Fantasia for Orchestra, by George Butterworth

[@davidsevenbros3065]

All the lovely fingerprints of Butterworth are here. I'm tasting once again the wonder of his music first heard in "The Banks of Green Willow". Kudos to Mr. Yates for taking the precious little that Butterworth left behind before going to France to fight...and die, and making these sketches something for the ages.

[@roberthiggins9842]

A beautiful piece of music. I am so glad to have discovered it. Thank you!

[@bazzit1]

This is a really beautiful addition to the Butterworth canon - thank you so much for posting!

[@movingcow]

Really lovely, just what my heart needs right now. Thank you for posting. Peace and love x

[@R08Tam]

A life cut far too short. What might he have given us had he survived that hideous war.

[@gabrieru1983]

Lovely

[@jpa244]

A music full of hope...

[@alancat2705]

he did a piano piece called Firle Beacon which he played one night for Vaughan Williams ,and according to R.V.W. it was a masterpiece !......I have never heard it played and don't know if the music still MS form is in existence !......a pity if not !

[@CorentinBoissier]

Somewhere between Hamilton Harty and the best of Arnold Bax. Do not forget to listen to his masterpiece : "A Shropshire Lad", version for orchestra (1915). Corentin Boissier (collectionCB, collectionCB2, collectionCB3 & collectionCB4)

[@lowefinney]

Great piece. Would say that Yates captured the British pastoral feel that Butterworth was aiming at.

[@TimLake-tg7hg]

There is no such thing as British Pastoral.. The term for all of this English music is English Pastoral.

[@jenniferbate9682]

Echoes of My Bonny Boy throughout....🌷

[@TimLake-tg7hg]

No way.. This is English music...

[@TimLake-tg7hg]

Beautiful.. So beautiful and so poignant that he gave his life so young for the freedom of mankind.. And poignant also that we believe he was probably gay when it was illegal in England.. He was a creative sensitive man.. You can't help feeding some love and affinity

[@TimLake-tg7hg]

Feeling

[@pabmusic1]

Nice enough, but there really is not enough to make a performing version out of. The total length of the remaining score is about 90 bars, which takes about 3' 30" to play. The last 12 bars are Vivace (you'd never guess that from this piece, would you?). From this, Martin Yates has constructed a piece of 16' 38". That alone tells you how much added stuff there is. It would be so much better to here the unrecorded Suite for String Quartet, which also exists in a decent arrangement for small orchestra.

[@AGD55]

So which three and a half minutes is pure Butterworth ?

[@pabmusic1]

@@AGD55 The first 4' 15" or so. It's slower than marked (poco allegretto, and vivace) and Yates has added a few bars at the beginning to cover the gap in the score (wher there's a note "see short score"). That's all.

[@AGD55]

@@pabmusic1 much appreciated, and after four years too !!

[@pabmusic1]

@@AGD55 Only just noticed it.

[@pabmusic1]

@@AGD55 If you are interested, this piece of mine does contain all the surviving Fantasia. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3WraZiLlrZ2gK8 The bulk is from 45:42-49:30, and the 11 bars of vivace are at 27:09-27:20. The scoring is for a reduced orchestra. It's really a complete half of a programme, though its only performance was a sort of son et lumière production. I haven't used the recording of that performance, so this is computerised. And because it's computerised there's no singer or narrator, and the words have to appear as an autocue - which is les than ideal. But you might find it interesting.