Havergal Brian.

[Mirror Image]

Part Four of 'Havergal Brian on music: Volume One,is devoted to his writings about Delius (at least 47 pages). He wrote more about Elgar;but "due to the remarkable size of the essay","The Art of Frederic Delius',which begins the Toccata Press Paperback selection,"they almost equal them in bulk". He is very enthusiastic about his music,referring to him as a genius.

If No 22 is one of the most impressive concrete slabs in the business,what does that make "Das Siegeslied",I wonder?

Excellent. I'll have to pick up that book!

[Mirror Image]

Does anyone know anything about this book?

[asin]B007K4XIFS[/asin]

[Mirror Image]

Okay Brianites, this is going to be a crazy question, but if you could take five works by Brian to the desert island, what would they be?

[springrite]

Okay Brianites, this is going to be a crazy question, but if you could take five works by Brian to the desert island, what would they be?

#10 because it is my favourite
#1 because it is long
Siegeslied so I can drive some of the other desert islanders mad
The Dutton CD with orchestral parts of Brian operas because they are so cool
In Memoriam because I need something to listen to while the other desert islanders leave me for I am going to be the one with longevity to outlast everyone

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

1) The book is a collection of the best pieces from the HBS Newsletter. Contents - here: http://www.havergalbrian.org/schaarwaechter_contents.htm


2) It's impossible for me to name my five HB desert island discs...

[John Whitmore]

#10 because it is my favourite
#1 because it is long
Siegeslied so I can drive some of the other desert islanders mad
The Dutton CD with orchestral parts of Brian operas because they are so cool
In Memoriam because I need something to listen to while the other desert islanders leave me for I am going to be the one with longevity to outlast everyone

1) No. 10 cos it has some music in it
2) No.22 cos it's very decent and short
3-5) Any 3 items from the Hull set for some comedy as I sit on the island getting naffed off

[Mirror Image]

1) The book is a collection of the best pieces from the HBS Newsletter. Contents - here: http://www.havergalbrian.org/schaarwaechter_contents.htm


2) It's impossible for me to name my five HB desert island discs...

Thanks, Johan.

[Sergeant Rock]

Okay Brianites, this is going to be a crazy question...

Crazy indeed...and impossible. How about a dozen? That's almost doable. (Quotes from MacDonald's The Symphonies of Havergal Brian.)

Tone Poem: In Memoriam

Symphony No. 1 D minor "Gothic"

Symphony No. 2 E minor ("[speaks] with the accent of tragedy" and includes a battle Scherzo with 16 horns, two pianos and organ!)

Symphony No. 3 C sharp minor ("imbued with a rock-like, elemental heroism")

Symphony No. 7 C major ("Brian's last really large-scale symphony...Once upon a time..." I'm moved by its association with Strasbourg)


Malcolm MacDonald thinks the next three form, like 22, 23, 24, a trilogy.


Symphony No. 8 B flat minor (after the Gothic, my favorite..."The end like the beginning is dark as night, stuck fast on the horns of its own tragic dilemma")

Symphony No. 9 A minor

Symphony No. 10 C minor ("The Tenth confronts the tragedy implicit in No. 8 with affirmative human activity.")

Symphony No. 14 F minor (...a new [one movement] large-scale epic symphony of dark power and epic grandeur")

Symphony No.16 ("No. 16 is indeed an epic compressed into 18 minutes of playing time")


Brian's swan songs:


Legend: Ave atque vale ("Oddball piece though it is, it shows its composer still in full possession of a wickedly agile mind; it sets its face resolutely against all conventional expressions of farewell")

Symphony No. 32 ("No. 32 stands at the end of Brian's Symphonic canon not as a monument or terminal wall but as a bridge reaching out towards an unknown region: a brave work equally of dark difficult thoughts and heroic affirmation")


Sarge

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Nice list, Sarge! Perhaps 12 is doable for me too. I'll have a deep think...

[Mirror Image]

Wow, thanks for the extensive list, Sarge. These are some great notes for myself.

[hbswebmaster]

Thanks for the compliment, Mirror Image! Why not join the HBS; all kinds of treasures here...

[Mirror Image]

Thanks for the compliment, Mirror Image! Why not join the HBS; all kinds of treasures here...

My pleasure and I'll definitely consider it, hbwebsmaster.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Mirror Image, meet Martyn.
hbswebmaster, meet John.

[John Whitmore]

Mirror Image, meet Martyn.
hbswebmaster, meet John.

Has this now become a dating site?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Havergal Brian has brought many together, but I don't think romantically (yet).

[Mirror Image]

Has this now become a dating site?

[hbswebmaster]

Oh, you two are a pair of cards! 

And you met - how? 

Still reeling from a totally stupendous Barbican concert last night, with Evgeny Kissin imperious but lovingly detailed in the Tchaikovsky first concerto, and Michael Tilson Thomas conducting an epic, trenchant and ultimately whirlwind Prokofiev fifth symphony. The LSO was on fire throughout the evening, in all departments. Wonderful. (Oops, sorry for the thread hijacking... but I didn't start it!)

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

We don't mind a Russian intrusion, provided it is short. 

[cilgwyn]

Oh, you two are a pair of cards! 

And you met - how? 

Still reeling from a totally stupendous Barbican concert last night, with Evgeny Kissin imperious but lovingly detailed in the Tchaikovsky first concerto, and Michael Tilson Thomas conducting an epic, trenchant and ultimately whirlwind Prokofiev fifth symphony. The LSO was on fire throughout the evening, in all departments. Wonderful. (Oops, sorry for the thread hijacking... but I didn't start it!)

You're lucky it wasn't Bruckner with John around!
Anyway,if the recent cd from Naxos is anything to go by,a 'Russian intrusion' is fine by me!
Talking about all things Russian;I have reached the closing bar of another blockbuster symphony! Not a 'fossilised dog turd' thankfully (see John's earlier post). I'm referring to Gliere's 'Ilya Murometz!' This is the Faberman/ Unicorn recording,which was my first encounter with this symphony all those years ago. A seller (not Zoverstocks,I should point out!) was offering the original Unicorn set for £2.74!! His ratings were all good so I thought,why not?! I have to say,this is the first time I have enjoyed this symphony in ages! I had the Downes recording for a while. After some initial enthusiasm I stopped playing it. I even stopped liking the symphony which I had always loved! Playing Faberman's performance reignited my enthusiasm immediately. Yes,he takes his time ,but what you get in return is the sense of scale,the grandeur and 'architecture' of the piece. The slow build up from the sepulchral gloom of the opening bringing out all the mystery and 'timelessness' of the music. The blazing grandeur of the heroic striding theme when it finally appears. Downes tempi may be more exciting on a visceral level,and he may have saved some people the cost of buying a 2cd set ,but it all seems like so much superficial technicolor gloss.....and unforgivably rushed!   (And don't get me wrong;I'm usually an admirer of Downes conducting!)

Of course,apart from the fact that Gliere's third is another symphonic colossus of epic ambition and the hb webmasters post,you're probably all thinking,what the heck has this got to do with the subject matter of this thread? Except that listening to Faberman's performance immediately brought back memories of another recording which nearly put me off another massive symphony I had always loved. The Marco Polo/ Naxos recording of the Gothic. Again,hearing the Boult (and Schmidt) recordings after many years reignited my enthusiasm for Brian's flawed,but ultimately,mind boggling creation. For me,there was simply no comparison. The Marco Polo performance seemed shapeless (although it gets better as it goes along) the tempi erratic,like an old car struggling with gear changes. Even worse,as far as I was concerned,that weird boxy Marco Polo sound. Horrible,muddy sound quality,lack of detail. And where was that extraordinary xylophone,that would have made Berloz's hair stand on end?!! On a more positive note,the choirs were fantastic. Absolutely superb. I think they were even better than the ones in the Prom performance.

Having said that;maybe I WAS a little hard on the Marco Polo recording. It was a brave,pioneering (commercially) recording of something that doesn't exactly come along to a conductors 'podium' on any average day of any average week;and it's easy for me to sit and judge! The Marco Polo recording obviously introduced allot of people to an otherwise commercially unavailable work,and for that Naxos and Ondrej Lenard should be applauded (literally,if you like,at the end of cd 2! )

http://kennethwoods.net/blog1/2011/07/18/havergal-brian-gothic-symphony-at-the-proms/

The above blog (hopefully,the link works!) will have been read countless times by users of this thread,having been on the web for quite some time now;but it helped with making this post! For instance,the name of the musician who played the xylophone solo ("astounding"),Chris Stock! If only all the critical responses had been as detailed as this!

NB: I know some people dislike Faberman's recording of Gliere. It's all ultimately a subjective experience I suppose;but I like my Gliere 3 drawn out and glacial paced,so there!

[John Whitmore]

You're lucky it wasn't Bruckner with John around!
Anyway,if the recent cd from Naxos is anything to go by,a 'Russian intrusion' is fine by me!
Talking about all things Russian;I have reached the closing bar of another blockbuster symphony! Not a 'fossilised dog turd' thankfully (see John's earlier post). I'm referring to Gliere's 'Ilya Murometz!' This is the Faberman/ Unicorn recording,which was my first encounter with this symphony all those years ago. A seller (not Zoverstocks,I should point out!) was offering the original Unicorn set for £2.74!! His ratings were all good so I thought,why not?! I have to say,this is the first time I have enjoyed this symphony in ages! I had the Downes recording for a while. After some initial enthusiasm I stopped playing it. I even stopped liking the symphony which I had always loved! Playing Faberman's performance reignited my enthusiasm immediately. Yes,he takes his time ,but what you get in return is the sense of scale,the grandeur and 'architecture' of the piece. The slow build up from the sepulchral gloom of the opening bringing out all the mystery and 'timelessness' of the music. The blazing grandeur of the heroic striding theme when it finally appears. Downes tempi may be more exciting on a visceral level,and he may have saved some people the cost of buying a 2cd set ,but it all seems like so much superficial technicolor gloss.....and unforgivably rushed!   (And don't get me wrong;I'm usually an admirer of Downes conducting!)

Of course,apart from the fact that Gliere's third is another symphonic colossus of epic ambition and the hb webmasters post,you're probably all thinking,what the heck has this got to do with the subject matter of this thread? Except that listening to Faberman's performance immediately brought back memories of another recording which nearly put me off another massive symphony I had always loved. The Marco Polo/ Naxos recording of the Gothic. Again,hearing the Boult (and Schmidt) recordings after many years reignited my enthusiasm for Brian's flawed,but ultimately,mind boggling creation. For me,there was simply no comparison. The Marco Polo performance seemed shapeless (although it gets better as it goes along) the tempi erratic,like an old car struggling with gear changes. Even worse,as far as I was concerned,that weird boxy Marco Polo sound. Horrible,muddy sound quality,lack of detail. And where was that extraordinary xylophone,that would have made Berloz's hair stand on end?!! On a more positive note,the choirs were fantastic. Absolutely superb. I think they were even better than the ones in the Prom performance.

Having said that;maybe I WAS a little hard on the Marco Polo recording. It was a brave,pioneering (commercially) recording of something that doesn't exactly come along to a conductors 'podium' on any average day of any average week;and it's easy for me to sit and judge! The Marco Polo recording obviously introduced allot of people to an otherwise commercially unavailable work,and for that Naxos and Ondrej Lenard should be applauded (literally,if you like,at the end of cd 2! )

http://kennethwoods.net/blog1/2011/07/18/havergal-brian-gothic-symphony-at-the-proms/

The above blog (hopefully,the link works!) will have been read countless times by users of this thread,having been on the web for quite some time now;but it helped with making this post! For instance,the name of the musician who played the xylophone solo ("astounding"),Chris Stock! If only all the critical responses had been as detailed as this!

NB: I know some people dislike Faberman's recording of Gliere. It's all ultimately a subjective experience I suppose;but I like my Gliere 3 drawn out and glacial paced,so there!

Go to this link and scroll down. You will find a free download of Scherchen's Westminster recording. Well worth getting. No catch. You don't have to sign up or even give an email address. I have all of this catalogue downloaded and transferred to CD. Take a browse.

http://www.rediscovery.us/conductors2.html