Search - Frank Bridge, Charles Groves, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic :: Frank Bridge: The Sea / Summer / Cherry Ripe / Enter Spring / Lament

Enter Spring is one of the greatest 20th C Orchestral works

i.jenkins@virgin.net | Goring on Thames, England | 01/15/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While most people buying this will get it for an English evocation of Debussy's La Mer, the important work is without a doubt the symphonic poem Enter Spring. Put a 20th Century English composer and a pastoral subject together and many people will imagine cows chewing the cud, looking over a farm gate. This music will dispel that image. Frank Bridge's Enter Spring arrives with a crash and a wallop and is here to stay. This is mature music unlike anything else in the repertoire. Moments of violence announcing the arrival of Spring, pushing Winter into the past with the force of Mother Nature rub shoulders with poetic moments that send a shiver down the spine. If the sound of Bridge's birdsong (oboe and flute) after the initial disruption doesn't bring a tear to your eye and a quiver to your backbone, then you are surely cold blooded!Althogh this analogue recording dates from the 1970's, it surpasses any subsequent recordings, particularly the Pearl record with John Carewe who play a flat note at a key moment and kill the performance. This is Continental music created by a talented Briton."

Mostly fine music, great performances

P. Weber | Los Angeles | 01/23/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I don't agree with the other review claiming that Enter Spring is a masterpiece. I largely prefer The Sea, a wonderful and evocative work that is far preferable to the astringent Enter Spring - and I'm not a cold person! Summer is also a beautiful work that entices the ear. Throw in Cherry Ripe and you have three nice works that are well crafted and appealing. Lament is rather a bore. Groves does a great job in these works and is accorded fine sound by EMI."