Much of the music of Sir Arthur Bliss creates a mood for, illustrates, or 
comments upon highly charged dramatic situations and deep tragedies: An 
especially good case in point is his remarkable choral symphony about war, 
warriors, and their deaths, Morning Heroes. It seems almost perverse to say that 
such music can be extraordinarily enjoyable. Aristotle addressed the problem 
long ago, suggesting that the catharsis we experience in contemplating powerful 
tragedy such as (to use modern examples) King Lear or the ballet Miracle in the 
Gorbals might somehow enrich us.

Shortly after the ballet premiered in 1945 English Columbia released on 78s a 
short orchestral suite that later occupied one side of a 10" LP, with Constant 
Lambert conducting the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. In the mid 50s the 
composer led the Philharmonia Orchestra in a longer suite of 10 numbers (Angel 
35136, with Music for Strings). In 1976 came the first stereo recording of this 
longer suite, with Paavo Berglund leading the Bournemouth Symphony (EMI ASD 
3342, with Bliss's Cello Concerto; reissued on EMI Studio CDM 7 69388 2, with 
Bliss's Edinburgh Overture and Colour Symphony).

Now at last we have the complete score of Miracle in the Gorbals (37:21), six 
numbers and 10 minutes longer than the suite recorded by Bliss and Berglund. No 
mere fillers, these numbers contribute to both the musical continuity and the 
overall proportions of the work. Especially important is the music for the evil 
Official, as important to this story as Iago is to Othello. Because Bliss has 
developed recurring motifs and themes that grow organically out of the material 
in his overture, this complete version is preferable by far to the suite, fine 
as it is. And the Queensland orchestra, under the knowing guidance of veteran 
conductor Lyndon-Gee, plays with dash, panache, and soul-stirring power. The 
next to last number, "The Killing of the Stranger," brings forth a stunning cry 
of anguish and horror from the orchestra; the dirgelike epilog, reworking the 
material of the overture, ends in a wrenchingly mournful D Minor.

Equally stirring, though by design more episodic, are the selections of Sir 
Arthur's music for the 1936 science fiction film after H. G. Wells, Things to 
Come (11:40). And, though there is no story line, the excellent Discourse for 
Orchestra (18:05) is also powerful music, demonstrating again the skill of the 
composer in taking an interesting if fragmentary theme and developing it in a 
wide variety of ways. Like Miracle in the Gorbals these recordings of Discourse 
and Things to Come are premieres in a partial but important ways. Robert Whitney 
and the Louisville Orchestra recorded the Discourses, which they premiered in 
1957, but this is the first recording of the composer's considerably revised 
version of 1965. Bliss arranged and recorded a suite from Things to Come shortly 
after the film was released, and that historic recording is now available on at 
least two CDs. But Christopher Palmer reconstructed the original scoring for the 
version recorded here, with its considerably larger orchestral forces, notably 
in the winds and brass.

Another miracle from Naxos.

  --Robert McColley