Granville Bantock (1868-1946)


Omar Khayyam 171:31
The Ruba'iyat according to Edward Fitzgerald set to Music
for Three Solo Voices, Chorus, and Orchestra in Three Parts

Principals:
The Beloved - Contralto
The Poet - Tenor
The Philosopher - Baritone
Chorus

COMPACT DISC ONE
Part I (beginning)
1 [Prelude -] 5:54
2 Chorus: 'Wake! For the Sun, who scattered into flight' - 2:08
3 Chorus: 'Before the phantom of false morning died' - 2:28
4 The Poet: 'And as the cock crew, those who stood before' - 2:20
5 The Poet: 'Now the new year reviving old desires' - 1:45
6 The Poet: 'Iram indeed is gone with all his rose' - 2:25
7 Chorus: 'Whether at Naishápúr or Babylon' - 2:14
8 The Beloved: 'Each morn a thousand roses brings, you say' - 1:34
9 The Poet: 'With me along the strip of herbage strown' - 6:49
10 Chorus: 'Some for the glories of this world; and some' - 2:06
11 The Beloved: 'Look to the blowing Rose about us - 'Lo''' - 1:32
12 Chorus: 'Think, in this battered caravanserai' - 2:09
13 The Poet: 'I sometimes think that never blows so red' - 1:59
14 The Poet: 'Ah, my Beloved, fill the cup that clears' - 1:55
15 Chorus: 'Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend' - 2:57
16 The Beloved: 'Alike for those who for To-day prepare' - 2:46
17 The Philosopher: 'Myself when young did eagerly frequent' - 2:33
18 Chorus: 'What, without asking, hither hurried Whence?' - 1:21
19 The Poet: 'Up from earth's centre through the seventh gate' - 2:51
20 Chorus: 'Earth could not answer; nor the seas that mourn' - 2:25
21 The Poet: 'Then of THEE IN ME who works behind' - 0:52
22 The Poet: 'Then to the lip of this poor earthen urn' - 2:34
23 The Philosopher: 'I think the vessel, that with fugitive' 2:23
58:14
COMPACT DISC TWO
Part I (conclusion)
1 The Beloved: 'As then the tulip for her morning sup' - 3:39
2 The Beloved: 'So when that Angel of the darker drink' - 2:18
3 Chorus: ''Tis but a tent where takes his one day's rest' - 2:32
4 The Beloved and the Poet: 'When you and I behind the veil are past' - 4:01
5 [Interlude:] The Desert - 1:35
6 The Caravan - 2:58
7 Chorus: 'A moment's halt - a momentary taste' - 3:35
8 The Philosopher: 'Would you that spangle of Existence spend' - 2:37
9 The Philosopher: 'A moment guessed - then back behind the fold' - 2:34
10 Chorus: 'Waste not your hour, nor in the vain pursuit' - 4:09
11 Chorus: 'Better be jocund with the fruitful grape' 2:59

Part II
12 The Philosopher: 'You know, my Friends, with what a brave carouse' - 2:11
13 The Philosopher: 'Ah, but my computations, people say' - 1:40
14 The Philosopher and Chorus: 'and 'twas - the Grape!' - 2:42
Chorus: 'The Grape that can with logic absolute' -
15 Chorus: 'The mighty Mahmúd, Allah-breathing Lord' - 3:38
16 The Philosopher: 'Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare' - 1:29
17 The Philosopher: 'I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must' - 1:42
18 Chorus: 'Oh threats of Hell and hopes of Paradise!' - 3:17
19 Chorus: 'The Revelation of devout and learn'd' - 1:47
20 Chorus: 'We are no other than a moving row' - 3:19
21 The Beloved: 'The Moving finger writes; and, having writ' - 1:41
22 The Beloved and the Poet: 'And that inverted bowl we call the sky' - 1:36
23 The Poet: 'With Earth's first clay they did the last man knead' - 2:10
24 The Philosopher: 'I tell you this - when, started from the goal' - 3:30
25 The Beloved, the Poet and the Philosopher: 'What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke' - 4:41
26 Chorus, the Beloved, the Poet and the Philosopher: 'Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin' - 1:46
27 Chorus, the Beloved, the Poet and the Philospher: 'Oh Thou, who Man of baser earth didst make' 2:36
73:08
COMPACT DISC THREE
Part III
1 Introduction 'The Fast of Ramazán' - 2:47
2 Worshippers in the Mosque - 4:10
3 The Philosopher: 'As under cover of departing day' - 1:00
4 Chorus: 'Shapes of all sorts and sizes, great and small' - 2:07
5 First Pot: 'Said one among them - 'Surely not in vain'' - 6:36
6 Chorus: 'So while the vessels one by one were speaking' - 1:55
7 The Philosopher: 'Ah, with the grape my fading life provide' - 2:26
8 The Philosopher: 'Indeed the idol I have loved so long' - 1:48
9 The Philosopher: 'And much as wine has play'd the infidel' - 2:14
10 The Poet: 'Yet ah, that Spring should vanish with the rose!' - 2:35
11 The Poet: 'Would but the desert of the fountain yield' - 6:34
12 Chorus, the Beloved, the Poet and the Philosopher: 'Yon rising moon that looks for us again' - 1:33
13 Chorus, the Beloved, the Poet and the Philosopher: 'And when like her, oh Sáki, you shall pass' 4:15
40:09
Catherine Wyn-Rogers mezzo-soprano
Toby Spence tenor
Roderick Williams baritone
with
Olivia Robinson soprano (First Pot)
Siân Menna mezzo-soprano (Second Pot)
Edward Price bass (Sixth Pot)
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Vernon Handley
Recorded in:
Watford Colosseum
1 and 2 October 2005 & 17 and 18 February 2007
Producer(s)
Brian Couzens
Sound Engineer(s)
Ralph Couzens
Michael Common (Assistant: October 2005)
Jonathan Cooper (Assistant: February 2007)
Format: DDD
Bit Rate: DSD