Arthur Bliss: Music for Strings (1935)

[@peterbuckley265]

IN 1961 AT 17 IN MY FIRST JOB AFTER SCHOOL WORKING FOR NOVELLO AND CO WARDOUR STREET LONDON, RETURNING FROM LUNCH ONE DAY I WAS ASKED TO TAKE A GUY UP IN THE HAND CRANKED LIFT. I WAS AFTERWARDS ASKED IF I KNEW WHO THE GUY IS AND I WAS ASTOUNDED TO BE TOLD THAT IT W WAS SIR ARTHUR BLISS, THE THEN MASTER OF ROYAL MUSIC. I MADE UP ORDERS OF SHEET MUSIC, MADE TEA AND WALKED TO MANY MUSIC PUBLISHERS TAKING AND COLLECTING SHEET MUSIC. SOME LUNCH TIMES WE LISTENED TO MUSIC ON A RADIO GRAM IN OUR RESAT ROOM AND I REMEMBER HEARING FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE RITE OF SPRING BY I STRAVINSKY. I ALSO PLAYED THE GRAND PIANO UPSTAIRS AND MET ONE OFTHE OWNERS OF NOVELLOS, A MEMBER OF THE LITTLETON FAMILY THEN, AND SWE CHATTED. THOSE WERE THE DAYS, 57 YEARS AGO.

[@porkyminch5131]

LITERALLY THE MOST UNREADABLE PIECE OF POOP I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! CAN YOU WRITE WITHOUT CAPS LOCK ON?

[@bugatti103]

nice flowing music,,,, reminds me of walton, and more modern elgar... bravo!

[@andrewlowewatson]

I discovered this wonderful work when I was about seventeen and struggling with being a young composer in the late seventies. This was the sort of music I longed to write - broad-arched, sweeping melodies, exciting dissonance rather than continual dodecaphonic tunelessness. I still get goosebumps at the cascade leading into the stirring second subject at 1.17. There I go again. What composer of 1977 could admit to liking 'stirring' music?

[@AshleyPomeroy]

+Andrew Lowe-Watson I was drawn to it from Things to Come - supposedly he composed this after a frustrating experience scoring that film, which might explain why it's so energetic.

[@baronmeduse]

Lots could. This idea they were all against 'stirring music' is mythology. I was there too.

[@transitny]

The last movement was very impressive. Great inventiveness.

[@ronaldbwoodall2628]

Not as "splashy" as Arnold or as serious as Alwyn, this music has an engaging charm and panache that is totally winning.