Started listening to Schumann’s Der Rose Pilgerfahrt (The Pilgrimage of the Rose), in Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos’ reference recording from 1974 on EMI, with a stellar vocal cast. On first hearing, not really convinced by the music, but some of it may have to do with Frühbeck’s conducting, not always as animated as I think the music calls for, but some of it may come also from Schumann’s rather bland orchestration.
But in the midst of it, checking on the mail of the day, I was returned to my review of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser’s Songs of the Hebrides. When I first wrote the review, ten days ago, I had checked the songs on the CD against the scores available on the International Music Scores Library Project. Some I was unable to locate, including the marvelous “The Uncanny Mannikin of the Cattlefold”, and assumed they were on the fourth volume referred to by the liner notes and not available on IMSLP (turns out that there was also a fifth volume). As I was researching the volume on the Internet, if only to find a table of contents, I chanced on an offer from a marketplace seller on Abebooks, which was within my range of price; so I bought it; and that’s what came in the mail today. I’ve got to confess that I am impressed to hold in my hands and have in my collection a book of scores that is almost a century-old. And the score of “The Uncanny Mannikin” is indeed included. I edited the review with the new info in my possession. Now back to Schumann.