Havergal Brian.

[cilgwyn]

Nice! This eliminates that rather annoying cd change in the Forlane set,then. And a great coupling (the Foulds). I have made a cdr with the unbroken sequence & I do have one of this big old fashioned 5cd changers (complete with noisy mains transformer ,but I have it in a cupboard and use cordless headphones) but it would be nice to have it all on a proper cd I can just bung in!!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Devastating news just in: the irreplaceable and most knowledgeable Brianite ever is dead - the great Malcolm MacDonald. He changed my life and my writing with his 'gift' of Havergal Brian's music. This is a bad day.

[calyptorhynchus]

That's terrible news, surely he wasn't that old?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Only 66. But I know he had had an operation last year. I think there must have been some disastrous relapse. Perhaps Dundonnell (Colin Mackie) knows more. Malcolm was his friend for most of his life.

[Sergeant Rock]

Johan, I read your post about Malcolm last night. Was too depressed to respond. Just as it seems that Brian is finally getting his due (with recordings) one of the men most responsible is dead. It's just too sad.

Sarge

[John Whitmore]

Very sad indeed. That's no age at all. He and Bob Simpson were Brian's true champions. I was about email him about the Heritage CD (he wrote the notes). A great shame and a real shock.

[Klaatu]

Sad news indeed.

Malcolm's 3 volume study of HB's symphonies remains a masterpiece of musical communication which even a dunce like me can understand and enjoy.

Malcolm conveyed his enthusiasm for music in prose of almost Shakespearean eloquence, such as his concluding words on HB's 16th:

"This whole coda, in fact, sums up something of what Brian stood for - a dogged, heroic confrontation of chaos and the unknown that could transform them into art of the highest power and complexity, could consume them into the very stuff and resources of tradition, and could bind them to his will by the absolute and sovereign power of the human imagination. This tremendous symphony, which seems to say most of the things worth saying about the world without a single wasted note, triumphantly succeeds in that aim, at every level and all along the line."

HB has lost one of his most powerful advocates. The world of music has lost one of its most gifted communicators. Requiescat in pace.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Beautiful, Klaatu. Thank you.

[vandermolen]

Very sorry to hear this. I greatly value his book on the symphonies.

[calyptorhynchus]

MM's books on the Brian symphonies come from a distinguished lineage from Tovey's Essays in Musical Analysis via Simpson's writings on Nielsen and Bruckner. This is a tradition which describes the music as unfolding in time, as the listener experiences it from moment to moment. But MM's Brian books were amongst the most detailed and the best and most eloquently written of this type of writing. And this style is the best way to approach the music of Brian, which is is very fast-moving and full of abrupt contrasts. MM did a great service to Brian in explaining how his symphonies function as wholes; without his writings there would have been a danger that apart from a few obvious masterpieces (symphonies 6 and 16 for example), people would not appreciate Brian's symphonic achievement.

I have a shelf at home where I keep my favourite books, ones I often pick up when I have a few odd moments and glance though, reading odd passages here and there with pleasure, and MM's volumes are on that shelf and amongst the most picked-up.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I'm in complete agreement, calyptorhynchus. MM's Brian books have been my companions for more than 35 years. I know them almost by heart and many of his observations, insights and predictions (that Brian could  one day become an inspiring type of creative artist - he has for me) have become part of my mental makeup. I also can see that almost all Brian reviews have been influenced by him and contain paraphrases of what he put so inimitably well. It will be impossible for future Brian scholars to be as original as he has been, I fear. But - who knows?

[John Whitmore]

Thought this would be of interest. My review for Musicweb. Very good CD.
https://word.office.live.com/wv/WordView.aspx?FBsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fdownload%2Ffile_preview.php%3Fid%3D281606915342347%26time%3D1401379430%26metadata&access_token=100001339604711%3AAVKQeT49odxuVBVzcnsHMLdTpVjO4WGmdv0djXkO1YrxDA&title=Heritage+Tigers.docx

[cilgwyn]

I've been offline for a little bit (getting ready to move!) so I only just 'heard 'about this. It seems only recently I was thinking how great it was that the author of the book that fired my youthful imagination,and various Lp sleeves,was still around! I actually only had the first volume I must admit! It was only years later that the later symphonies 'opened up' their wonders for me! Maybe,if I'd obtained vols 2 & 3 it would have happened allot sooner! More fool me!! Still,I spent many happy hours poring over vol 1. Indeed,I became quite obsessed with the first ten,as my long suffering family would know,having to listen to hour after hour of them,very often at full blast!! His description of the music was wonderful. He really made you want to listen to this music......'Das Siegeslied' included ;although not so much now I'm middle aged! Still,if anyone could sell Brian's,arguably,least likeable symphony,Malcolm MacDonald was surely the man! In fact it just struck me;one good way out of the problem,if you are embarking on a journey through the symphonies,and you really don't like No 4;just read his marvelous description of it instead of actually listening to it! He makes it sound like the epoch making blockbuster it should be! I still think it has it's moments though........it's just a bit loud for louds sake imho!
Luckily the others live up to Malcolm MacDonald's vivid evocations. I particularly like his description of No 3,my all time favourite Brian symphony! But they are all wonderful as are his record and booklet notes;and not just for Havergal Brian,either. He was always one of the most perceptive of music critics.

I remember,when Dundonell was a regular here,comparing Malcolm MacDonald's writing to Rider Haggard,the author of 'King Solomons Mines' and 'She' amongst others. I was reading She at the time and of course I was referring to Malcolm MacDonald's enthralling ability to draw the readers attention and paint vivid mental pictures of the music he was describing,not Rider Haggard's sometimes purple depictions of wild adventures in what would have been at the time strange exotic realms! But then again,with many of Brian's major works only available via posted off-air cassettes and the mysterious Aries label (will we ever know who the actual people involved in this outfit were?!!)  they were a strange exotic realm back then and certainly an enigmatic one;the musical equivalent of somewhere like Skull Island (No 3 perhaps?) or a distant planet.
Anyway,I am very sorry to hear this sad news indeed. Malcolm MacDonald's death is a great loss. He will be greatly missed!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Great contribution, cilgwyn! The latest information regarding MM is that the HBS will very likely be dedicating the upcoming issue of the BBC recording of
The Tigers to his memory.

[cilgwyn]

That will be a lovely tribute!

I suppose I should point out that by my reference to 'Skull Island' I wasn't suggesting that Brian's music sounds like 'King Kong'! It was bad enough hearing that the beginning of the 'Gothic' sounded like the theme to 'Jaws'!!! (Just when you thought it was safe to go to a Prom!!) but 'Kong'?!! Mind you they do have one thing in common! Size!!

[cilgwyn]

Ahem! Well,you know what I mean! I just noticed the Mark Stone cd of Vol 2 of the HB Songbook! I obviously have been asleep or I should have known about this release. I really do wish I could muster some enthusiasm,but I think I will pass on it.

A release of 'The Tigers' does seem a very apt tribute. I think I'll go and put some HB on my cd changer now. Brian releases won't be quite the same without Malcolm MacDonald's notes. The brooding Mahlerian (at times) second and wildly eccentric third,literally teeming with ideas and astonishing sounds,will make a nice sequence and I can think of the images his writing evokes. I had the Boult Gothic on earlier this week. I hadn't listened to it for a while. I do like the way Brian's confidence and mastery appears to grow throughout the work. Parts of the first two movements seem a bit awkward and ott. I can't imagine Mahler composing music as clumsy and awkward sounding as that. But then that is probably part of it's appeal and power,making the truly astounding sequences of music in the third movement and that wierd storm even more astonishing and fulfilling when they arrive. The feeling,all the time,of striving towards some goal has to be one of the strengths of this colossal work. The choral music that follows is mind boggling and surprisingly red blooded for a British composer. Allot of English music is quiet and contemplative. This is one of the reasons it grabbed me the way it did when I first heard it. And one more point.Whatever faults Brian's most famous (or notorious,if you like?) work might possess,imo the cumulative effect of the work wouldn't be anywhere near as fulfilling or inspiring without them.

Anyway,I shouldn't be droning on like this at a time like this........but coming back to the Gothic again after a while and really enjoying it again AND the poignancy of Malcolm MacDonald's untimely death does sort of bring me back full circle.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I've been listening to Brian a lot these past few days, too. No, Brian CDs won't be the same without MM. It will  require some getting used to for a very long time to come. As for melodic  similarities, I noticed one already a few decades ago, which always slightly diminishes the effect that Brian achieves there, through no fault of his own. It's in the final bars of the Sixteenth. I won't spoil it for you, if you never noticed it...

[calyptorhynchus]

I, alone amongst the Brianites here it seems, have been listening to Vol 2 of the HB Songs by Mark Stone et al. I have to report that Mark Stone seems to be singing much better on this disc, much more smoothly and more lyrically, much less shouty. The female singer is good (she wasn't on the first disc), and even the pianist seems to be a bit better. I was amazed and had to do some comparisons with Vol 1 and the Rayner Cook disc, but yes, Mark Stone does seem to be getting into the music more. I would definitely recommend people get Vol 2.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Thanks for that reassuring review, calyptorhynchus. This might sway me to reconsider. ..

[John Whitmore]

But then again,with many of Brian's major works only available via posted off-air cassettes and the mysterious Aries label (will we ever know who the actual people involved in this outfit were?!!)  they were a strange exotic realm back then and certainly an enigmatic one;the musical equivalent of somewhere like Skull Island (No 3 perhaps?) or a distant planet.
Anyway,I am very sorry to hear this sad news indeed. Malcolm MacDonald's death is a great loss. He will be greatly missed!

Just in case anyone on this board is unaware (I doubt it), downloads are now available sourced from these Aries LPs. The scratchy old vinyls have been declicked and restored. Don't expect miracles. Some are better than others. I can thoroughly endorse the transfers of Symphonies 2 and 3 from an audio point of view and as a performance the Holmes fiddle concerto is thing of beauty. Go to the link below and then open the tab called "collaborations". There's a list of Brian CDs. If you click on the sleeves you will hear audio samples.
http://klassichaus.us/Home.php
By the way, I was listening to the Heritage release of The Tigers Symphonic Movements again this morning and I've really fallen for the John Foulds coupling (Pasquinade Symphonique No.1). It's tremedous stuff.