Havergal Brian.

Started by Harry, June 09, 2007, 04:36:53 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 3 Guests are viewing this topic.

Monty Cello

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on December 28, 2010, 01:50:31 PM
Welcome, Monty!

You from Charlottesville?
; )

Heh, heh. No, my moniker is just a little word play on my Welsh forename (though I am not actually Welsh).

Guido

Quote from: Monty Cello on December 28, 2010, 01:31:49 PM

[By the way, re. the Brabbins Gothic at next year's Proms. Confirmation has been received from several of the performers due to participate.]


I smell a GMG in-person meeting!
Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Guido on December 28, 2010, 02:44:01 PM
I smell a GMG in-person meeting!

Nothing wrong with your nose...
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Monty Cello

#543
Quote from: Luke on December 26, 2010, 02:19:47 PM
Doesn't sound like a woman to be crossed, Ms Fury....

Luke, your personal message box is full. I have a message waiting to be sent, but I can't successfully send it until you make room for it.

J.Z. Herrenberg

#544
Another view from the Brisbane 'Gothic'...
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Monty Cello

I have just emailed Radio 3 via their "Contact Us" system to suggest a re-broadcast of their 1983 production of The Tigers on a Thursday afternoon in the run-up to the Prom performance of The Gothic. How about others doing likewise? Even if/though it might seem unlikely to  prompt such a re-broadcast before the Proms, perhaps it would at least serve to remind them that it is there in the archive.

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Monty Cello on December 29, 2010, 02:19:57 AM
I have just emailed Radio 3 via their "Contact Us" system to suggest a re-broadcast of their 1983 production of The Tigers on a Thursday afternoon in the run-up to the Prom performance of The Gothic. How about others doing likewise? Even if/though it might seem unlikely to  prompt such a re-broadcast before the Proms, perhaps it would at least serve to remind them that it is there in the archive.

Officially, the 'Gothic' performance isn't even a fact. And I'm not British, though a long-standing member of the HBS. If I mail the BBC, I'll do it next week. Otherwise it could look like a concerted avalanche!
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

J.Z. Herrenberg

#547
Three great things I read today about the 'Gothic'.

1) Our own Sarge, on the old forum:

"At the climactic moment (of the Vivace in Part 1), when the tension couldn't be greater or last a second longer, Brian leaps the entire tonal universe in three chords: C major to F sharp to the home key of D minor, and that F sharp never fails to chill me to the bone. It sounds like the existential scream of a million lost souls."

http://www.good-music-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,8375.msg250263.html#msg250263

2) Deryck Cooke, in 1966, from the programme booklet for the Boult 'Gothic' (describing the same movement):

"The climax is an astounding one - a sudden musical 'happening', which brings a sense of elemental menace, motivating the choral Te Deum which is the Finale."

3) Karim Elmahmoudi, a trombonist and composer from LA who attended the Brisbane 'Gothic' (and posted the photo on Facebook you saw earlier):

"Knowing this work very well, I was concerned if a live performance would be able to capture it given its extreme technical challenges (for example, there are some moments where the choirs are broken down into 32 separate polyphonic parts), but I was thrilled at hearing the tremendous sound of the full collected forces in action! I'm certain this must have registered on the Richter scale somewhere as an earthquake. Along with some delicate moments, the music features some of the most intensely primal moments I have ever heard! Really, there is nothing I've encountered that is quite like this behemoth of a work."
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Monty Cello

Quote from: Jezetha on December 29, 2010, 02:29:59 AM
Officially, the 'Gothic' performance isn't even a fact.

It's not an officially public fact, but it is very much officially in the performers' diaries.  ;)

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Monty Cello on December 29, 2010, 02:47:15 AM
It's not an officially public fact, but it is very much officially in the performers' diaries.  ;)

Point taken...  :D
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

J.Z. Herrenberg

#550
More pics from Brisbane...


Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

karlhenning

One never knows . . . my copy of the Gothic could arrive today . . . .

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on December 29, 2010, 05:21:05 AM
One never knows . . . my copy of the Gothic could arrive today . . . .

'Twill be the end of Boston as we know't, sirrah.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

karlhenning

Nay, Boston will remain the Hub of the Universe : )

J.Z. Herrenberg

The Hub of Henning, more likely!
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Lethevich



Has anyone heard this disc? I was tempted to buy it but read a somewhat negative review of it here. Mediocre performances I can put up with, but poor engineering and indexing is not on.
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

J.Z. Herrenberg

#556
Quote from: Lethe on December 29, 2010, 01:51:00 PM


Has anyone heard this disc? I was tempted to buy it but read a somewhat negative review of it here. Mediocre performances I can put up with, but poor engineering and indexing is not on.
How much does it have to cost? I know these recordings still from their LP incarnations (early 80s). I must admit that especially the violins are struggling, more so than their colleagues in the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra. And the sound? Don't remember. What I do know is that qua interpretation I like some of their versions better than the more polished performances on the Naxos/Marco Polo CDs. The final section of Doctor Merryheart, for instance, and the peroration of the Fantastic variations (Edit: hm, I mean the fanfare with organ, not the violins that have to sing afterwards...). Another bonus is the delightful First English Suite, which you can't find anywhere else...
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Lethevich

I was mainly interested in the first English Suite, I admit. It's £12.50 for two well-filled discs - not sure about shipping. I suppose I should support the worthy projects (like the upcoming new recordings) rather than spend limited money on potentially compromised material, I suppose - especially if it's getting on for full price.
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Lethe on December 29, 2010, 02:16:15 PM
I was mainly interested in the first English Suite, I admit. It's £12.50 for two well-filled discs - not sure about shipping. I suppose I should support the worthy projects (like the upcoming new recordings) rather than spend limited money on potentially compromised material, I suppose - especially if it's getting on for full price.


If it's only for the Suite, the price is a bit steep. If you're on a tight budget, I'd save the money for the other Brian discs in the pipeline...
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

vandermolen

#559
Quote from: Lethe on December 29, 2010, 01:51:00 PM


Has anyone heard this disc? I was tempted to buy it but read a somewhat negative review of it here. Mediocre performances I can put up with, but poor engineering and indexing is not on.

I have this CD - haven't played it for years but am doing so tonight. I agree with Jezetha that the performances mmay be a bit rough-and-ready, but there is a convicion about the playing which is disarming. highlights for me are 'In Memoriam' and the 'English Suite No 1'.  Decades ago I had a fine old CBS LP featuring a youth orchestra (Leicestershire?) playing one of HB's English Suites (possibly No 2 -actually I just found out it was No 5 according to the contribution of a familiar figure to the Wikipedia article on Havergal Brian!)) and the excellent 'Sinfonia Brevis' (No 22) - which is a big omission from the current CD catalogue.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).