Bliss: A Colour Symphony; Adam Zero

Arthur Bliss (Composer), David Lloyd-Jones (Conductor), English Northern Philharmonia (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: English Northern Philharmonia
• Conductor: David Lloyd-Jones
• Composer: Arthur Bliss
• Audio CD (July 9, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B000001491
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,855 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bliss orchestral colour, March 9, 2000

By 

K. Farrington (Missegre, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bliss: A Colour Symphony; Adam Zero (Audio CD)

It is always as difficult thing to attempt to encapsulate music on the form of words and worse still to generalise about a composer. However, to my mind Arthur Bliss worked within three styles within which he moved around throughout his long career. The first style, around which this CD gravitates, is a lyrical successor to Elgar, a contemporary of John Ireland. The second style is a balletic, twisting, muscular tapestry in which he can depict the squalor of a tenement as in 'Miracle in the Gorbals' or portray the cycle of life and death as in 'Adam Zero' here. The third style is a synthesis of the two which can lead into an apocalyptic struggle, culminating in a dark victory with full orchestra as in the 'Things to Come'. The flowing melodic lines, the clean and fresh orchestration that has a spark of originality make his first style very approachable. The 'Color Symphony'(1922) is an early work based on heraldric use of color rather than a broader artistic sense, giving Bliss license to explore his first style to an extent as he would in no other subsequent work. The first movement 'Purple' uses a 'nobilmente' style redolent of Elgar but with an unearthly, ghostly undertone. The scherzo 'Red', is reminiscent of the equivalent movement in Vaughan Williams' 'A London Symphony' with its delightful use of dancing rhythms and tone color. Bliss does not use folk idioms like VW and yet maintains an English flavour throughout. Adam Zero has music of the first two styles, setting out the journey of Man as he progresses through the stages of life's way in an almost pagan depiction of the annual and human life cycle. The scoring, the music throughout is totally brilliant and it is deplorable that this wok is not performed more often. Bliss uses the then contemporary music to show a night club and the death of Adam is totally lacking in pathos and we have the distance of a dispassionate observer throughout. This a story of nature, beyond good and evil and Bliss keeps his musical arguments legitimate. He was a truthful artist who never pandered to an easy and more populist style which might have won him more converts. I believe that his honesty will pay off in the fullness of time. Superb playing by the English Northern Philharmonia and full marks to Naxos for having the idea of providing us with the more neglected works in the repertoir.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful, July 7, 2003

By 

David A. Kemp (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bliss: A Colour Symphony; Adam Zero (Audio CD)

This is an outstanding entry in the rich, rewarding Naxos catalog of twentieth-century British music. It has been highly praised, receiving a number of favorable reviews. Personally I find its music delightful and exceptionally attractive.

Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975; he succeeded Bax as Master of the Queen's Music in 1953) conceded that he found it easier to write "dramatic" or "program" music than "pure" or "absolute" music; in other words, he preferred to write music that was about something. A Colour Symphony (1922), his first major orchestral work, was written at the instigation of Elgar. Bliss conceived the idea of a symphony based on colors: "I saw the possibility of so characterizing the four movements of a symphony, that each should express a colour as I personally perceived it." The four movements are: (1) Purple (Andante maestoso), described by Bliss as "the Colour of Amethysts, Pageantry, Royalty and Death"; (2) Red (Allegro vivace), "the Colour of Rubies, Wine, Revelry, Furnaces, Courage and Magic"; (3) Blue (Gently flowing), "the Colour of Sapphires, Deep Water, Skies, Loyalty and Melancholy"; and (4) Green (Moderato), "the Colour of Emeralds, Hope, Youth, Joy, Spring and Victory." Elgar found the symphony too modern for his Edwardian taste, but it doesn't sound particularly modern to our ears, and in fact seems to me strongly reminiscent of Elgar. It has been described as young man's music.

Adam Zero (1946) was Bliss's third ballet, written for the Sadlers Wells company and a product of his maturity. The story is of a company creating a ballet, and the creation of the ballet is seen as an allegory for the span of human life. Adam Zero is in one scene, with 21 brief musical numbers, lively and multi-faceted. Bliss considered it his most varied and exciting ballet score.

Bliss has been described (Oxford Dictionary of Music) as the composer of "works in a bold, post-Elgarian style, vigorous and rich in texture but lacking the inner poetry of his model." He may not be of the stature of Elgar, but his best music deserves hearing and commands attention. These are two of his major works, and I find all the music on this CD pleasing, appealing, accessible, mercurial, colorful and imaginative, full of interest. Its idiom is one of conservative, tonal modernism. None of it is aggressively modern, atonal, dissonant, discordant. The performances (in Leeds Town Hall, 1995) leave nothing to be desired; Lloyd-Jones has shown himself to be a distinguished exponent of twentieth-century British music, and the English Northern Philharmonia (which he founded and built) plays with polish, precision, and richness of tone. Two more pluses: the sound is superb, and the disc is budget-priced. I warmly recommend this CD to any lover of orchestral music.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful release, recommended with all possible enthusiasm, February 27, 2010

By 

G.D. (Norway) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Bliss: A Colour Symphony; Adam Zero (Audio CD)

This is one of the crowning jewels of the Naxos catalogue. Adam Bliss composed the Colour Symphony in 1921-22 - it was his first major orchestral work and certainly responsible for propelling him to fame and recognition as a composer (even though many listeners found it too modern on its first performance). It is also a masterpiece. The movements are inspired by four colors and Bliss's perception of them, and since I've heard people being suspicious of a concept like this, I'd like to point out that Carl Nielsen created symphonic masterpieces on far more trite extra-musical ideas - and the Carl Nielsen association isn't too far-fetched stylistically either.

Purple was the color of amethysts, pageantry, royalty and death. Formally, the movement presents three themes leading to a climax and then appearing in reverse order; it's noble and somewhat solemn, but with rays of radiant light piercing through (e.g. in the form of trumpet fanfares). Red was the color of rubies, wine, revelry, furnaces, courage and magic, and is a ferocious scherzo with two trios; the first one flowing and vital, the second rhythmically irregular and angular. The movement ends in a blaze of flame. Blue was the color of sapphires, deep water, skies, loyalty and melancholy, and the movement is mostly reflective, but not without a certain wistful playfulness (especially from the woodwind). Green, the color of emeralds, hope, youth, spring and victory is, formally, a double fugue with an angular and bold first subject and a mercurial second subject; they are ingeniously worked out and combined, leading to a blazing, shattering dissonant climax, eventually giving way to a radiant, elated final chord.

The most important point, however, is the level of invention displayed throughout, the colors and formal ingenuities and the memorability of the themes. The other most important point is that it receives a stunning performance here, with Lloyd-Jones leading a muscular, magnificent performance, of spirit and swagger and life, beautifully flowing (tempos are somewhat slower than on competing accounts, but none the worse for that) and drawing some marvelous playing from the English Northern Sinfonia.

Adam Zero, composed in 1946, is a ballet in one scene, an allegory on the span of human life (man is born, works his way to success, loses the position to a younger generation, sees the world crumble and finds peace only in death) told in the form of a Company that is staging a ballet. It is overall a stirring work of variegated, almost kaleidoscopic colors and moods, from the arresting overture, through the vigorous depiction of hope and youth, the visceral warmth of summer and the somber, threatening music of autumn mixed with nostalgic, desperation-tinged memories of youth, to the bleak winter music depicting old age. It ends with the stage and the music being prepared for the next cycle of life. Superbly scored and drawing on a wide range of musical influences without sounding eclectic, Adam Zero might not be quite on the musical level of the Colour symphony overall, but it is a strong, stirringly memorable work.

It also receives scintillating advocacy; the performance is exciting and idiomatic with all the range of colors, dynamism and subtle mood shifts and combinations it needs. For both works, then, this is an excellent choice - very possibly a first choice - and Naxos provides vivid, balanced, warm and clear sound. A superb release and a mandatory acquisition.