John Foulds: Three Mantras

John Foulds (Composer), Sakari Oramo (Conductor), Susan Bickley (Performer), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Susan Bickley
• Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Sakari Oramo
• Composer: John Foulds
• Audio CD (January 25, 2005)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Classics
• ASIN: B0002VE20G
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #213,052 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Mantra I (Of Action And Vision Of Terrestrial Avataras) - Impetuoso

2. Mantra II (Of Bliss And Vision Of Celestial Avataras) - Beatamente - City Of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus

3. Mantra III (Of Will And Vision Of Cosmic Avataras) - Inesorabile

4. I. Lento - Allegro Commodo - Susan Bickley

5. II. Largo - Quasi Allegretto Piacevole - Susan Bickley

6. I. Quasi Funebre - Daniel Hope

7. II. Poco Meno - Daniel Hope

8. III. Andante Lento - Daniel Hope

9. IV. Tempo Della Prima Stanza - Daniel Hope

10. I. Largo

11. II. Moderato

12. III. Lento Assai - Allegro Molto

13. IV. Presto

14. V. Lento Giusto - Adagio

15. VI. Moderato Trionfale

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the other reviews, September 6, 2006

By 

Douglas M. May - See all my reviews
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This review is from: John Foulds: Three Mantras (Audio CD)

Finding fault with this music because it fails to accurately incarnate the devices of an exotic musical culture completely misses the point. If this is musical kitsch, then so is The Dance of the Seven Veils and Mahler's employment of Chinese pentatonic scales in Das Lied Von Der Erde, not to mention such distant antecedents as the Alla Turca movement from the Mozart A Major variation sonata. In each case, the music should be judged for what it is and not as a failed attempt at ethnomusicological reconstruction.

Secondly, how could anyone compare this with contemporary New Age music when it obviously eschews the repetitive harmonic devices of trance music and demonstrates a modulatory dynamism typical of turn-of-the-century composers? And finally, if you're going to hold a Victorian composer responsible for 1980s soundtracks, then why not pillory Mahler for having given birth to Max Steiner?

I first heard Foulds' music 20 years ago on a Pearl recording of the Quartetto Intimo by the Endellion Quartet, and I was enthralled by the sheer technical finish of the music and the composer's investigation of such esoteric devices as quarter-tones in an enriched diatonic context. His is an original voice, although it is an eclectic originality that doesn't hit you over the head with the sheer invention of a Janacek or Stravinsky.

Nevertheless, anyone who enjoys British music of the 20's and 30's will probably find something to admire here. Foulds may not "sound" exotic in the Three Mantras but his use of microtones, Eastern scales, polyrhythms and even metrical modulation (in the first Mantra)is in fact quite forward-looking. Certainly there is nothing in Vaughan Williams, Walton or Bax that resembles it. The other pieces are just as beautifully scored, but not as inventive in their musical content. The Apotheosis comes right out of the world of the Dvorak romances. The Lyra Keltica (NOT the Keltic Lament) seems to invoke the vocalise passages in the VW Pastoral Symphony and ends in an absolutely rapt coda in which the vocalist stretches her wordless cantilena around whole tones, microtones and quarter-tones (Susan Bickley does it effortlessly). "Mirage" is the most derivatively Straussian, but certainly is beautifully scored and contains many inspired passages of woodwind writing.

Although there are passing references to Strauss and Scriabin, the cooler flames of Elgar, Bax, Bridge and Howells are much in evidence. I also hear Pingoud, Raitio and Merikanto in some of Foulds' orchestral textures, and it is probably no coincidence that a Finnish conductor, Sakari Oramo, has produced the best recordings to date of Foulds' music--with apologies to the old Barry Wordsworth LPO performances on Lyrita.

Demonstration-class sound and highly recommended.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Relatively Unknown British Composer: Some Thoughtful Insights, May 26, 2006

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: John Foulds: Three Mantras (Audio CD)

John Foulds is not a name that leaps to the top of lists of even the more inquisitive surveyors of British music, but taking the time to listen carefully to his compositions as excerpted on this well-recorded CD gives notice of another influence on the now ubiquitous groups of composers devoted to the influence of Eastern music on Western compositions. Britten did it with his gamelan-inspired works (even including his final 'Death in Venice') while other composers still living (Arvo Part, Tan Dun, Unsuk Chin, Philip Glass, Andres Hillborg etc) continue to mine the sounds and techniques of reproduction on old instruments and melodies. Foulds, while not a great composer, did do is part in influencing the trend in his time.

Of the works here recorded the 'Three Mantras' from 'Avatara' (his abandoned Sanskrit opera) show a gift for orchestration that rivals Strauss. His 'Lyra Celtica, concerto for voice & orchestra is well performed Susan Bickley in an extended wordless vocalise. His 'Apotheosis (Elegy), for violin & orchestra is likewise performed with great dignity by the gifted violinist Daniel Hope. And the collection concludes with the huge 'music poem' Mirage, for orchestra. For a composer who died in 1939 his music is quite progressive and deserves more exposure.

Sakari Oramo conducts the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in a committed fashion, obviously with deep respect for a composer who is all but unknown today. This is a far more interesting CD than is being credited, and for those who are eager to know more about 20th century composers who have been neglected, this is a fine selection to try. Grady Harp, May 06

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Romantic Masterpieces, October 31, 2006

By 

D. A Wend (Arlington Heights, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: John Foulds: Three Mantras (Audio CD)

I got to know John Foulds music through the second CD that was recorded by the CBSO and Sakari Oramo, which led me to get the first. John Foulds was an accomplished and remarkable man whose music - it surprises me - has been unjustly forgotten. The earliest work on this disc, from 1909, is the fourth music-poem Apotheosis, an elegy for orchestra and violin dedicated to the memory of Joseph Joachim. Cast in a single movement, the music is divided into five stanzas and contains allusions to the violin concertos of Beethoven and Brahms. The music begins with a funeral march that is heard again later in the work.

The fifth Music-Poem Mirage was completed in 1910 and is scored for a large orchestra and has six sections which were given titles indicating the philosophical program of the music such as "Immutable Nature" and "Man's ever-ambition." Oddly, the music was rehearsed by the Halle Orchestra but never was played during Fold's lifetime. The music is passionately Romantic with illusions to Wagner and Richard Strauss. A work that aimed at a wider audience was the Lyra Celtica (Celtic Lyre) - a concerto for voice and orchestra. It is an unfinished work with two complete movements with a third partially completed. It is a beautiful and mysterious piece but will not be to everyone's taste as the wordless voice is a work of this length (16:11) can become monotonous.

The Three Mantras come from an abandoned Sandskrit opera called Avatara which was written during the 1920s. The Three Mantras are all of the music that survives from the opera and represents the preludes to each of the three acts and represent the action that will take place. The Mantras work well as concert works with Mantra I a highly energetic toccata representing the theme of activity followed by a movement representing bliss; a peaceful movement that includes a chorus of wordless women's voices. Mantra III, representing Will, returns to the shattering energy of the first movement. The movement contains Foulds' most complex and explosive music.

The music is beautifully recorded and performed. If you like the music of Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler and do not know John Foulds you will probably be pleasantly surprised.