SIR MICHAEL TIPPETT "A Child Of Our Time, an Oratorio 2LP NM/VG+ BOX, Reissue UK

Description: Michael Tippett Biography by Stephen Kingsbury A composer who came to music relatively late in life, Sir Michael Tippett has come to be regarded as one of the most original and important British composers of the twentieth century. Tippett brought a highly individual interpretation to twentieth century neo-Classicism, writing in all the principal genres. His compositions are characterized by a strong rhythmic vitality and a complexity of the basically tonal harmonic language, and were a vehicle for the articulation of his personal views of philosophical, social, and personal issues. Tippett spent his childhood in Wetherden, a small village in Suffolk where his parents moved shortly after he was born. At the age of 13, he won a scholarship to Fettes College in Edinburgh. However, he disliked Fettes, and in 1920 transferred to Stamford Grammar School in Lincolnshire. Aside from piano lessons, Tippett received no musical training in his childhood. Despite this, after leaving Stamford, he expressed an interest in becoming a composer. At first, he decided to train as a professional pianist, staying on at Stamford so that he could continue to study with Frances Tinkler. However, in the summer of 1923 he left to begin study at London's Royal College of Music. While at the RCM, he studied composition with Charles Wood and C.H. Kitson, as well as piano with Aubin Raymar and conducting with Sargent and Boult. When he left the RCM in 1928, Tippett settled in Oxted, Surrey. In 1929, he asked to teach French part-time at the local preparatory school. Thus began a series of occupations, which gave him money to live on, as well as some freedom to compose. In 1930, he gave a concert of his own works, which he felt highlighted the relative immaturity of his technique. With this in mind, Tippett began to study counterpoint and free composition with R.O. Morris. Soon after completing his lessons with Morris, in July 1932, Tippett was asked to run the music at an annual work camp in north Yorkshire. Musically, these experiences were positive; however, for Tippett, a political leftist, the miserable conditions encountered at the work-camps inspired an even more radical commitment. Eventually, Tippett came to espouse a strictly pacifist viewpoint. He centered his activities for the unemployed in London at Morley College, where in 1933 he was asked to conduct what later became the South London Orchestra, a group formed specifically to give unemployed musicians the opportunity to continue playing. A year later he also began conducting two choirs which were run by the Royal Arsenal Cooperative Society. In the summer of 1940 the South London Orchestra was disbanded. In October, after Morley College was almost destroyed in an air raid and the director of music was evacuated from London, Tippett was asked to become director of music. In November 1940, Tippett joined the Peace Pledge Union. After he received his call-up papers he registered as a conscientious objector. His case was heard in 1942, and he was ordered to non-combatant military duties. Tippett refused to comply, believing that he could best serve his country as a musician. He was sentenced to three months imprisonment, but qualified for a one-third remission. In 1951 Tippett resigned from Morley College. Aside from working as a broadcaster at the BBC, he devoted himself entirely to composition. Tippett was knighted in 1966, and in 1979 he was made a Companion of Honour. He died peacefully at home on January 8, 1998. Description by Alexander Carpenter A Child of our Time is an oratorio, scored for soloists, chorus, and orchestra. The history of its genesis is both fascinating and complex. As early as the years following World War I, Tippett had begun to plan out a musical work that would give voice to his empathy for the exploited and downtrodden. Further inspired by the terrible effects of unemployment in England in the 1930s, Tippett planned to write an opera on the theme of rejection. He considered the Easter Rising in 1916 in Dublin for his subject, but quickly abandoned the idea as too difficult to dramatize. By the mid-1930s, Tippett had decided to write an oratorio rather than an opera, but it was not until 1938 that he found the subject for his drama: the Nazi pogroms in Germany and Austria precipitated by the assassination of a German diplomat by a young Jew. The title of the oratorio was taken from German author Odon von Horvath's novel that recounts the bleak misfortunes of a young Nazi soldier who suffers for his compassion and idealism. While Tippett's inspiration for the text of the oratorio was derived from specific events in history, the work avoids direct reference to any particular historical moment: Tippett sought to create a drama that was timeless, rather than political -- a work that spoke more generally to the harshness of human oppression. After conceiving of the basic idea, Tippett asked T.S. Eliot to write a suitable libretto; Eliot refused, and so Tippett resolved to write the text himself. In its final form, the libretto contains a mixture of Jungian themes (inspired by Tippett's study of Jungian psychoanalysis) and Negro spirituals, whose emotional power and universality the composer found perfectly suited to the oratorio's theme. Tippett studied the oratorios of Handel and Bach for inspiration, and he in fact borrowed one of Bach's chorales to form the backbone of his own oratorio. Primarily, however, A Child of our Time represents Tippett's desire to blend the essential qualities of Negro spirituals with features of his own style. The music, then, reflects the rhythmic and melodic style of the spirituals, but also Tippett's own complex harmonic language. In order to blend the contrasting idioms -- the simple diatonic harmonies of the spirituals and Tippett's more chromatic, contrapuntal writing -- Tippett chose a single melodic interval -- the minor third -- found frequently in the chosen spirituals, and used it as the motivic basis for the oratorio. In terms of overarching form, the work is in three parts, with an introductory orchestral prelude. Tippett follows the model of Bach and Handel by alternating sections of narrative recitative with more expansive choral pieces and solo arias. Tippett* – A Child Of Our Time Sir Michael Tippett - A Child Of Our Time album cover More images Label:Argo (2) – ZDA 19/20 Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Reissue, Stereo, Box Set Country:UK Released: Genre:Classical Style:Modern A Child Of Our Time APart I BPart II CPart III DRitual Dances From "The Midsummer Marriages" Choir – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir (tracks: A to C) Conductor – John Pritchard Orchestra – Royal Opera House, Covent Garden* (tracks: D), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (tracks: A to C) Vocals – Elsie Morison (tracks: A to C), Pamela Bowden (tracks: A to C), Richard Lewis (3) (tracks: A to C), Richard Standen (tracks: A to C) GOLDMINE GRADING MINT ---- It should appear to be perfect. No scuffs or scratches, blotches or stains, labels or writing, tears or splits. Mint means perfect. NEAR MINT ---- Otherwise mint but has one or two tiny inconsequential flaws that do not affect play. Covers should be close to perfect with minor signs of wear or age just becoming evident: slight ring-wear, minor denting to a corner, or writing on the cover should all be noted properly. VERY GOOD PLUS ---- The record has been handled and played infrequently or very carefully. Not too far from perfect. On a disc, there may be light paper scuffs from sliding in and out of a sleeve or the vinyl or some of the original luster may be lost. A slight scratch that did not affect play would be acceptably VG+ for most collectors. VERY GOOD ---- Record displays visible signs of handling and playing, such as loss of vinyl luster, light surface scratches, groove wear and spindle trails. Some audible surface noise, but should not overwhelm the musical experience. Usually a cover is VG when one or two of these problems are evident: ring wear, seam splits, bent corners, loss of gloss, stains, etc. GOOD ---- Well played with little luster and significant surface noise. Despite defects, record should still play all the way through without skipping. Several cover flaws will be apparent, but should not obliterate the artwork.POOR ---- Any record or cover that does not qualify for the above "Good" grading should be seen as Poor. Several cover flaws.

Price: 13.5 USD

Location: Saginaw, Michigan

End Time: 2025-01-19T00:45:26.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7 USD