Havergal Brian.

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

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Sergeant Rock

#940
Quote from: J. Z. Herrenberg on April 14, 2011, 08:50:51 AM
Indeed. The online ordering system seems to be nerve-wracking, by the way, with no certainty if you'll get your seat...

Yeah, tickets won't actually be on sale until next month but they suggest making a "Proms Plan"...which seems a lot of work and guaranties nothing.


Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

karlhenning

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on April 14, 2011, 08:59:29 AM
... a lot of work and guaranties nothing.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-haaa!

Christo

Quote from: J. Z. Herrenberg on April 14, 2011, 07:17:51 AM
It's official -
Sunday 17 July
7.00pm – c. 9.00pm
Royal Albert Hall

Brian - Symphony No. 1 in D minor, 'The Gothic' (110 mins)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2011/july-17/5

Terrific news.  :o :o :o :P :) What a pity I can't be there - I would, I would, but we planned to have arrived at our destination in Italy already, that Sunday. BTW, what a list of performers. Who is NOT in it, one wonders ...  ;)
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Christo on April 14, 2011, 09:51:17 AM
Terrific news.  :o :o :o :P :) What a pity I can't be there - I would, I would, but we planned to have arrived at our destination in Italy already, that Sunday. BTW, what a list of performers. Who is NOT in it, one wonders ...  ;)


Half of choral Britain...


Susan Gritton soprano
Christine Rice mezzo-soprano
Peter Auty tenor
Alastair Miles bass

CBSO Youth Chorus
Eltham College Boys' Choir
Southend Boys' and Girls' Choirs
Bach Choir
BBC National Chorus of Wales
Brighton Festival Chorus
Côr Caerdydd
Huddersfield Choral Society
London Symphony Chorus

BBC Concert Orchestra
BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Martyn Brabbins conductor



I heard Roger Wright, the Proms 'boss', on Radio 4 tonight, saying that finding adequate rehearsal space for all these forces was a logistical nightmare in itself. Alexandra Palace is the place where the 'Gothic' will be resounding first. I think the 'Symphony of a Thousand' nickname should now really be applied to 'The Gothic'!


My greatest hopes for this major event are: 1) the work gets an unforgettable performance and 2) Brian's reputation grows, leading to a new 'Brian Renaissance'.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Hattoff

#944
There does seem to be an upsurge in interest in Brian. Roger Wright was interviewed on Radio 3 yesterday evening and said that although he himself was not convinced of Brian's importance, many people, whose opinions he respected, were so convinced. Which is the most positive comment about Brian on the BBC since Robert Simpson died.

vandermolen

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on April 14, 2011, 08:57:06 AM
I was just listening to it the other day...posted my scan of the cover in the listening thread.





Sarge
That's the one! Nice to see the cover again - a nostalgia trip so thanks for posting.  The image is rather similar to the one used by EMI on the original CD release of Groves's version of symphonies 8 and 9.
"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).

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Hattoff on April 14, 2011, 09:58:59 PM
There does seem to be an upsurge in interest in Brian. Roger Wright was interviewed on Radio 3 yesterday evening and said that although he himself was not convinced of Brian's importance, many people, whose opinions he respected, were so convinced. Which is the most positive comment about Brian on the BBC since Robert Simpson died.


In his blog Roger Wright also says he's not in the business of claiming 'The Gothic' is a masterpiece, but that it's a work deserving of a hearing, so that people can make up their own minds.


I applaud any publicity Brian's music gets. It's essential people know it's there and that it can offer you a very special musical experience. If this event leads to performances of other Brian symphonies and/or Brabbins gets the status of 'Brian conductor', something very important will have been achieved.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

J.Z. Herrenberg

The Brisbane Gothic is scheduled to be broadcast on 4MBS on Saturday 4 June at 8pm, Brisbane time (UTC+10h),  which is  9 hours ahead of UK BST, so equivalent to 11am the same day in the UK.  As 4MBS is available online, Brian lovers worldwide with Internet access will be able to hear the performance for themselves.  Just searching for '4MBS listen online' will easily find their website.


(Culled from the latest HBS Newsletter)
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

vandermolen

Another ambitious project is a performance of The Gothic Symphony by Havergal Brian, packing a cast of more than 1,000 musicians from 10 choirs and two orchestras into the Royal Albert Hall.  Mr Wright joked that 'it will probably be the fastest to sell out because when the performers are in place there will be hardly any room for the audience'.

Interview with Roger Wright, director of BBC Proms in Daily Telegraph (15/04/11)
"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).

karlhenning

Quote from: Hattoff on April 14, 2011, 09:58:59 PM
There does seem to be an upsurge in interest in Brian. Roger Wright was interviewed on Radio 3 yesterday evening and said that although he himself was not convinced of Brian's importance, many people, whose opinions he respected, were so convinced.

What is importance in art, and what is its degree of importance to art?

QuoteWhich is the most positive comment about Brian on the BBC since Robert Simpson died.

Quite an arid positive comment, then ; )

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Apollon on April 15, 2011, 02:56:38 AM
What is importance in art, and what is its degree of importance to art?


I think importance is important..., whether you consider it only a matter of perception, or something intrinsic to the person or work in question. Importance works like gravity - the more ascribed to you, the more people, money, influence you draw into your sphere, whether deservedly so, or not. And whether you deserve it, is the battle that has to be fought, by you, by those 'believing' in you. I think it matters to art, too. Defining what is worthy of attention, and what not, is what taste is all about and, considering the shortness of human life, a very useful service, too.

QuoteQuite an arid positive comment, then ; )


I agree he is sitting on the fence. But I think he has to. Taking Brian seriously is still not done in some circles.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

karlhenning

I largely agree, Johan . . . but then, we're already qualifying importance to mean worthy of attention, focusing perhaps on the artwork as a chose-en-soi.  There is still a broad tendency to restrict importance in art to a sort of Darwinian, results-driven model: what does that artist's work do for the subsequent practice of the art?. And even that question gets treated in something of a narrow, linear fashion.

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Apollon on April 15, 2011, 04:25:20 AM
I largely agree, Johan . . . but then, we're already qualifying importance to mean worthy of attention, focusing perhaps on the artwork as a chose-en-soi.  There is still a broad tendency to restrict importance in art to a sort of Darwinian, results-driven model: what does that artist's work do for the subsequent practice of the art?. And even that question gets treated in something of a narrow, linear fashion.


I don't believe in the 'results-driven model', either. That's an idea of Progress that has nothing to do with art. Shakespeare doesn't write more advanced, and thus better tragedies than Aeschylus and Sophocles. Humanity advances through time, but the art reflecting it is always equidistant to this progression.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Lethevich

#953
There is that (I think) TS Eliot saying that the present changes the past as much as vice versa. If Brian is properly "rediscovered" and becomes a more respected figure, then the previous line of progress will be irrelevent and modified to fit. Whether his influence on composition was small or not in the years during and after his death, if eventually the recognition comes, that is a sufficient vindication.
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Lethe Dmitriyevich Shostakovich on April 15, 2011, 05:33:16 AM
There is that (I think) TS Eliot saying that the present changes the past as much as vice versa. If Brian is properly "rediscovered" and becomes a more respected figure, then the previous line of progress will be irrelevent and modified to fit. Whether his influence on composition was small or not in the years during and after his death, if eventually the recognition comes, that is a sufficient vindication.


Yes, it was Eliot who said that a great new work alters our perception of the works of the past. And yes, if Brian is admitted to the canon of (British) composers, the general view of the history of the (British) symphony will have to be modified.


But let's wait, listen, and see...
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Christo

Quote from: J. Z. Herrenberg on April 15, 2011, 04:31:59 AM

I don't believe in the 'results-driven model', either. That's an idea of Progress that has nothing to do with art. Shakespeare doesn't write more advanced, and thus better tragedies than Aeschylus and Sophocles. Humanity advances through time, but the art reflecting it is always equidistant to this progression.

Well formulated indeed. And I don't think this `equidistance' to human history only applies to art, but perhaps to other worthwhile things (like values, morals, ethics) as well.  ;)

My copy of the perhaps the greatest cd of the present HB Renaissance finally arrived. Now playing this second reading (I'm the happy owner of the world famous Leicesthershire Schools SO's world premiere recording  8)) of the epic-tragic Tenth Symphony (1954) in glorious new sound:

                         

... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Christo on April 15, 2011, 10:32:59 PM
Well formulated indeed. And I don't think this `equidistance' to human history only applies to art, but perhaps to other worthwhile things (like values, morals, ethics) as well.  ;)

My copy of the perhaps the greatest cd of the present HB Renaissance finally arrived. Now playing this second reading (I'm the happy owner of the world famous Leicesthershire Schools SO's world premiere recording  8) ) of the epic-tragic Tenth Symphony (1954) in glorious new sound:

                         


Extending the equidistance... I can endorse that, but only if applied to the golden rule of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Apart from that, I dislike the word 'values', because it implies fluctuation and tradeoffs. The term is economic and at variance with universality.


As for "perhaps the greatest cd of the present HB Renaissance" - no disagreement here. I have listened to it countless times already. It's a Brian feast (some people would consider that an oxymoron, but who cares!)
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

cilgwyn


J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: cilgwyn on April 16, 2011, 03:09:22 PM
Dr Merryheart rules!


Do you know Bernard Herrmann conducted it once, in the 1940s? He loved British music.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

cilgwyn

No,I didn't. I'm not suprised in a way though,because this is after all,a man who premiered commercial recordings of Raff & Cyril Scott! (I love his film scores too.) I believe he paid for some of these performances too. I've got some old ex Swansea library Lp's of his 'Wuthering Heights' opera somewhere.