Havergal Brian.

[SymphonicAddict]

Today I listened to a work of his that caught my attention: the English Suite Nr. 3 (from the Dutton disc).

It's a work imbued with magic and a sense of antiquity. I especially liked The Stonebreaker, a real stunner, which depicts perfectly that sense of something antique, like an old knightly English scene. The sonics are splendid and very vivid.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

That Third English Suite is one my favourite Brian pieces. It has the same magic you can experience in his opera The Tigers.
Suite:
https://youtu.be/w789C7kOpzM

Tigers:
https://youtu.be/rY-7KQUwe2I

[SymphonicAddict]

I will surely hear that work too! This is a Brian's more approachable side, at least to me, before listening to the symphonies again.

[relm1]

That Third English Suite is one my favourite Brian pieces. It has the same magic you can experience in his opera The Tigers.
https://youtu.be/w789C7kOpzM

Wow, lovely!  It made me realize something about HB.  He transcends time.  This sounds so contemporary in some places but also traditional.  It's hard to place it in time and era.  You have 19th century fanfares next to minimalist ostinatos.  There are Germanic qualities and Victorian qualities too.  But all of it is brilliant, entertaining, and commands listener's attention.  There are very few composers that traverse such a wide range yet I have never heard something by them I didn't marvel at.  BUT, I still wonder does he have mass appeal or am I a connoisseur...will Brian ever be more than a niche?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Brian is an amazing composer. He deserves a wider audience. In a few weeks' time the first part of my very ambitious first novel will be published. The work is imbued with Brian's spirit and even its structure turned out Gothic-like. I will do everything in my power to use my 'platform' to spread the word...

Through the Eye of the Cyclone 1
Nether Hemisphere

[vandermolen]

Brian is an amazing composer. He deserves a wider audience. In a few weeks' time the first part of my very ambitious first novel will be published. The work is imbued with Brian's spirit and even its structure turned out Gothic-like. I will do everything in my power to use my 'platform' to spread the word...

Through the Eye of the Cyclone 1
Nether Hemisphere

V exciting news about the novel Johan. All success to it. 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

V exciting news about the novel Johan. All success to it. 

Thanks, Jeffrey. Yes, these are exciting time. The launch will be on 1 September in Amsterdam. A few days before that I'll be on Dutch radio. My life is about to change.

[vandermolen]

Thanks, Jeffrey. Yes, these are exciting time. The launch will be on 1 September in Amsterdam. A few days before that I'll be on Dutch radio. My life is about to change.

Looking forward to the English translation Johan.
I hope that you won't forget about us when you acquire international celebrity status.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Let me first become a national celebrity... When the whole work is finished I hope it will be translated into German and English. We'll have to wait and see! Oh, and I never forget my friends - at the launch people from all stages of my life will be present, from primary and secondary school until today... It will be a very diverse gathering.

[vandermolen]

Let me first become a national celebrity... When the whole work is finished I hope it will be translated into German and English. We'll have to wait and see! Oh, and I never forget my friends - at the launch people from all stages of my life will be present, from primary and secondary school until today... It will be a very diverse gathering.

[relm1]

Brian is an amazing composer. He deserves a wider audience. In a few weeks' time the first part of my very ambitious first novel will be published. The work is imbued with Brian's spirit and even its structure turned out Gothic-like. I will do everything in my power to use my 'platform' to spread the word...

Through the Eye of the Cyclone 1
Nether Hemisphere

You're *That* J.Z. Herrenberg?  I thought you were just a fan of his or something!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

You're *That* J.Z. Herrenberg?  I thought you were just a fan of his or something!

Funny!

[krummholz]

I have not gotten into the English Suites much, I must try them next. But I've been listening to another work on that same Dutton disc that has completely blown me away, the 30th Symphony. I'm becoming convinced that this may be Brian's masterpiece, at least among the symphonies. There isn't a single bar that doesn't advance the musical argument, despite the fact that there is so much going on. And that argument is one of the most cogent in all of Brian's symphonies. It's all cumulative, and builds toward that final awesome dissonance that resolves onto a bare fifth. Triumph or tragedy? It seems ambiguous, though I mean that in the best way.

Other thoughts about this work?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I share your enthusiasm for No. 30. Yes, it hangs together very well, is full of ideas, and those final pages are tremendous. As for its being Brian's symphonic masterpiece, however, symphonies like 5, 6, 8, 16, 22, 30 and 31 are just as masterly and compelling in their cogency. And as someone who simply loves Brian's music, I like the remaining 24 just as much, of course, but not everything is on that same exalted level. Still, Brian is never boring and he is generally very brief, so you don't get the feeling he goes on and on and on...

[krummholz]

Hmmm... I count 25 remaining, or did you mean to cite another instead of #30 (again)? 

In any case, I agree with your list of very compelling Brian symphonies and might even add #18 in there. #22, especially, vies in my book with #30, and Wine of Summer, though relatively early (for Brian), is really just a superb piece. I have to admit, though, that after listening to #30, #31 seems like a slight letdown. It is probably just me and I need a few more listens, but I find it a little tough to follow all the way through, and gives an impression of wandering in places. As I said, probably just lack of familiarity.

I have been listening to all 32 over the last month or so, in order, now that I have good recordings of them all. I'm finishing up the cycle today with #32, a work I've known for at least 20 years. Although I agree that they aren't all on the same exalted level as #30, there isn't a single one that I would consider uninteresting, or that doesn't contain some very worthwhile music. I tend to agree with MM that #14 is relatively weak, especially in the first couple of minutes, but once it really gets going there is a lot of fascinating development in it. Three works I am just getting to know, but that really fascinate me, are #26 through #28. And then there is the "valedictory" #29 with its quiet, almost resigned ending.

So much to explore and enjoy with this composer!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Hmmm... I count 25 remaining, or did you mean to cite another instead of #30 (again)? 

In any case, I agree with your list of very compelling Brian symphonies and might even add #18 in there. #22, especially, vies in my book with #30, and Wine of Summer, though relatively early (for Brian), is really just a superb piece. I have to admit, though, that after listening to #30, #31 seems like a slight letdown. It is probably just me and I need a few more listens, but I find it a little tough to follow all the way through, and gives an impression of wandering in places. As I said, probably just lack of familiarity.

I have been listening to all 32 over the last month or so, in order, now that I have good recordings of them all. I'm finishing up the cycle today with #32, a work I've known for at least 20 years. Although I agree that they aren't all on the same exalted level as #30, there isn't a single one that I would consider uninteresting, or that doesn't contain some very worthwhile music. I tend to agree with MM that #14 is relatively weak, especially in the first couple of minutes, but once it really gets going there is a lot of fascinating development in it. Three works I am just getting to know, but that really fascinate me, are #26 through #28. And then there is the "valedictory" #29 with its quiet, almost resigned ending.

So much to explore and enjoy with this composer!

You're right! 'My bad', as they say...
After #30 #31 will feel like small beer. But the work in itself has a superb ease. It goes through many moods - one of which is very angry and reminiscent of the preceding symphony - and the final peroration is both moving and uplifting. As for the other symphonies you mention: I love #18, too. And #27 and #28 are personal favourites, too...
As you say, every symphony has something interesting to say. I discovered Brian's music in the autumn of 1977, when I was 16 years old. I have been returning to this music ever since and have never been disappointed. It's strong and lively and imaginative. Long live Havergal!

[Klaatu]

I too am hugely impressed with 30 - one of HB's very greatest. What other composer could write something like this at the age of - 92, wasn't it?

For me, the best of Brian's symphonies are 6, 10, 16 and 30 with 16 perhaps being the greatest of all.

Many others are almost as good - I've been listening to 28 a lot recently.

My 'top 4' make it easy for me to recommend the best of Brian to the uninitiated - I advise them to buy the Lyrita 6 & 16 and the Dutton 10 & 30, and to play these 2 discs repeatedly until either everything falls into place, and they 'get' HB as a major symphonist, or they really can't respond to the music - in which case they might as well give up on Brian altogether.

I've also long believed that the best way to publicise HB after the 2011 Proms 'Gothic', is for these four symphonies to be performed during the same Proms season. (Maybe even in the same concert! None of them lasts more than 20 minutes!)

[krummholz]

I too am hugely impressed with 30 - one of HB's very greatest. What other composer could write something like this at the age of - 92, wasn't it?

For me, the best of Brian's symphonies are 6, 10, 16 and 30 with 16 perhaps being the greatest of all.

Many others are almost as good - I've been listening to 28 a lot recently.

My 'top 4' make it easy for me to recommend the best of Brian to the uninitiated - I advise them to buy the Lyrita 6 & 16 and the Dutton 10 & 30, and to play these 2 discs repeatedly until either everything falls into place, and they 'get' HB as a major symphonist, or they really can't respond to the music - in which case they might as well give up on Brian altogether.
I've also long believed that the best way to publicise HB after the 2011 Proms 'Gothic', is for these four symphonies to be performed during the same Proms season. (Maybe even in the same concert! None of them lasts more than 20 minutes!)

According to the HBS, #30 was finished in November 1967, so it looks like he would have been 91, but just a couple months shy of 92... so very close, Klaatu!

I shall have to give a few more listens to #16. I was very impressed with it, but only listened to it once this time through, not really enough to plumb its depths.

I'm not sure which Brian symphonies are best to recommend to the uninitiated... I think it may depend on their individual taste and musical background. To someone who loves expansive late romantic composers like Strauss and Mahler I would probably recommend #3, the most approachable I think of the "early" symphonies. #6 is very fine indeed and might work well too. The thing about Brian's later style is it is so jam-packed with contrapuntal workings-out and juxtapositions of contrasted material that it is easy to get "left behind" or even totally lost unless one listens very, very closely. So I think that people unused to music that requires total immersion are going to find Brian a tough nut to crack - you just can't listen to him casually while doing something else.

Of the later symphonies, perhaps #11 or #15 might be the easiest to grasp, though they are pretty atypical of Brian, especially #11. I think it might be his most lyrical symphony and also the most relaxed. So I might recommend that Marco Polo disc over the Lyrita 6 & 16.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

That disc with #11 and #15 also contains Doctor Merryheart and For Valour, two early symphonic poems. Why not add it to the Dutton and the Lyrita? It's a very appealing and, hopefully, persuasive CD. Being 'atypical' even for himself just proves Brian's range...

[krummholz]

Of course, brilliant solution! Recommend them all! 

Another thought about the available recordings... there seem to be at least two cases where Malcolm MacDonald's descriptions of the character of Brian's symphonies as given in the sleeve notes conflict with the music as performed.

The first case that struck me is in the first movement of #25, which MM describes as "fierce", "sinister", "martial", and compares it in mood to #18. In Andrew Penny's reading, there is certainly a hint of the sinister in the first subject and there are martial outbursts, but the effect as a whole is more muscular and athletic, and of course the new theme that first appears in the development section is meltingly lyrical. Then MM also describes the slow movement as having "more than a hint of bleakness", but I hear very little bleakness in this music, except perhaps in the handling of the oboe theme and the rather subdued march that ensues. Overall it seems nostalgic and somewhat elegiac, but working towards a serene conclusion.

The other case is #32, which MM describes as consisting of two halves, the first filled with "oppressive brooding" and the second setting against that a "tigerish energy" and "sane but not shallow" optimism. The opening of the first movement he describes as "gaunt and jagged". But in Leaper's hands there seems to be nothing very gaunt about this material, instead it flows smoothly from the start. There are a couple of forceful outbursts and the tempo is moderate (Allegretto seems about right), but the mood seems generally calm and positive. Even in the second movement with its hint of a funeral march (MM says unequivocally that the movement "encounters" an actual funeral march), there is little sense of brooding, perhaps rather of difficult and troubled times recollected in tranquility. Overall the symphony comes across in Leaper's reading as serene and very affirmative, though never superficially so.

Thoughts? Has anyone heard these works performed in a way more consistent with MM's descriptions?