Havergal Brian.

[Albion]

BTW, despite the March 17th official release date, TOCC0110 (http://www.toccataclassics.com/cddetail.php?CN=TOCC0110) is being shipped by Toccata - I got mine at the end of last week.

For me the undoubted highlight is the 1903 Burlesque Variations - Brian fully-formed at the age of 27 producing music sounding totally unlike anything else being written in Britain (or indeed anywhere) at the time. 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

BTW, despite the March 17th official release date, TOCC0110 (http://www.toccataclassics.com/cddetail.php?CN=TOCC0110) is being shipped by Toccata - I got mine at the end of last week.

For me the undoubted highlight is the 1903 Burlesque Variations - Brian fully-formed at the age of 27 producing music sounding totally unlike anything else being written in Britain (or indeed anywhere) at the time. 

I only 'know' that very early work from the Hull Youth Orchestra recording, which was terrible. I am thrilled it suddenly stands revealed as a genuinely Brianic piece. Can't wait. Still have to order, though.

[Albion]

I don't think you'll be disappointed - and the performances of Ave atque vale, Elegy and the 5th English Suite are excellent as well. Roll on Volume 2 (orchestral music from the operas) later in the year!   

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I don't think you'll be disappointed - and the performances of Ave atque vale, Elegy and the 5th English Suite are excellent as well. Roll on Volume 2 (orchestral music from the operas) later in the year!   

I heard that Turandot Suite live in St James's Church, Piccadilly, in 1995 - unforgettable. The colour and the variety! And what has been heard from Faust, the Prologue in Heaven, is among Brian's best. So I'm looking forward to the Wild Ride! Both Turandot and Faust date from the years of symphonies 6-12, a golden period in my view.

[Klaatu]

Just listened to the sample tracks from the new Brian CD on the Toccata website.

WOW!!

They sound GREAT! And this sums up part of the "Brian Problem" - to date, most of his works have been given performances ranging from the mediocre to the execrable - with a few honourable exceptions. (The Fredman 6 and 16 comes to mind.)

WHAT A DIFFERENCE when a professional orchestra is well-rehearsed by a conductor totally committed to Brian's idiom!

On the Toccata CD, even the "Burlesque Variations" - a relatively "light" piece for Brian - sounds very impressive.

I just can't WAIT to hear what Martyn Brabbins and the RSNO make of that awesome score, the Tenth Symphony.

Kudos to Toccata, Dutton and all involved. 2011 might be the year in which Brian finally gets his due; let's hope so!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Didn't know about those samples...   I am going to download the thing NOW - I don't care for silver discs anyhow, and the sleevenotes can be downloaded, too. 

[Hattoff]

Yes, I have downloaded the Toccata disc and ordered the Duttons. It's wonderful to hear good performances of these works, though I had gotten used to the crunchiness of the old tape of the 5th English Suite and miss it a little.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

(Hi, Hattoff!)
 
I listened to theToccata CD 5 or 6 times yesterday. My conclusion: an important addition to the Brian discography, but not perfect. I like the playing of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, they don't show any difficulty with Brian's tricky idiom. The sound is a bit dry, and light (to these ears). The conductor, Garry Walker, gives us brisk readings. There is no loitering there, the music moves forward, colourful, through a great many moods and landscapes.
 
So far, so good.
 
The one problem I have with this approach is: it doesn't work all of the time, it can't, because some movements or passages are really meant to be played more slowly to get their full effect. I am thinking especially of Elegy and of Reverie in the Fifth English Suite. The former takes 3 minutes longer in a studio recording with the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra under Brian Wright and it really is much more powerful in that reading. As for Reverie, the youth orchestra is no match for the BBCSSO, but interpretation-wise, the older reading is superior. So I won't turn to Garry Walker in the future, alas, when I want to listen to these pieces.
 
What I certainly will do is listen to the rest. Ave Atque Vale and the Burlesque Variations, especially, are in themselves worth the price of admission. Ave Atque Vale is Brian's penultimate work, written when he was 92. It is short and sharp, and stylistically very similar to symphonies like 28, 30 and 31. I love it, though it took me a few times to understand its structure. The Burlesque Variations on an Original Theme is Brian's earliest extant orchestral work, written at age 27, and it is wonderful in its youthful gusto and adventurousness.
 
And here endeth the lesson.

[Hattoff]

Hi Johan,
I see what you mean, perhaps that is why I wasn't quite so enamoured with the 5th English Suite. As for the sound, I agree, but found it helpful to turn the volume up louder than I usually do, though then it gets a bit too loud in places. I too have listened to the recording at least five times (more today) and the music just takes my breath away.
Come on Duttons, I can't wait to hear the Concerto for Orchestra, the tape of which I lost some years ago.

[vandermolen]

The Dutton HB Symphony 10 is out next week - can't wait.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

The Dutton HB Symphony 10 is out next week - can't wait.

Let's hope it will totally surpass the LSSO performance and that it shows aspects of the work never experienced before...

[vandermolen]

Let's hope it will totally surpass the LSSO performance and that it shows aspects of the work never experienced before...

Yes, that is absolutely my hope. Symphonies 8-10 are my favourites apart from The Gothic.

[vandermolen]

Very good news here:

http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=CDLX7267

[Sergeant Rock]

Very good news here:

http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=CDLX7267

That would be good news if Dutton accepted my credit card. But they are the only web store that's refused it. Oh well, I'll wait until its available from Amazon.

Sarge

[vandermolen]

That would be good news if Dutton accepted my credit card. But they are the only web store that's refused it. Oh well, I'll wait until its available from Amazon.

Sarge

That's really annoying - hopefully will be on Amazon soon.

[J]

Yes, that is absolutely my hope. Symphonies 8-10 are my favourites apart from The Gothic.

The "Tragica" (No.6) not included?  For me, Nos. 6, 8, & 10 stand heads above any of the others (exceptional as some of those are also).

[Lethevich]

Is the 7th too melodic for y'all?

[Klaatu]

For me it's 6, 10 and 16......oh, and The Gothic.
Then 7 and 8.
And I do rather like In Memoriam!

[Lethevich]

I'm also keen on the 16th outside the usual pantheon of nos.6-10, no doubt due to it being one of the few later ones to receive a top-notch recording.

I'm also very fond of the 27th for the same reason - the (commercially unreleased - come on Dutton!) Mackerras recording is very fine and made a believer of me.

[cilgwyn]

I remember buying the Mackerras Lp as a teenager & being disappointed by it. I recently got the deleted emi 'twofer' that includes the Seventh & now regard it as one of his best. Yet most Brian enthusiasts hardly mention it! I wonder why? It is surely one of Brian's most colourful,consistently inspired and atmospheric creations. Particularly fascinating is the way that this big,expansive,romantically inclined symphony shares so many of the characteristics of his later more elliptical utterances. It's like a melting pot of early & late Brian. You need to understand it to crack the later ones. A very underrated work in the Brian canon.