upcScavenger
»
Barcode: 034571179711
»
BarcodeComment: Most-performance-brians-forces-symphony-too-1713021506
THE MOST COHERENT PERFORMANCE OF BRIAN'S HUGE GOTHIC, February 15, 2012
Brian: Symphony No. 1 'The Gothic'
Brian: Symphony No. 1 'The Gothic'This is far and away the most coherent performance of Brian's massive 1st Symphony I have ever heard. Admittedly there haven't been too many of them - the gargantuan forces it requires have seen to that, never mind Brian's lack of popularity. Bryan Fairfax's premiere back in 1961 was blest with a fine array of soloists including Kenneth Bowen and John Shirley-Quirk, but was otherwise a fairly ramshackle affair. Boult five years later is the performance I have listened to most often over the past half-century (on a private tape from the BBC transmission) and is now available on a testament CD. Boult and his massed forces certainly have much more the measure of this huge juggernaut of a symphony, but sadly the BBC engineers never really got to grips with the aural demands of the work. Too often the extremely complex counterpoint - particularly in the choral second half - disappears in a disappointing mush of sound. The Marco Polo discs with Lenard and his Slovak forces at least...
|
| Topic Title | Summary | Views | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author: Storylover (Philadelphia.. | My delight in this new recording of Havergal Brian's majesterial Symphony No. 1 "Gothic" is unending. I am a huge Havergal Brian fan, and simply cannot understand why he is not more widely embraced than he is. That said, this recording fills a niche that was sorely lacking in the market--a modern recording of the Gothic with a conductor of the stature of Martyn Brabbins. The forces marshalled here are definitely up to the challenge of this notoriously grand and intense score, and they approach it with a joy and passion that make its huge passages sound regal and beautiful, and not merely bombastic. The Te Deum keeps up a perfect pace, never lagging, never letting you move your attention away from that glorious singing. In comparison to the very very fine recording from Ondrej Lenárd and his Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, I think I need more time to get the feel of Brabbins. Lenárd's has become a part of my listening routine, and hearing Brabbins new take... | 9 | |
| Author: Klingsor Tristan (Suffol.. | This is far and away the most coherent performance of Brian's massive 1st Symphony I have ever heard. Admittedly there haven't been too many of them - the gargantuan forces it requires have seen to that, never mind Brian's lack of popularity. Bryan Fairfax's premiere back in 1961 was blest with a fine array of soloists including Kenneth Bowen and John Shirley-Quirk, but was otherwise a fairly ramshackle affair. Boult five years later is the performance I have listened to most often over the past half-century (on a private tape from the BBC transmission) and is now available on a testament CD. Boult and his massed forces certainly have much more the measure of this huge juggernaut of a symphony, but sadly the BBC engineers never really got to grips with the aural demands of the work. Too often the extremely complex counterpoint - particularly in the choral second half - disappears in a disappointing mush of sound. The Marco Polo discs with Lenard and his Slovak forces at least... | 10 | |
| Author: Dace Gisclard (Houston, .. | Sometimes positively, sometimes mockingly, some reviews of the performance from which this recording derives likened the "Gothic" to a huge, lurching, creaking, ramshackle roller-coaster--YES! That's part of the attraction, and, just as with roller coasters, it's intentional. The architectural style of Gothic cathedrals which was part of Brian's inspiration is NOT comfortable. It is meant to inspire awe before the unknown. In places, it is intentionally grotesque--what's a Gothic cathedral without gargoyles? Just as often, the music is quiet and restrained.Last summer, I was one of many listeners in the USA who eagerly awaited the BBC Radio 3 broadcast of the Proms performance of this unique masterpiece. I recorded it to my computer, and was thrilled by the careful preparation and high technical level of the performers, as well as Martyn Brabbin's direction of the flow of this musical tsunami--one of the two or three most coherent performances we've had yet. However, I... | 10 | |
