Havergal Brian.

[Albion]

Dutton seem to be making some prescient repertoire choices in terms of the broadest appeal, mixing works in various styles to give a nicely rounded picture of Brian's output - the ebullient Tinker's Wedding overture, the ripely 'romantic' Violin Concerto, the quirky English Suite No.4 and the more challenging Symphony No.13. It looks, fingers crossed, as though Martyn Brabbins is clearly committed to the cause ...

[Sergeant Rock]

Actually...I think that this should qualify me for FREE copies of all HB cds from Dutton, Klassic Haus, Marco Polo et al and honorary Life Membership of the HB Society and a knighthood

Sir Colin II (to differenciate you from the other Sir Colin of musical fame)

Sarge

[Dundonnell]

That would do nicely

[mszczuj]

Greetings from the middle of Te Deum!

Thank you all for the help! Without the illusion of completness I probably wouldn't be sufficiently patient to listen to this music enough to begin to like it.

What I really like in the Gothic (so far) is that nothing is obvious in it.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Glad to be of service. And yes - the Te Deum is utterly unpredictable and still it hangs together, especially after a few listenings. And it feels rather short, for all its length, because it is so varied.

[John Whitmore]

I ordered it right after I read your post but it just arrived today. Not Klassic Haus's fault: they dispatched it almost immediately but it got hung up somewhere between Chicago and Germany (the trail went dead as soon as it entered the Chicago mail distribution facility). Anyway, I'm happy now, and listening to it: sounds wonderful (well, as wonderful as I can imagine given the source).

Sarge

No 14 is especially good. Glad it arrived eventually!!!!

[hbswebmaster]

I completely agree with John; been listening to no. 14 for the last year or so, off and on, and it's certainly one of my favourites. (29 is another one.)

[Dundonnell]

I completely agree with John; been listening to no. 14 for the last year or so, off and on, and it's certainly one of my favourites. (29 is another one.)

Ah....so that means that the HB Society will be helping to fund a recording of Symphonies Nos. 14 and 29 coupled together, does it

However....at 24 and 17 minutes respectively that leaves plenty of room for more Nos. 27 and 28 would fit on too.....or replace No.27 with No.5 "Wine of Summer" and you get a really well-balanced disc: early/mid-period/later Brian all in contrast to each other.

There you go...four of the "missing" Brian symphonies(5; 14; 28; 29) on one well-packed disc    That would leave only Nos. 19, 26 and 27 to go

[hbswebmaster]

 

Hi Colin.

Wow, that's some extrapolation! If only it were true...  No. 13 (one less than 14) appears on the new Dutton, and one of the unrecorded Brian symphonies you mention (no. 19) gets its public premiere on Saturday December 1st, in Bristol. The Bristol University Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by John Pickard - their In Memoriam from January is streamable from the HBS website. They are also doing Walton 1, so a great evening in prospect. Maybe there should be some kind of gathering...

Another Brian event coming this week for those of you that have access to the Sky Arts 2 channel: the documentary 'Curse of the Gothic Symphony', about the staging of the Gothic in Brisbane in 2010 airs at 8pm on Wednesday 31st.

[John Whitmore]

Hi Colin.

Wow, that's some extrapolation! If only it were true...  No. 13 (one less than 14) appears on the new Dutton, and one of the unrecorded Brian symphonies you mention (no. 19) gets its public premiere on Saturday December 1st, in Bristol. The Bristol University Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by John Pickard - their In Memoriam from January is streamable from the HBS website. They are also doing Walton 1, so a great evening in prospect. Maybe there should be some kind of gathering...

Another Brian event coming this week for those of you that have access to the Sky Arts 2 channel: the documentary 'Curse of the Gothic Symphony', about the staging of the Gothic in Brisbane in 2010 airs at 8pm on Wednesday 31st.

Can you do a deal to get the 19th streamed? That would be a nice addition to the collection. The last recording they made was very good indeed in excellent sound. I captured it on Audacity for a CD transfer with super results. Can't imagine what they will make of Walton 1 though. Very difficult. Final point - does anyone out there have any more Aries LPs that could be restored? I would be very interested to do some more.

[Dundonnell]

Apparently Naxos was expecting to receive the edited tapes from the recording in Moscow in late August of

Symphony No.22
Symphony No.23
Symphony No.24
English Suite No.1

Symphony Orchestra "New Russia" conducted by Alexander Walker (rather than the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, as previously reported)

around now (late October) and may indeed already have done so

http://havergalbrianproject.vpweb.co.uk/News.html

Naxos are planning to release the disc sometime next year. We must remain hopeful that the performances are worthy of the composer. Alexander Walker will have worked hard to achieve this but are the Russian musicians up to it We shall see   But if they are then Naxos could use them again for the recording I suggest

(Odd...first Gary Walker and now Alexander Walker )

[John Whitmore]

Apparently Naxos was expecting to receive the edited tapes from the recording in Moscow in late August of

Symphony No.22
Symphony No.23
Symphony No.24
English Suite No.1

Symphony Orchestra "New Russia" conducted by Alexander Walker (rather than the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, as previously reported)

around now (late October) and may indeed already have done so

http://havergalbrianproject.vpweb.co.uk/News.html

Naxos are planning to release the disc sometime next year. We must remain hopeful that the performances are worthy of the composer. Alexander Walker will have worked hard to achieve this but are the Russian musicians up to it We shall see   But if they are then Naxos could use them again for the recording I suggest

(Odd...first Gary Walker and now Alexander Walker )

I see no reason why they shouldn't be. They had 4 hours of rehearsal and none of the music is difficult for pro musicians. Most of it is sight readable. It's more to do with whether or not the conductor is up to it / interested in the music and how he engages the players. That's usually the problem.

[Dundonnell]

I get the impression that Alexander Walker is very keen on the music and, if he has mastered the idiom, then his experience with Russian orchestras and his fluent command of Russian should help him to communicate his intentions So...the omens are looking good

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

We'll just have to wait and see...    First on the agenda - Symphony No. 13, English Suite No. 4, The Tinker's Wedding, the VC... 

[John Whitmore]

We'll just have to wait and see...    First on the agenda - Symphony No. 13, English Suite No. 4, The Tinker's Wedding, the VC... 

I bet the violin concerto will be good. She's a fine player.

[cilgwyn]

Autographs provided at a reasonable fee

Going...going...gone!!!
You,never know,if this current Brian revival takes off,you could be a very rich man,John!!

[hemmesjo]

Looking for a little advice.  I was all set to purchase the new Dutton Brian disc as well as several others directly from Dutton until I noticed the VAT was not removed.  I made note of that on my order and sent an email.  Dutton refuses to waive the VAT and I'm not about to pay it since I live in the US.  From whom would you suggest I purchase?

Thanks.

[John Whitmore]

Looking for a little advice.  I was all set to purchase the new Dutton Brian disc as well as several others directly from Dutton until I noticed the VAT was not removed.  I made note of that on my order and sent an email.  Dutton refuses to waive the VAT and I'm not about to pay it since I live in the US.  From whom would you suggest I purchase?

Thanks.

Amazon US is probably the place to go.

[Dundonnell]

I have just ordered the Klassic Haus restoration of Symphonies Nos. 8 and 14

I would have ordered the Violin Concerto as well but I see that it is coupled with the Stokowski version of Symphony No.28 I fully accept that the Stokowski is the only performance currently available but it was such a manifest disaster that I cannot see how perpetuating its existence is doing the symphony any favours
I certainly could not listen to it without a feeling of anger, annoyance and frustration

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I think the Stokowski performance is, to coin a phrase, a mitigated disaster. Where it sometimes goes wrong is in the tempo and the dynamics. I find it enjoyable all the same...