'll post a YouTube video as well. I'll be listening to this one on CD:
> 
> ...


The ever reliable Handley for me also


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Listening to the Handley:

The first movement is pleasant, kind of Schumannesque but with occasional echoes of Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 written eleven years prior. The second movement is an intermezzo, a flowing andante, and makes for a nice balance to the more vigorous opening movement. The Brahms echoes are heard here as well. The third movement, the longest in the symphony, is again andante paced – along with the second, 24 minutes of andante. Too much! This movement, in particular, has a very nice sound but never quite gels, for me at least. The finale -- there is no scherzo -- is a spritely march-like affair in rapid time. Its aim seems to be to “send ‘em home happy,” and I think it succeeds.

Overall it’s a very nice symphony but maybe a bit long in the middle – it’s about the same length as the Eroica though obviously without that symphony’s musical merits to justify the length. Compared with last week’s Parry, I’d say Stanford shows more technique and sounds more cognizant of recent continental trends, but here he does tend to go on a bit. Parry may have the edge in personality!


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

I'll listen to the Handley on You Tube also.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

realdealblues said:


> Another weekend is upon us and another symphony is up for your listening enjoyment. This weekend it's Irish composer Charles Villiers Stanford's Fourth. This is another work that doesn't seem to get heard much but I enjoy it and I look forward to hearing it again as it's been a while.
> 
> There are a few recordings of this one out there, but I'll post a YouTube video as well. I'll be listening to this one on CD:
> 
> ...


Me too ( without the #)


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

KenOC said:


> Listening to the Handley:
> 
> The first movement is pleasant, kind of Schumannesque but with occasional echoes of Brahms's Symphony No. 2 written eleven years prior. The second movement is an intermezzo, a flowing andante, and makes for a nice balance to the more vigorous opening movement. The Brahms echoes are heard here as well. The third movement, the longest in the symphony, is again andante paced - along with the second, 24 minutes of andante. Too much!


Totally agree. I have Handley's recording and it goes on for far too long for me. Like Mahler's 3rd, another symphony in drastic need of editing.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Found this gem by George Bernard Shaw, on Charles Villiers Stanford: "His dullness is all the harder to bear because it is the restless, ingenious, trifling, flippant dullness of the Irishman, instead of the stupid, bovine, sleepable-through dullness of the Englishman, or even the aggressive, ambitious, sentimental dullness of the Scot." I think he just disposed of Hubert Parry and Alexander Mackenzie as well…


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

.......a swipe at the dullness of the Welsh, and he'd have a full house.

Of course, nobody could ever describe Shaw as dull.....


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

realdealblues said:


> Another weekend is upon us and another symphony is up for your listening enjoyment. This weekend it's Irish composer Charles Villiers Stanford's Fourth. This is another work that doesn't seem to get heard much but I enjoy it and I look forward to hearing it again as it's been a while.
> 
> There are a few recordings of this one out there, but I'll post a YouTube video as well. I'll be listening to this one on CD:
> 
> ...


Ditto for me this week


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