Sullivan: Gilbert And Sullivan Overtures

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Cat No: 8554165

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 636943416525

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: SULLIVAN

Description
Sir Arthur Sullivan(1842-1900)OverturesThe twelve overtures included in the present recording could not betterillustrate why the music of Arthur Sullivan, though very much of its own time,has survived so gloriously the changes of musical taste of the last hundredyears. There is little doubt that Gilbert's witty, satirical libretti proved amore effective stimulus to Sullivan's creativity than any lofty Victorian textor Biblical subject would ever do. Sullivan poured some of his very best musicinto the Savoy Operas and with the financial acumen for which he was well knownextracted these overtures to provide independent concert works and furthersupport for his expensive life-style.His partnership with W.S. Gilbert was so successful that the name Sullivanis now rarely mentioned by itself. Even his instrumental music, as in theseovertures, is often casually referred to as G. and S. This was certainlynot the case during much of Sullivan's lifetime, when he occupied an elevatedposition in the British musical establishment and was among the leading figuresof Victorian England.At the time England was described by some abroad as 'the land withoutmusic'. In retrospect this seems a harsh judgement. The Victorians, whetherconscious of this pejorative description or not, seemed unconcerned that theirmusical life was dominated by Austro-German music and Italian opera. Mozart,Haydn, Beethoven, Spohr, Mendelssohn, Rossini and Meyerbeer formed the staplediet of the concert-going middle classes. Amongst living composers Mendelssohnin particular occupied a special place in the affections of the British, fromthe Queen herself down to the members of the most provincial of choralsocieties.In his earliest works, incidental music to The Tempest and the Symphonyin E (The Irish), Sullivan was undoubtedly heavily influenced byMendelssohn, a trait that was variously deemed by the critics to be both afault and a virtue. Far from hampering his career, this enabled him relativelyearly in his career to achieve a uniquely popular position in English musicallife. Someone who could sound so like their beloved Mendelssohn yet had aBritish name was an irresistible combination. By the time he was thirtySullivan, son of a military bandmaster and professor at Kneller Hall, wasconducting his own music in the country's most fashionable concert-halls andachieving a successful hearing abroad. It may have been the ease with which heachieved this celebrity and the time that he needed to put aside for his sociallife, or perhaps the weighty responsibility of being seen as England's answerto the German and Viennese masters, but Sullivan soon withdrew from large-scalesymphonic composition to channel his talents into the light operatic works thathave lasted so well. Not that he deserted other musical forms entirely. Hisgood business head ensured that throughout the rest of his life there was asteady stream of shorter pieces that would be assured of wide circulation asprinted music; solo songs and
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