Love It Or Loathe It

Ron Mitchell

"In his orchestral and chamber music Robert Schumann has the annoying habit of repeating phrases of music note for note. Here, for example, at the beginning of the Finale of his third string quartet, are seven short phrases, three of which are exact repetitions of the previous one."

Play on YouTube

On Spotify:

David Fisher

David hates all the Dvořák symphonies, but especially number 9 From the New World, and even more especially the famous cor anglais solo in the slow movement:

But he loves the wonderful singing of Marilyn Horne. In Rossini's L‘Italiana in Algeri she exhibits her ability to sing up to soprano and down to baritone in the same aria.

Neil Crutchley

Neil loathes Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. "It's plainly a rip-off from Janáček's Sinfonietta, of which it is a pale imitation."

But he loves this 1964 recording of The Rapture from Finzi’s Dies Natalis, conducted by the composer's son and beautifully sung by Wilfred Brown. "And you will hear every word!"

Sue Bland

Instead of giving us a recording Sue opted to play her choice herself on the Keene Room piano! She introduced it as follows:

"Nimrod is the name given to the ninth and best known of Edward Elgar’s fourteen Enignma Variations, composed between 1898 and 1899. Nimrod is a ‘great hunter’ in the Old Testament; ‘Jaeger’ in German means ‘hunter’.

"It is a portrait of Augustus J. Jaeger, Elgar’s friend, editor and publisher. The serene variation represents the years of advice and encouragement given to Elgar by his friend who supported him throughout depressive periods and lack of confidence in his work. Solemn and evocative, Nimrod consists of long phrases of swelling dynamics and undulating melody and many downward intervals of a seventh (which I love so much!), before reaching its emotional climax.

"Elgar’s Enigma Variations, and Nimrod in particular, have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Nimrod is played at the Proms, major state and memorial events in the UK and at royal funerals. Its swelling, noble melody is a profound expression of love, friendship and quiet strength. The piano version I'm about to play has been arranged by Edward Elgar himself."

Stuart Emmerson

"I love Elgar’s music and I love piano concertos, so putting those two things together you will understand that I really love Elgar’s piano concerto. Just like his 3rd symphony (three movements of), it was left in pieces post mortem, and was subsequently ‘assembled’" (bit like doing a musical jigsaw puzzle!) by Elgar scholar Robert Walker, recorded with pianist David Owen Norris and a BBC orchestra, and issued on CD by the Elgar Society." Stuart said the change from minor to major after two minutes or so is “like the sun emerging from the clouds on a dull day on the Malvern Hills”.

There is a version of the concerto combining two other recordings on YouTube.

Robert Calow

Korngold’s Symphony was written after the Second World War when his film music had fallen out of favour. Robert got the Bardi Orchestra to play it on their workshop day. This one is both Love and Loathe: the Bardi strings hated it but the winds and brass loved it! Robert loves it.

Roger Wheeler

Roger said that when he was a child his father would often play the recording of this song by Richard Tauber, which Roger did not like. However he does love this recording with the Count Basie Orchestra. He tantalised us by not naming the singer before playing the recording, but from the first note he sang, everyone recognised the unmistakable voice of Frank Sinatra, in Without a Song.

This recording does not seem to be on YouTube, but here is another.

And here is the Richard Tauber version which Roger detested. What do you think?