“If we seek for a definite birthday for modern English music, September 7, 1880, which Prometheus saw the light at Gloucester…has the best claim.”
Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918) is one of Britain’s best-loved composers but his larger works for chorus and orchestra, though popular in their day, have been astonishingly overlooked in recent years. Yet they were not only hugely important works in the development of British music (see musicologist Ernest Walker's comment above) but also superb compositions in their own right. The London English Song Festival & William Vann’s critically-acclaimed revival of Judith at Royal Festival Hall in 2019, subsequently recorded and released by Chandos Records in 2020 and shortlisted for a Gramophone award, began to set that record straight and we are delighted to be able to continue flying the standard for Parry’s music.
Prometheus Unbound, written for the Gloucester Festival in 1880, is a powerful and dramatic work, strongly influenced by Wagner yet showing clear signs of Parry’s developing, individual compositional voice.
The critic H. C. Colles wrote:
“Prometheus shows a sense of forceful declamation which English music had not known since Purcell.”
Yet it has never been recorded, and not performed for several decades. A stunning line-up has been assembled for our recording this September on Chandos Records, including some of the finest British singing talent, with which we will restore this work to the contemporary musical consciousness once more. We will also create performance materials, and actively promote future performances across the UK and worldwide. The costs of the whole project are £57,000, and we need to raise a further £8,000 to make our total.
We would be most grateful for your support of this recording, one of the most important in the field of British music for many years. There are several tiers of sponsorship which receive various rewards in return, but all of our supporters are valued, whatever they are able to give.
Prometheus Unbound
- Scenes from Shelley’s poem of the same name
C. Hubert H. Parry (1848-1918)
Recording for Chandos Records
St Jude-on-the-Hill,Hampstead
8th-10th September 2022
Sarah Fox soprano: Spirit of the Hour (see insert picture)
Dame Sarah Connolly DBE mezzo-soprano: The Earth
David Butt Philip tenor: Jupiter & Mercury
Neal Davies bass-baritone: Prometheus
Crouch End Festival Chorus
London Mozart Players
William Vann conductor
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch directly via email: [email protected].
Please note that I will be taking no fee for any of my work on this project.