IDAGIO | Rootham: Symphony No. 2 - Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity 5020926211828

Featuring

Vernon Handley
Teresa Cahill
Philip Langridge
Michael Rippon
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Scottish Philharmonic Singers

BBC Concert Orchestra
Trinity Boys Choir
BBC Singers
Cyril Rootham

Did you know?

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Recording & Production

This recording is a 1975 broadcast from BBC Radio 3, marking Rootham's centenary, and features Vernon Handley conducting the Scottish Philharmonic Singers and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Compositional Technique

Rootham's Symphony No. 2 features a motto-theme that recurs in each of its three movements, first appearing as a portentous theme in the opening movement.

Composer Biography

Rootham studied with Charles Villiers Stanford, a prominent Irish composer and teacher, at the Royal College of Music.

Composer Biography

Rootham's students included notable composers such as Arthur Bliss, Patrick Hadley, and Ralph Vaughan Williams's friend and contemporary, Robin Orr.

Composer Biography

Cyril Rootham, the composer, was born in Bristol in 1875 to a distinguished singing teacher and conductor who directed the Bristol Madrigal Society for fifty years.

Composition History

Rootham's Symphony No. 2 was completed on his deathbed, with much of the last movement's orchestration dictated note-by-note to friends and pupils like Patrick Hadley.