TALL POPPIES RECORDS New and classical music by Australian composers and performers

David Stanhope: Live in Concert

In an era of ubiquitous digital streaming, it is good to be reminded of the energy and excitement of live performance. This concert, with its scintillating late-Romantic repertoire, recalls what a diet of studio recordings can leave out.

Franz Schreker’s Prelude to a Drama is one of the most gorgeous examples of late romanticism, written for a huge orchestra. Rachmaninoff’s last major work, Symphonic Dances, is as powerful as any other score by that composer. Both performances come from a single concert on 23 September 1999.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra was in fine form, giving virtually flawless accounts of both works, especially the Schreker, which none of the players had performed before. David Stanhope shows his mastery of this difficult repertoire – clarity, balance and expressive rubato.

Artists

No photograph: Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Sydney Symphony Orchestra

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney, with professional roots from the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1932 and the Sydney Opera House as its home concert hall since 1973.

No photograph: David Stanhope

David Stanhope

David Stanhope is an Australian conductor, composer and pianist whose career also takes in horn and bass trombone. He has led opera, ballet, film scores and orchestras across Australia, and is widely known for his wind-band and brass writing.

Photograph of Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music.

Tracks

  1. Prelude to a Drama (Sydney première) Franz Schreker 19:53
  2. Symphonic Dances Sergei Rachmaninoff

  3. Non Allegro 12:34
  4. Andante con moto (Tempo di valse) 9:37
  5. Lento Assai – Allegro Vivace 13:38

Performers

Contributors

Photograph of Belinda Webster

Cover photo

Belinda Webster

Belinda Webster is the founder of Tall Poppies Records and a leading Australian producer and recording engineer whose work has documented classical, contemporary and jazz performance across decades of catalogue releases.

No photograph: David Stanhope

Annotations

David Stanhope

David Stanhope is an Australian conductor, composer and pianist whose career also takes in horn and bass trombone. He has led opera, ballet, film scores and orchestras across Australia, and is widely known for his wind-band and brass writing.

Where to listen

David Stanhope: Live in Concert is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.

Product details

Catalogue number
TP274
Total playing time
55 minutes 42 seconds
Recording Engineer
Yossi Gabbay
Mastering Engineer
Christo Curtis
Venue
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
Credit
Belinda Webster
David Stanhope
Release date
Label
Tall Poppies
Musical work
copyright
© Tall Poppies Records
Sound recording
copyright
℗ Tall Poppies Records
Category
Great Classics
Genres
Romantic & Impressionist, Orchestral & Concerto
Barcode
EAN 9399001002740

Related recordings

Front cover art for Twenty-Five (DVD)

Twenty-Five (DVD)

After a break from the Chopin Op. 10 études and Godowsky studies, David Stanhope returns to some of the most fiendish piano repertoire: the Godowsky Studies on Chopin's Études, Op. 25.

Front cover art for Dracula

Dracula

Not only a world premiere, but the first opera commercially presented with a digital orchestra: David Stanhope’s Dracula, with two companion works.

Front cover art for Australian Premières, Vol. 1

Australian Premières, Vol. 1

None of these three Australian symphonies has ever been heard in public. Once you know them, their neglect is hard to explain. David Stanhope’s digital orchestra gives the scores a first hearing and makes their musical worth plain.

Front cover art for Australian Fantasia: Orchestral Works by David Stanhope

Australian Fantasia: Orchestral Works by David Stanhope

Orchestral works by David Stanhope and four of his transcriptions, realised with a digital orchestra. Apart from Olympic Fireworks, written for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games opening ceremony, these scores had not been heard in public performance.

Front cover art for Ten (DVD)

Ten (DVD)

David Stanhope returns to the keyboard for some of the most technically fiendish piano repertoire: Godowsky’s Studies on Chopin’s Études, Op. 10. Written to open up new possibilities of pianism, they still astonish modern listeners.

Front cover art for TEN

TEN

Making a welcome return to the keyboard, David Stanhope tackles some of the most technically fiendish repertoire in the piano literature – Godowsky’s Studies on Chopin’s Études Op. 10.