Bantock: Thalaba the Destroyer
Continuing Hyperion's pioneering Bantock series, Vernon Handley and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra provide another lavish feast for the senses. Bantock's musical language is heart-on-sleeve Romanticism sometimes colored by Oriental references with, nevertheless, an identifiably English accent. Vernon Handley's passionate advocacy of this music ensures committed performances from the RPO.Hyperion's recording is everything one has come to expect from this company, enabling detail to register fully within a natural perspective. The major part of the program is given over to the extended tone poemThalaba the Destroyer, but the other items are no less fascinating, from the evocation of the desert at night in the Prelude toOmar Khayyámthrough to the magically scored, powerful Processional and the Straussian-sounding Prelude toThe Song of Songs.Thalaba(1899) shows the clear influence of Tchaikovsky in its expressive and musical vocabulary. It is an involving musical tale worthy of more frequent performance in the concert hall. Thediscfrom the same forces that includes both the Celtic and Hebridean symphonies forms the ideal complement to this recording.--Colin Clarke