Brian: Symphony No. 1 'The Gothic' available on April 05 2026 from Amazon for 27.48
Brian: Symphony No. 1 "Gothic" (Music CD) available on September 29 2014 from Base for 21.09
UPC bar code 034571179711 ξ1 registered October 23 2013
UPC bar code 034571179711 ξ2 registered September 27 2014
Product category is MUSIC CD - CD - Classical Audio
Manufacturered by Hyperion
Product weight is 0.27 lbs.
In July 2011, over 800 performers gathered in London s Royal Albert Hall to give a rare performance of Havergal Brian s Symphony No.1 in D minor 'The Gothic'. Although tickets for this Prom sold out within 24 hours, we are fortunate that Hyperion recorded the performance, making it available to all. The symphony is a phenomenal work. Responding to the challenge set by Sir Henry Wood, the composer has thrown just about every known orchestral instrument into the mix, then adding a double chorus of over 500, plus children s choirs, for an hour-long Te Deum that makes up the symphony s finale. Martyn Brabbins leads these massive forces in a benchmark performance. Whether or not you were lucky enough to be there on the night, this is a recording not to be missed.
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..
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-cen..
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 ..
