Havergal Brian.

[John Whitmore]

Apologies for not coming back to you sooner,John! I only had a cassette copy,of course,which someone posted me,so I don't know what the original Lp was like,except from the descriptions here & on the download site (Rave reviews from you & Johan!)
It sounds good to me! I haven't heard the other items on the cd,yet,though.
10 & 21 sound amazingly good. It was like being back home,all those years ago, with my mum & dad,with the record player in the sitting room,annoying everybody with Havergal Brian's greatest hits! But without those clicks & pops!

Nice to be back! I finally managed to break back in! Just to make it even more embarassing,I had to post my predicament here for everyone to see what had happened (after my SOS had been moderated! )
What next,joined up writing? Oh yeah,I've done that! And I was making jokes about that crack!

Thanks for the opportunity to hear these performances in such great restored sound. And Klassic Haus,of course!

Glad you like 'em and a very warm welcome to you. It's good to meet new people on here. I hope we've heard the last of your brother, though. He was a total waste of space. By the way the same download site has a rather good Mathias Sinfonietta. He was a Welsh composer. Have you heard of him? He's very similar to J S Bach. A sort of Dai Bach. Boom boom. I'll get my coat........

[cilgwyn 2]

I don't like him either!

[cilgwyn]

Would you like to come outside & say that?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

This thread is getting surreal (if it wasn't that already)...

[bhodges]

This thread is getting surreal (if it wasn't that already)...

I think it's high time that everyone on GMG had a doppelgänger.

--Bruce

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Quote from: Brewski on Today at 20:22:19

I think it's high time that everyone on GMG had a

doppelgänger.

--Bruce



Know what you wish for - judging by the acrimonious cilgwyn twins, you'd have to moderate 24/7. 

[cilgwyn]

I have all my Brian on my hard drive. Today I made a playlist with everything Brian wrote between symphonies No. 6 and 32, including concerti, overtures and opera fragments, and just listened to all the openings. Those of symphonies 8, 10, 18, 22 and 27 struck me the most. And a work I now rated more highly was No. 21. I think it is a perfect summation of symphonies 18-20 and, in the first movement, a harbinger of the aggressive symphonies 22, 23, 25 and 26. I wonder why Brian's style changed with No. 18.... There is a certain atmosphere in symphonies 6-17, which never returns.


I'd group the symphonies as follows, by the way: 1-5, 6-7, 8-17, 18-21, 21-26, 27-32.

I've printed out this post & another one,as I think they will help. There definately IS a change after No 17. So far,I prefer the earlier ones,these are more combative,or aggressive as you say. A more strenuous listen. But obviously,I need to listen allot more!
  I don't have symphonies 23-25,unfortunately!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

YHM (You Have Mail)

[calyptorhynchus]

I'm back listening to Brian after listening to other things. Even though what I was listening to in the interim wasn't poor music, Mozart, Pavel Haas (murdered by the Nazis, 3 string quartets &c wonderful stuff), C17 consort music &c &c, coming back to Brian was like a walking into a magical place again. I was listening to the Symphony 21, and the first 'change of gear' of the kind that Hugh Ottaway complained about made me smile and second made me laugh. This is such living music, you can't just sit back and let it wash over you, you have to be in it, listening and thinking. And the biggest joke is that #21 is his most "conventional" symphony.

Next on the list, listening to 17 and 18, and trying to see about the change between them. (I realised when I wrote my list earlier that my "Middle Period" of symphonies from 13 to 21 was too long and needed to be divided).

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I have been listening to Brian a lot, too. And yes - his music has incredible vitality. MM wrote somewhere, a long time ago, that Brian had discovered a knack of making the subconscious work for him... What makes his music so exciting is the way Brian gives free rein to his imagination AND is intellectually in control. His music is happening here and now, it's dangerous and unpredictable. That's why it sounds fresh and alive.

[cilgwyn]

I'm back listening to Brian after listening to other things. Even though what I was listening to in the interim wasn't poor music, Mozart, Pavel Haas (murdered by the Nazis, 3 string quartets &c wonderful stuff), C17 consort music &c &c, coming back to Brian was like a walking into a magical place again. I was listening to the Symphony 21, and the first 'change of gear' of the kind that Hugh Ottaway complained about made me smile and second made me laugh. This is such living music, you can't just sit back and let it wash over you, you have to be in it, listening and thinking. And the biggest joke is that #21 is his most "conventional" symphony.

Next on the list, listening to 17 and 18, and trying to see about the change between them. (I realised when I wrote my list earlier that my "Middle Period" of symphonies from 13 to 21 was too long and needed to be divided).

Sorry Calyptorhyncus,I'm going to print you're earlier post as well. The more viewpoints the better! But not every post here,obviously,otherwise I'll need allot of ink & paper!

I also note,Johan,you're favourite symphonies are: 1,3,5,6,8,10,12,13,14,16,17,18,19,22,24,27,28,30 & 31.

Of course,only 10-31 are relevant here,but I do have a hankering for No 7;and 11,now,after my cd-r reappraisal of the Newstone. And No 9 has moved back up a notch after hearing the Del Mar!
  Glad to see you like 13 & 14. These are now firmly added to my list of favourites!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

When I see that list with my favourites I suddenly realise I love so many things about the symphonies I omit... Don't take it too seriously - the ending of No. 9 is uplifting, the opening movement of No. 11 is great, the spaciousness of No. 20 is wonderful... In the final analysis I love them all, even Nos 23 and 26 (parts of them).

[cilgwyn]

When I see that list with my favourites I suddenly realise I love so many things about the symphonies I omit... Don't take it too seriously - the ending of No. 9 is uplifting, the opening movement of No. 11 is great, the spaciousness of No. 20 is wonderful... In the final analysis I love them all, even Nos 23 and 26 (parts of them).

The ending of No 9 is marvellous (best Brian endings?!!!). When I was a youngster listening to the old Groves Lp on my record player I used to imagine hearing it at a concert,perhaps a Prom. It's the sort of ending that gets you on you're feet,even if it's only metaphorically (in you're mind). It can certainly make you're heart race!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

A few of my favourite Brian endings - 5, 9, 10, Elegy, 16, 17, Concerto for Orchestra, 22, 24, 29, 30...

[Winky Willy]

Number Five.

[cilgwyn]

And,No 1,I suppose. It has to be one of the best endings ever!

[cilgwyn]

And,let's hit that sack!

[John Whitmore]

A few of my favourite Brian endings - 5, 9, 10, Elegy, 16, 17, Concerto for Orchestra, 22, 24, 29, 30...

I love the endiing of No.4 because it means the thing is about to come to an end....

[Hattoff]

The ending to No 3, it's straight out of a James Bond movie/film.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I know what you mean - that final cadence, that penultimate chord: pure John Barry (e.g. Goldfinger).