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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

The Great War Symphony


NigelS

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Never having heard of Mr Hawes, I`ve been listening to a selection of his music on Youtube but found it rather anodyne to my admittedly uncultured ear. Can you point to something that gives us hope that the Great War Symphony will be "music to our ears"? :unsure:

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  • 3 years later...

This work had it's World Premiere as the second half of the "Classic FM Live" Concert at the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday last, 9th October.

 

I was there, but were any other Pals there as well? I have my own views on the piece, and I'd like to know what others thought, please.

 

Thank you.  

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  • 3 weeks later...

As there have been no replies, I assume that there were no other Pals there on the night or who listened to the concert when it was played on Classic FM a couple of days later.

 

As I said, I have my views on it, so here goes. The first half of the concert was excellent, with several of my favourite pieces "I was Glad", "Hymn to the Fallen", "Mars" and "Nimrod" being performed very well by everyone concerned. There was also a premiere in the first half, too; this was "Songs of the Brave" by Major Craig Hallatt, which is a mixture of three popular songs from the First World War ("Tipperary", "Pack up your Troubles" & "Keep the Home Fires Burning") along with extracts from "Mars" and "I Vow to Thee My Country" - and very good it was too.

 

Now, on to the "The Great War Symphony" …. and I have to say that I was quite disappointed with it. Generally, whenever I listen to music, the last piece is listen to remains with my and I find myself humming it for a while after. Sadly, this wasn't the case here, and it's fair to say that I can't remember any of the music apart from "Onward Christian Soldiers" which, of course, isn't new. Having said that, the performance by the orchestra and the various choirs was excellent - it's a shame that what they were performing wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

 

One other thing affected my enjoyment, and that was the films being shown on the big screens around the hall during the performance. They were supposed to provide the context of what actually happened during the War, but whilst they were interesting, they weren't as good as they might have been. Some of the films were, in fact, repeated, so they weren't as effective as they should have been. To be honest, I'd have preferred it if the words that were being sung had been displayed, because then I'd have been able to work out where we were in the piece. I couldn't use the programme to do this, because it was, of course, dark - so I was uncertain for most of the time because a lot of the pieces were unfamiliar.   

 

Finally, isn't the Royal Albert Hall a magnificent arena? it's a long time since I went there to a concert and this part at least wasn't a disappointment.

 

Does anyone have any comments, please?  

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I bought the CD during the week, I’ve not had a chance to listen too it. 

 

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I have been thinking about buying the CD and listening to it whilst reading the works that have been used for it.

 

This may change my views - but we'll see!

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