Havergal Brian.

[cilgwyn]

That's very good news,but part of me wishes they could have chosen the Pope performance. Brian's third at it's best & they've got in their archives,haven't they?! A bit like putting on the Brabbin's tenth instead of the LSSO,or the Lenard Gothic instead of the Brabbins (sorry Sarge!
Anyway,it's good that it's getting a hearing!

Moan,moan,eh?!!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Brianites can get no satisfaction...


Good news for me, though: I just received 1200 Classical Points (which buys you music!) from ClassicsOnline for writing one of the best Customer Reviews of the last two weeks. I wrote one (under my other name Jezetha) about the new Naxos CD. This is turning out to be a good day.


http://www.classicsonline.com/generics.aspx?id=CustomerReviews&utm_source=COL_Emails&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BestCustomerReviews_txt&utm_campaign=COL_AlbumReview


Thanks for the tipoff, Hattoff!

[Karl Henning]

Splendid, Johan!

[cilgwyn]

Congratulations! 'll read that in a minute. Have you seen the review of the Naxos Brian cd in this months International Record Review Magazine,Johan?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Alas, no, cilgwyn. I don't have a subscription... I hope to see it in the HBS Newsletter in due course.

[cilgwyn]

Link....going.....going.....GONE!!

Johan! A link to a scan of the review,if you want to read it. I'll remove it then. You may need a microscope,of course! I hope the link works!!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Many thanks, cilgwyn! The link works. I see the review is by Richard Whitehouse. I know him, he's a passionate Brianite. I do hope, though, this new piece show more stylistic discipline than some of the other things he has written...

[cilgwyn]

He seems to prefer the 'Carnival' in the old Hull Youth SO performance,I notice.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Yes. I was struck by that, too. And his positive mention of the LSSO performance of No. 22. Overall, Richard's experiences tally with mine.

[hbswebmaster]

You will indeed, Johan! But yours will be there first...

The BBC Radio website shows nothing Brianic for Friday June 7th, or indeed anything else up to the middle of next week ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/programmes/schedules/this_week
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/programmes/schedules/2013/w24

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I'm going to write my review for the HBS in the weekend (I think), Martyn. Still mulling it over internally.

[Hattoff]

Sorry all,
I seem to have lost the plot. It's not there this time.

[calyptorhynchus]

"Good news for me, though: I just received 1200 Classical Points (which buys you music!) from ClassicsOnline for writing one of the best Customer Reviews of the last two weeks. I wrote one (under my other name Jezetha) about the new Naxos CD."

Bother, now I can't win it for mine (see under the disk, I wrote it under my real name (John Leonard))

One thing I've noticed about that site is they never post negative reviews, mine have only appeared if they are positive, and sometimes my reviews have appeared, but qualifications have been removed.

On another topic, seems a bit measely for the BBC only to play one symphony by Brian in a whole month of British music.

[calyptorhynchus]

Ps congratulations Johan, don't want to be one of those dissatisfied Brianites.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Ha, calyptorhynchus! Thanks! I read your review under the name 'jleonard'... I thought 'I know him, but who was it again?' You have helped me out of my misery... If I hadn't written my review earlier, you might very well have won those points.

[cilgwyn]

Sorry all,
I seem to have lost the plot. It's not there this time.

The Brian jinx strikes again!

[calyptorhynchus]

I'm not normally one for historical 'what ifs', but today I was thinking this: suppose in the 60s someone (Robert Simpson) had managed for the Gothic to be recorded by Jasha Horenstein. I've been listening to some Horenstein recordings recently, and I have confirmed in my own mind his reputation for producing more compelling versions of well known symphonies by his ability to see the work as a whole and set tempi to produce this effect of wholeness (I've been listening to his Nielsen 5th, Mahler 3 and 9, and Bruckner 5). I'm not saying that the Boult performance of the Gothic in 1966 was not compelling, but if Horenstein had conducted a performance and it had been released I'm sure it would have been that much more compelling and resulted in more recognition and recordings for HB, even before his death.

Next up, what if red wine didn't contain alcohol (I'd drink gallons of it).

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Well, you know that Robert Matthew-Walker says that Bernstein considered doing the Gothic. A very busy schedule prevented it (he was booked years ahead), apart from the fact that he would have had to persuade concert programmers to mount this mad work.

[John Whitmore]

I'm not normally one for historical 'what ifs', but today I was thinking this: suppose in the 60s someone (Robert Simpson) had managed for the Gothic to be recorded by Jasha Horenstein. I've been listening to some Horenstein recordings recently, and I have confirmed in my own mind his reputation for producing more compelling versions of well known symphonies by his ability to see the work as a whole and set tempi to produce this effect of wholeness (I've been listening to his Nielsen 5th, Mahler 3 and 9, and Bruckner 5). I'm not saying that the Boult performance of the Gothic in 1966 was not compelling, but if Horenstein had conducted a performance and it had been released I'm sure it would have been that much more compelling and resulted in more recognition and recordings for HB, even before his death.

Next up, what if red wine didn't contain alcohol (I'd drink gallons of it).

Horenstein eh? Following his early VOX records (technically dreadful but musically interesting) he was pretty much ignored by the record companies. John Goldsmith, MD of the Leicestershire based Unicorn records (they were in Markfield I think) was an admirer and set about putting a few of his performances onto LP. I also like his work. It's cool, detached and clear. The Unicorn Mahler 1 is excellent as is Nielsen 5 (despite the side drum coming in a bar early and then starting again). His Simpson 3 was the LP that introduced me to the wonderful music of Bob Simpson. Many of the records were with the LSO so Goldsmith must have had some good persuasive powers. Of course the Goldsmith/Leicestershire/Unicorn link did lead to the Brian 10/21 in 1972. I agree that a Unicorn Gothic available as a product on vinyl would have had a bigger impact than the Boult performance. Alas, we will never know if Jascha would have been up for it. The costs to Unicorn would have been a major issue - the Brian 10/21 only got off the ground because the orchestra was free with no rehearsal or session costs.

[Klaatu]

Although the Brisbane and Proms performances of The Gothic were major achievements, I still think that HB's reputation suffers from symphonies 1 to 4: huge, slightly mad pieces all of them.

My own symphonic "hit list" has always remained as follows: 6, 8, 10 and 16. Of these, 6 and 10 are probably more accessible to the average listener.

If any of these four could get "Proms" exposure, it might finally puncture the composer's image of being a writer of gargantuan and near-unperformable works.

Out of all of them, I'd push for No. 6. So original and gripping, and oh, that tune!