Customer Reviews

Frederick Delius: Orchestral Works

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Delius, to me, is one of the most underappreciated composers. Often dismissed as a composer of light, impressionistic miniatures, he in fact composed several large scale works of which the "Florida Suite" may be the most famous. Made up of four movements the work contains some of the composers most delightful melodies including the famous "La Calinda" which he would use again in his opera "Koanga". This is its original setting and makes for a wonderful opening to the work. The second movement "By the River", a favorite of Sir Thomas Beecham, contains a wonderful flowing melody that just carries the listener along.

This CD is also of importance to the Delius fan as it contains several works which are recorded for the first time on this CD: Idylle Printemps,La Quadroone, and "Scherzo".

The recording has a wonderful full sound and David Lloyd-Jones, who has previously recorded several acclaimed releases for Naxos, gets excellent performances out of the members of the English Northern Philharmonia.

79 minutes of Delius in a recording that can stand up to the majors in every way.

If you like music descriptive a landscapes and the bucolic life, the Florida Suite is certainly what you are looking for. The Florida Suite stems from the time the young Delius spent on a plantation (sent by his father as a possible business future for his son) overseeing orange groves. Fortunately for us, Delius studied music and not business. Delius' father recognized his son's true vocation and sent him to the Leipzig Conservatory to study music; the Florida Suite was written during his student years. The first movement of the suite includes music (known as La Calinda) that was later used in Koanga, so it is appropriate to have the final scene of that opera included in this CD. The third movement recalls the plantation workers after the day is done and the dance they do that has Spanish feel to it. The final movement is a very effective evocation of night. The opera Koanga is set on a plantation in Louisiana, revolving around a slave-girl named Palmyra, which worked well with descriptive music about Florida.

Over the Hills and Far Away is a fantasy-overture. It is a joyous work that evokes a landscape of distant hills. The theme is the subject of several variations. The Idylle Printemps nicely expresses the season of the title and the Scherzo and La Quadroone were part of a larger suite for orchestra (subtitled Rhapsodie floridienne). This music is perfect if you have had a difficult day and want to relax.

The CD is nicely recorded and David Lloyd-Jones is a superb interpreter of Delius' music. Highly recommended.

Frederick Delius' "Florida Suite" has got to be among the finest compositions of all time. Every line of it amply speaks for Delius' strong connection with and subtle appreciation for the myriad aspects of nature. Few works can match its elegant beauty, which is rendered so nicely on this performance. And the wonderful sound quality makes for very satisfying listening.

Among the quick results I've obtained from listening to this CD is a real appetite for the works of Mr. Delius. I read that he abandoned England in his youth for the managment of some orange groves of Florida, which he rather neglected in favor of his music. We are very lucky indeed that both the orange crop-and this sumptuous music-remain vital today. Mr. Delius has gone, but perhaps we will see his like once more, in a better world, to remind us of the power of nature.

I am not all that familiar with the works of Frederick Delius, and I know I am probably not alone. His opera, A VILLAGE ROMEO AND JULIET is sometimes performed in his native England, but other than seeing a few of his works in the DECCA catalog, I knew little about this composer until Boston's local classical music station, WCRB began playing "By the River" from Delius' FLORIDA SUITE as what they like to call a "track to relax." I fell in love with the piece and wanted to add it to my collection, but had a hard time finding it, until I looked where else but the Naxos catalog and discovered this gem of a recording.. In FLORIDA SUITE, Delius is able to create an American feel to the music using the great attributes of the European classical tradition. The other tracks on the recording likewise demonstrate Delius' gifts as a composer. Delius's sound is a full and majestic one. One of the more curious tracks is an excerpt from his little known opera Koanga. The same techniques that made the other tracks beautiful likewise work in this operatic excerpt.

The English Northern Philharmonia under the direction of David Lloyd Jones honors their countryman well in this work. And, as so often is the case, Naxos delivers quality at a great price

The Florida Suite is one of the little known treasures of the orchestral repertoire. It is my favorite piece by Delius. It was published posthumously by Sir Thomas Beecham, whose Seraphim LP of the work was my first acquaintance with it. That was a glorious performance. I have CDs of the work by William Boughton, Sir Charles Mackerras, and the present one by David Lloyd-Jones. Lloyd-Jones is an excellent Delius conductor--there is another Naxos CD of him conducting popular works by the composer--and this performance is almost as good as Beecham's. It is lovingly played, and the excellent, full bodied digital sound adds immeasurably to one's Delian experience, especially as the piece is so lush and colorful. The shorter works on this CD, like the Florida Suite, come from early in Delius's career and are all interesting and well performed. It is a tragedy that, to the best of my knowledge, no American conductor has taken up the Florida Suite as a native inspiration. After all, Dvorak's New World Symphony is another work of American inspiration by a foreign composer, and audiences love to hear it. Maybe there is a place for the Florida Suite.

Listening to this cd brought back fond memories of the Elderhostel program I attended in January in St. Augustine at which we were introduced to this composer who lived in northern Florida for a time and was inspired to write several pieces based on his experiences there. A beautiful composition that seems seminal to works by Copeland.