
The Europadisc Review
Delius - A Mass of Life
Mark Elder, Roderick Williams (baritone), Gemma Summerfield (soprano), Claudia Huck...
£14.95
Given its German text and the composer’s own German roots, Delius’s A Mass of Life – arguably his greatest masterpiece – might seem an odd choice of work for Mark Elder to take to Bergen in his new capacity as principal guest conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Norway, however, was not only for much of his life Delius’s spiritual home (he even built a summerhouse in Gudbrandsdalen, some 435 miles inland from Bergen), but also the place where he first read (or, in Eric Fenby’s words, ‘devoured’) the book that provided the work’s text: Friedrich Nietzsche’s Also sprach Zarathustra. I... read more
Given its German text and the composer’s own German roots, Delius’s A Mass of Life – arguably his greatest masterpiece – might seem an odd choice of work for Mark Elder to take to Bergen in his new capacity as principal guest conductor of the Bergen ... read more
Delius - A Mass of Life

Mark Elder, Roderick Williams (baritone), Gemma Summerfield (soprano), Claudia Huckle (contralto), Bror Magnus Todenes (tenor), Bergen Philharmonic Choir, Edvard Grieg Kor, Collegium Musicum Choir, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
The Spin Doctor Europadisc's Weekly Column

Who is the Greatest of Them All? 29th November 2023
29th November 2023
It was probably in 1999 that I became aware of the scale of the problem and the sheer stupidity of it all: HMV stores (remember those?) and the UK’s Channel 4 network teamed up (together with minor input from Classic FM) to conduct a poll to determine the ‘Music of the Millennium’. Well, it was asking for trouble, wasn’t it? A millennium: that’s a thousand years by normal reckoning. Yet with the sole exception of the ‘Best Piece of Classical Music’* and ‘Best Classical Composer’** categories, the entire poll was dominated by music of the previous four decades. In a millennial context, the choices looked desperately myopic. Best Songwriter (of the Millennium, remember): John Lennon; of Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann, not a whiff, let alone Guillaume de Machaut or Josquin Desprez. Best Male Singer? Elvis Presley, followed by Robbie Williams and Michael Jackson. Sorry about... read more