Jones / Bbc Welsh Symphony Orch / Thomson - Symphonies 2 & 11 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Based on Victor Hugo's Le Roi s'amuse, Verdi's Rigoletto centres on the curse of a father on the father of the title, the court jester to the Duke of Mantua. The climax of the action comes in the third act. Gilda, the beloved daughter of Rigoletto, has been abducted by Rigoletto's enemies at court and seduced by the Duke, for whose murder Rigoletto has hired an assassin, Sparafucile. The scene is by the banks of the River Mincio, where Rigoletto and Gilda wait outside a twostorey house. The Duke appears, disguised as an ordinary officer, and enters the house, asking Sparafucile for wine and for a room. He is joined by Sparafucile's sister Maddalena, while Sparafucile leaves them together, going out into the street to ask Rigoletto if this is the man. In the quartet the Duke declares his love for Maddalena, while Gilda, observing the scene from outside, is heart-broken at her lover's faithlessness, to which Rigoletto draws her attention. In what follows Rigoletto tells his daughter to go home and disguise herself in man's clothes, ready to leave the city. Sparafucile is persuaded by Maddalena to spare the Duke, killing instead the first man to enter. In the event this is Gilda, willing to sacrifice herself for her lover. Rigoletto returns, ready to receive the body of his victim, and takes the murdered body in a sack, prepared to throw it into the nearby river. At this moment he hears the voice of the Duke from within the house, and realizes he has been tricked. He opens the sack and in a flash of lightning sees the face of his daughter Gilda.

Limited edition 2010 reissue. A certified art-rock classic, this 1974 LP was written in the months before and after the five-story fall that broke Robert's spine and put him in the hospital for a while. Mike Oldfield, Caravan's Richard Sinclair and Soft Machine's Hugh Hopper guest, with none other than Pink Floyd's Nick Mason in the producer's chair-but it's Wyatt's guitar, drums, keyboards, vocals and intoxicating songs that take center stage Sea Song; A Last Straw; Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road; Alifib, and more!*Includes CD of album in slipcase. Sticker on shrink 'Very limited edition deluxe LP+CD re-issues of Robert Wyatt's esteemed discography' *.

A fine example of Jones at his most succinct and incisive, the Twelfth Symphony (1985) was commissioned by the Civil and Public Services Association as a farewell gift to their retiring General Secretary, Ken Thomas The Twelfth Symphony was first performed by the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra and conductor Erich Bergel at a gala concert at St David's Hall, Cardiff on 26 September 1985. The score bears a superscription consisting of a brief quotation from Pushkin, which reads 'Yet one last tale, And my chronicle is ended'. Daniel Jones's Symphony in memory of John Fussell (Symphony No.13) (1992) was first performed by the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra and conductor Richard Hickox at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea on 17 October 1992 at that year's Swansea Festival. The work is a personal tribute to a friend of the composer, who was Swansea's Director of Music and City Organist from 1970 until 1990, the year of his death. The cantata Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life (1987) was written in memory of John Aeron-Thomas, whose widow Margaret commissioned the work. A devout Christian, John Aeron-Thomas had been a founder-member of the Swansea Festival, who commissioned Jones's First Symphony. Among other works. The text is taken from poetry by George Herbert (1593-1633), which details his sacred journey.