McCabe: Edward II [Import]

John [1] McCabe (Composer), Barry Wordsworth (Conductor), Royal Ballet Sinfonia (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Royal Ballet Sinfonia
• Conductor: Barry Wordsworth
• Composer: John [1] McCabe
• Audio CD (May 9, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B00004SSJ3
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #563,546 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Ballet Music Is Getting Better !, October 3, 2011

By 

James S. Eisenberg - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: McCabe: Edward II (Audio CD)

John McCabe began his career as a composer very much part of the powerful group of serial writers that stood at the center of British musical life in the late 1960s and early 1970s.(Lutyens, Searle, Goehr, Birtwistle, Maxwell Davies etc.) Over the years he dropped strict serial ideas in favor of a kind of free atonality which occasionally, when expressively apt, will settle comfortably into a traditional tonality.
For the ballet EDWARD II, based on Marlowe, Brecht and 'Le Roman De Fauvel', about England's (probably) bisexual king, he has created a large scale thematically integrated score of over 90 minutes duration. The music is beautiful and engrossing from beginning to end.
The Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Barry Wordsworth plays the difficult music magnificently.
The sound recording is excellent, and the liner notes, full of interesting information about the historic Edward II and about McCabe's music are first rate.