Havergal Brian.

[Dundonnell]

More of a job for Tony Palmer now, methinks, given his films in recent years on Malcolm Arnold, Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst.

[Dundonnell]

On the other hand...Palmer would give us lots about HB's tangled love life in which my interest is precisely and exactly ZERO.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Brian's love life is hardly spectacular - married a teacher, fathered five children (I think), then fell in love with the house-maid, eloped with her (if I remember correctly, and this is the only thing to 'milk'), got a divorce, and stayed faithful for 60-odd years, fathering another 5 children in the process (more or less, I lost  count).


He was no Wagner.

[Lethevich]

Brian's love life is hardly spectacular - married a teacher, fathered five children (I think), then fell in love with the house-maid, eloped with her (if I remember correctly, and this is the only thing to 'milk'), got a divorce, and stayed faithful for 60-odd years, fathering another 5 children in the process (more or less, I lost  count).

Doesn't sound hugely different from RVW. Surely Bax would be the target of a would be mud-raker.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Yes, Bax and Sex, that would draw in the punters...

[cilgwyn]

I must admit Ken Russells too OTT for me. The thought of what he would do to Brian. I shudder to think.

[cilgwyn]

I'm shuddering now!

[Dundonnell]

Brian's love life is hardly spectacular - married a teacher, fathered five children (I think), then fell in love with the house-maid, eloped with her (if I remember correctly, and this is the only thing to 'milk'), got a divorce, and stayed faithful for 60-odd years, fathering another 5 children in the process (more or less, I lost  count).


He was no Wagner.

I used to think that about dear old 'Uncle Ralph' until Tony Palmer disabused me with all that stuff about RVW's sex life

[Hattoff]

Kenneth Eastaugh's book has Brian as a, lot more than a bit of, a devil; in fact, to the point of ugliness.

But, Eastuagh's book is sensationalist and Brian was an habitual liar so I don't know how much reliance to place on the bragging.

Who said favourite composers had to be nice people? none of my faves were/are.

He didn't divorce his first wife, he had to wait until her death, 20 years after leaving her, to marry his second wife. Which was causal to the beginning of his neglect.

Eastaugh's book took a month to arrive. I have his family tree spot on; there are no great revelations except for the possibility that Brian's patron Robinson's  wife, Helen Lees, may have been related to Brian's great grandmother Margaret Lees. Which might account for Robinson putting up with Brian's appalling behaviour; he was, extended, family.

[Hattoff]

Second thoughts, liar is too strong a word. Prone to exaggeration is nicer.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Thanks for refreshing my memories, Steve. I'd call Brian simply 'imaginative'... [on my way to Antwerp, in a crowded train, with daughter and ex]

[Wanderer]

Have there been any news/rumours regarding issuing a recording of the proms concert?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

The BBC recorded both the dress rehearsal and the performance. Let's wait and see. But there is a market for Brian!

[cilgwyn]

Brian Orchestral Works Vol 1 landed on the 'mat' (or lack of one) today. One Brian fact I gleaned from the booklet,and was previously unaware of,was that the 'Burlesque Variations' were only re-discovered in 1974.
Well,I didn't know that!

[Brian]

Brian in The Economist.

http://www.economist.com/node/21524808

Hmmmmmmm...

An opening that seems to marry "Jaws" with Gustav Mahler

it starts with a theme that sounds rather unhappily like Mahler-meets-Jaws

Great minds...? 

[springrite]

The BBC recorded both the dress rehearsal and the performance. Let's wait and see. But there is a market for Brian!

My bad. I misread it as "The BBC recorded both the dress rehearsal and the undressed..."

[cilgwyn]

Mahler meets Jaws. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the concert hall!

And a BIG one too!!!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

@Brian When I read that, I thought - they pinched it from Brian!
@Springrite Symphony of the Thousand Undressed?
@Cilgwyn Haha!

[cilgwyn]

The Brian estate should sue!
In the meantime,avoid the front seats.

[Wanderer]

The BBC recorded both the dress rehearsal and the performance. Let's wait and see.

That's good to hear (they'd be fools if they didn't); I guess some patience is in order but I trust we'll see it issued sooner or later. 

I misread it as "The BBC recorded both the dress rehearsal and the undressed..."

How very Spencer Tunick of them... it would've made a cult video for sure.