Lossless is available in FLAC and ALAC (For Mac). You select on the download page.
When you purchase a lossless format, we include the MP3 free of charge
Please note: On Mp3 format an unavoidable click may be heard on segue track breaks, to avoid this issue please select lossless
Buy SACD
P&P for single unit's: UK=£2.22, EU=£9, World=£12
SPECIAL OFFER
Explore the Chandos catalogue and save 50% on downloads.
Offer ends 12.00 BST Friday 25th October
Normal Price: £7.99
SPECIAL OFFER
Explore the Chandos catalogue and save 50% on downloads.
Offer ends 12.00 BST Friday 25th October
Normal Price: £9.99
SPECIAL OFFER
Explore the Chandos catalogue and save 50% on downloads.
Offer ends 12.00 BST Friday 25th October
Normal Price: £5.00
SPECIAL OFFER
Explore the Chandos catalogue and save 50% on downloads.
Offer ends 12.00 BST Friday 25th October
Normal Price: £2.50
Why not buy the whole Album?
Your selections total more than the whole disc price.
About
BANTOCK: OMAR KHAYYÁM The recording of Bantock's choral masterpiece has long been at the top of Ralph Couzens's wish list and it has now finally come to fruition with the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley. This is a premiere recording and offers three CDs for the price of two. Bantock had a passion for all things Eastern and this interest in the exotic certainly finds an outlet in Omar Khayyám. The overriding philosophy of the rubáiyat of Omar Khayyám, a twelfth-century Persian astronomer, mathematician and poet, was the transience of existence and the insignificance of the individual, whether high-born or lowly. The poetical work of Omar Khayyám was translated into English by Edward Fitzgerald. Bantock uses a large orchestra with two full string complements, arranged to the left and right of the conductor, and in the atmospheric caravan scene he also makes a feature of authentic camel bells. This is our Disc of the Month.
Please login to post a review
Reviews
Definitive Recordings
"This monumental work by Bantock is scored for a large orchestra, choir, soloists, and even camel bells. It is full of romanticism, exotic orchestration, and deeply philosophical narrative The sound quality is up to the Chandos high standards If you don’t know this highly talented British composer, this is a great way to introduce yourself to his music."
Jean-Yves Duperron - Classical Music Sentinel.com
Critic’s Choice Guy Rickards
Gramophone
This is the first recording of the ‘exotic’ oratorio considered by many the masterwork of British Composer Granville Bantock, perhaps best known for his Hebridean Overture. Written in 1906-09, it offers virtuoso opportunities for an array of soloists under conductor Vernon Handley. Soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers, tenor Toby Spence and baritone Roderick Williams excel in a vast, complex piece helpfully explained (complete with motif chart) in an excellent sleeve note by Lewis Foreman.
The Observer
The BBC orchestra and chorus perform with dedication and what sounds like real enthusiasm. As for the vocal principals, they seem to be singing their hearts out, with Catherine Wyn-Roger’s Beloved perhaps the outstanding artist of the three. This is the proper way to treat the piece, which must be given as full-blooded an interpretation as possible if it is to exercise the spell that Bantock so clearly desired to cast. It may be a long time before there is a rival recording, but it will have to be almost unimaginably good to top this one.
International Record Review
This first recording reflects the details and passion of Vernon Handley’s championing of Bantock’s kaleidoscopic output, and Stephen Jackson ensures that the choral input is similarly lively and fresh. Toby Spence brings a bright mix of Italianate ‘slancio’ and English declamation to the Poet, combining well with Catherine Wyn-Rogers’s more controlled reading of the Beloved in substantial (and Parsifal-like) duets in Parts 1 and 3. Chandos’s sound is suitably lush, occasionally at the expense of the chorus’s diction. It’s what recordings should be for, and should encourage future festival performances.
Gramophone
There is some stirring and evocative music here, Romantic and orientally coloured, which Vernon Handley directs with his customary mastery. It would be hard to think of three more expert soloists for this repertoire, and the chorus and orchestra do the whole project proud. The sound is warm and inviting, too.
Telegraph
It’s a fascinating rediscovery on a huge scale, especially in the detail and depth of SACD surround-sound seductively performed by Handley’s forces, Toby Spence appropriately poetic and Catherine Wyn-Rogers sensuous.
BBC Music Magazine ‘Choice’
Media Downloads
Whenever possible we provide a high resolution CD cover image and a PDF version of the CD booklet for you to download and keep. These are found in your history if purchased and once you have logged in.
My Wish List
