Neglected masterpiece ...

... at least I think it is (neglected, that is; I have no doubt it is a masterwork). I refer to Constant Lambert's ballet Horoscope, which I first heard when I was in high school. It strangely affected me and I never forgot it. I was just listening to it and have now found that there is a recording of Lambert conducting it. It is beautifully romantic and sad. It is sad also that it is not better known. Lambert died at 45, as did his son, Kit Lambert, who was the manager of The Who.

Here is an excellent piece by Terry Teachout on Lambert: A British Bad Boy Finds His Way Back Into the Light.

Though these witty, elegantly scored works (all of which have been recorded by Hyperion) are few in number, their uneasy mixture of high spirits and intense melancholy is utterly individual. No young English composer of the 30's, not even his friend William Walton, had a more personal style.

Post bumped.