Bridge: The Sea; Enter Spring; Summer; Two Poems for Orchestra

Frank Bridge (Composer), James Judd (Conductor), New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: James Judd
• Composer: Frank Bridge
• Audio CD (August 17, 2004)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B0002BXO3W
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #144,892 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Against Stiff Competition This CD Still Deserves Attention, August 23, 2004

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bridge: The Sea; Enter Spring; Summer; Two Poems for Orchestra (Audio CD)

Frank Bridge's tone poems included on this CD from the wonderful New Zealand Symphony, under James Judd, come up against strong competition from a couple of older recordings, those of Sir Charles Groves and Richard Hickox, each of which has a slight edge over this budget-priced new entry. I frankly fell in love with them when the 1975 Groves recording came out, and possibly I'm simply too familiar with those wonderful performances to hear the current efforts without a certain bias. But there are details that clearly are superior in the Groves. For instance, Groves's 'The Sea' is so clearly describing the roiling North Sea with its dramatic crashes of surf against rocks, compared to the rather quieter and, dare I say, tame sea in Judd's performance. In fairness, Judd's 'Moonlight' (3rd movement of 'The Sea') is gorgeously done. Hickox, too, makes this a more vivid picture. The same is true with 'Enter Spring,' which I consider to be an out-and-out masterpiece. Judd doesn't quite give the same impression of Spring coming in as a force of nature to defeat the clutches of Winter; his Spring is rather too well-behaved, although it is beautifully performed by his New Zealanders.

The 'Two Poems for Orchestra,' included here (amounting to about 11 minutes of music) are new to me. They are slighter than the other pieces, but none the less beautiful for that. And they are given loving performances here. 'Summer' is also slighter than either 'Enter Spring' or 'The Sea,' and it is given a rather more gentle, and perhaps appropriate, performance than that of Groves. For that matter, Richard Hickox's performance is rather more bucolic, too. Hickox, by the way, has recorded all of Bridge's orchestral music on Chandos and both that series and Groves's early recording of the pieces here (sans the 'Two Tone Poems') are available here at Amazon, at a somewhat higher price than this Naxos disc.

So, my advice would be to go for the Groves if you're new to Bridge's orchestral music. But if you are interested in hearing the 'Two Tone Poems,' and don't already own them, this budget disc would be a good purchase. It's not that the other performances here are bad - and indeed if I hadn't heard the earlier recordings I would probably be more positive about them - it's just that Hickox and especially Groves have the edge.

TT=62:17

Scott Morrison

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Is Like Delius On Steroids!, January 27, 2011

By 

Dmitri (Florida - Paradise) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Bridge: The Sea; Enter Spring; Summer; Two Poems for Orchestra (Audio CD)

The music on this CD, rhapsodies, tone poems, and suites, are basically like the music of Frederick Delius taken up a notch. A little more tension. A little more character. It reveals Bridge to be much the British impressionist, but with more or less conventional tone pallet than say Debussy or Ravel. This is late Romantic music played in the 20th century.

"Enter Spring" is the first work on the CD and it makes a growing and flowing impression of Spring. This is followed by the tone poem "Summer" which is more pastorale. There are two nameless tone poems except for there tempo markings and then there is "The Sea" suite for orchestra. "The Sea" has four moods of the sea which at first I thought would remind me of Britten's Four Sea Interludes, but they do not. The final movement of "The Sea" is probably the most exciting music on the CD representing a storm.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra seems very competent here. Judd does try his best to please. I am stuck between having to put four and five stars, but giving everything the benefit of a doubt I will go with five star review.

A very interesting CD about Bridge. A composer that we hear so little of.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, June 6, 2009

By 

Bill Leubrie "CapHill" (Seattle) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Bridge: The Sea; Enter Spring; Summer; Two Poems for Orchestra (Audio CD)

Was utterly unfamiliar with this composer except as a name, as in Benjamin Britten's "Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge." Discovered a fascinating line of late Romantic music. Highly recommended.