Havergal Brian.

[vandermolen]

Thank you. One to watch out for!

My pleasure! Just spotted it by accident. Happy New Year to you Danny.

[foxandpeng]

My pleasure! Just spotted it by accident. Happy New Year to you Danny.

And to you and yours, my friend. You've taught me much this year and I'm grateful 🥃

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Happy New Year, Brianites, in Brian year 2022 (died fifty years ago)!


Looking forward to that release, too. Both performances are excellent .

[Maestro267]

The anniversary itself is not until November 28th. In normal times I'd hope for some performances in recognition but these days you just don't know. Good that there's at least one new release coming, and the magnificent Third Symphony (served very well by Lionel Friend on Hyperion) gets a second officially-released recording.

EDIT: Symphonies 3/17 recording is on Spotify now!

OTHER EDIT: Listened, and it sounds absolutely excellent!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

The anniversary itself is not until November 28th. In normal times I'd hope for some performances in recognition but these days you just don't know. Good that there's at least one new release coming, and the magnificent Third Symphony (served very well by Lionel Friend on Hyperion) gets a second officially-released recording.

EDIT: Symphonies 3/17 recording is on Spotify now!

OTHER EDIT: Listened, and it sounds absolutely excellent!

I already ordered the CD, but listening in advance won't hurt! Thanks!


EDIT: Listening as I write. Yes, these performances have never sounded better. The first time I heard them was in the early 1980s, on cassette tapes sent to me by composer and HBS member John Pickard, who was studying composition in The Hague (with the late Louis Andriessen). A great addition to the Brian catalogue!

[vandermolen]

I already ordered the CD, but listening in advance won't hurt! Thanks!


EDIT: Listening as I write. Yes, these performances have never sounded better. The first time I heard them was in the early 1980s, on cassette tapes sent to me by composer and HBS member John Pickard, who was studying composition in The Hague (with the late Louis Andriessen). A great addition to the Brian catalogue!

Great to know! Just pre-ordered a copy myself.

[krummholz]

Is the performance of the 3rd here the same as has formerly been (maybe still is) available on Klassic Haus?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Is the performance of the 3rd here the same as has formerly been (maybe still is) available on Klassic Haus?

Yes. But this is better, based on the mastertape.

[Spotted Horses]

I want it to read the CD layer, and it's not.

(Apologies for diverting the thread but it's super frustrating.)

Your drive is broken or perhaps hopelessly obsolete. I have a $25 external CD drive and it has no difficulty recognizing a hybrid SACD as a CD and ripping or playing the CD program.

[krummholz]

Yes. But this is better, based on the mastertape.

Super!

[Symphonic Addict]

Could friendly anyone share a file on MP3 of the CD with 2nd and 14th Symphonies? I've tried to acquire that Dutton CD, but there have been some trouble with that "trade exercise". Thanks in advance!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Could friendly anyone share a file on MP3 of the CD with 2nd and 14th Symphonies? I've tried to acquire that Dutton CD, but there have been some trouble with that "trade exercise". Thanks in advance!

I haven't ripped my CD, but I know how to do it. Send an email to my surname plus @ plus gmail.com.

[Symphonic Addict]

I haven't ripped my CD, but I know how to do it. Send an email to my surname plus @ plus gmail.com.

Thank you J.Z., another member kindly provided me a link. Thanks a lot for you too!

[krummholz]

Can't believe this thread has been dormant for over 6 months...

Anyway I've just finished listening to this version of the 30th Symphony for the second time in as many days... and I have to say I'm awed by this work as by no other Brian symphony except the Gothic. It starts with a feint of a passacaglia that quickly turns into a very taut, polyphonic development of some basically lyrical ideas derived from the ground bass and its countersubject. How Brian keeps casting new light on the material, seemingly in ever bar, is nothing short of astonishing. Eventually the flow is broken by an atmospheric passage featuring rippling harp arpeggios... and the character of the music turns more dramatic. From here on until the end the work seems to be an extremely compressed synopsis of the moods of a play, perhaps a Greek tragedy, or one by Shakespeare (and we know that Brian was working on an opera based on the Oedipus at Colonnus of Sophocles) - an opera transmuted into a symphony, as it were. Despite the constantly changing instrumentarium and shifting of mood, it all works in the greater whole, tension is never lost, and there is not a single bar in this work that I find less than riveting and compelling.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Dormant for half a year, yes, it's a lot. Doesn't mean I haven't listened to Brian during those months. So he hasn't been off my radar...


Symphony no. 30 is a terrific piece, I agree. So compact, so varied, so powerful. And that ending is one of Brian's grandest.


Nice to see it's getting some love!

[ritter]

Can't believe this thread has been dormant for over 6 months...

...

https://www.youtube.com/v/QOkSvLqkafU


Welcome back, gentlemen!

[krummholz]

Dormant for half a year, yes, it's a lot. Doesn't mean I haven't listened to Brian during those months. So he hasn't been off my radar...


Symphony no. 30 is a terrific piece, I agree. So compact, so varied, so powerful. And that ending is one of Brian's grandest.


Nice to see it's getting some love!

Not at all surprised that you're still listening to Brian, Johan!

I was motivated to post by the challenge in the last HBS newsletter to come up with five (5), and only five, standout Brian symphonies, desert island choices as it were. The writer in the newsletter chose 3, 8, 9, 10, and 16.

My choices would be 3, 8, 16, 22, and 30 (with some vacillation between 22 and 27).

Would be interesting to hear other GMGers' choices!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

https://www.youtube.com/v/QOkSvLqkafU


Welcome back, gentlemen!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Not at all surprised that you're still listening to Brian, Johan!

I was motivated to post by the challenge in the last HBS newsletter to come up with five (5), and only five, standout Brian symphonies, desert island choices as it were. The writer in the newsletter chose 3, 8, 9, 10, and 16.

My choices would be 3, 8, 16, 22, and 30 (with some vacillation between 22 and 27).

Would be interesting to hear other GMGers' choices!

Thanks for reminding me to come up with my five top Brian symphonies... An almost impossible task. Ten would be easier, perhaps... But if five is the limit: 8, 10, 16, 27, 30. (If I could choose ten, I'd add 3, 6, 17, 22 and 28.)

[relm1]

Mine would be 1, 4, 5, 7, 9.  Hmm, need more choices.  I really love 9's ending but might have to trade it for a later symphony.  I tend to prefer the structured symphonies more than the stream of consciousness ones but will confess my list leaves off some of my favorites.