Havergal Brian.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

You a salesman, Albion? You know how to get people to part with their money...

[Albion]

One feels one has to do one's bit for the tottering classical CD industry.

Hehe - there's no pockets in shrouds ...

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

One feels one has to do one's bit for the tottering classical CD industry.

Hehe - there's no pockets in shrouds ...

(The other recordings you mention are excellent, too, of course. 7, 8, 9, 31 are so much part of my life, I'd almost forget them! And the LSSO 10, which Brabbins hasn't surpassed, is also indelibly there. The hunt is on for the Third Tenth, which will be perfection itself...)

[vandermolen]

(The other recordings you mention are excellent, too, of course. 7, 8, 9, 31 are so much part of my life, I'd almost forget them! And the LSSO 10, which Brabbins hasn't surpassed, is also indelibly there. The hunt is on for the Third Tenth, which will be perfection itself...)

Very much agree with this. Very pleased to hear of a new recording of Symphony 6.

[cilgwyn]

I'd agree whole-heartedly with your high opinion of the Lyrita 6+16 and likewise the Dutton 5+19+27: these, together with the Hyperion Gothic and the EMI set of 7+8+9+31 are surely now the cornerstones of any Brian symphony collection. I'm also greatly looking forward to the forthcoming Naxos disc, especially with regard to 28+29 but also 6 - it is wonderful to reach a point where some of the symphonies are being re-recorded and introduced to twenty-first-century orchestras.

The Testament release of The Tigers is fantastic in all respects (performance, engineering and presentation) and a model of what can and should be done with seminal radio studio recordings: in an ideal world a coupling of the BBC Agamemnon and prologue to Faust broadcasts should follow, together with Norman Del Mar's magnificent 1979 rendition of Bantock's Omar Khayyam.

The prologue to Faust and Agamemnon on a Testament cd? What an inspired suggestion! Even better than my suggestions for couplings of the Ralph Holmes Violin Concerto (although that would be high on my list) and the Rayner Cook Wine of Summer,which is still a very important document imho,even if you think the Dutton recording surpasses it (which it almost certainly does!).....or my other suggestions;the Mackerras Second (the Marco Polo is awful) and the Pope third;because the Hyperion just doesn't do it justice,passable as it is,in many ways!
All the off air recordings of Agamemnon I've heard are in such dreadful sound quality!!

Even better.....the BBC could give us a complete Faust! (Well,you can only hope! )

[cilgwyn]

Oops! In my eagerness I missed the crucial "in an ideal world" bit in Albions post!
Oh what the heck! Here are my other "in an ideal world" suggestions for Heritage! The Newstone Seventh the Schmidt Gothic and the Poole Das Siegeslied!!

As Private Eye would say,"that's enough suggestions,ed!" 

[Albion]

http://www.mdt.co.uk/brian-havergal-symphonies-nos-6-symphony-orchestra-alexander-walker-naxos.html

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Excellent!

[Christo]

Filling in the last real gaps in the Brian symphonies discography, AFAIK. End of part I, enter part II: the arrived composer. 

Edit: please enter with the details of the final gaps, here. (14, 26, and?)

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Only symphonies 14 and 26 remain to be done. No. 14 is a very strong piece, no. 26 one of the lesser ones (first movement is okay). We also need another Second and Third... 

[Christo]

Only symphonies 14 and 26 remain to be done. No. 14 is a very strong piece, no. 26 one of the lesser ones (first movement is okay). We also need another Second and Third... 

Exactly. 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

 

But - you are right: discographically speaking, Brian is no longer a neglected composer.

[Augustus]

The gaps are certainly closing up fast.  I can hardly believe we'll have got five unreleased symphonies 5, 19, 27, 28 and 29 filled in in as many months.  Does anyone know of anything else in the planning?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Nature abhors a vacuum... I predict Dutton and Naxos will do the honours. I expect 14 and 26 in the near future, plus a couple of new recordings of symphonies we already have. I hope No. 2 will be among them: a job for Dutton, Naxos already has a Second...

[calyptorhynchus]

My cup runneth over (or it will when I get hold of the Dutton and this new Naxos).

[calyptorhynchus]

And the Dutton arrived this morning!

I've been listening to it, like others here I think it's excellent and haven't got a single complaint. I was particularly rapt to hear No 27 clearly for the first time, like coming in to the concert hall rather than listening from outside through thick doors!

Both 27 and 19 reminded me that although Brian's orchestras are huge and his counterpoint is involved, a lot of his music goes for long stretches with just a few instruments playing. It's the delicacy of the music you miss in those old radio recordings.

And yes Roderick Williams has a wonderful voice and does his best with the awful words in 5*. As always, though, I keep on wishing there simply wasn't a vocal line and I could enjoy the strange new world of Brian's impressionist phase instrumentally. 

* "Now, my Lord, could explain exactly how lost loves are like angry red kings?"

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Congratulations, calyptorhynchus! Your mettle has been sorely tested. I like your phrase 'impressionist phase', I never thought about Wine of Summer like that. Its sound-world is certainly unique. Some of the piano accompaniments to the songs evoke a similar dreamy atmosphere in a similarly delicate way. But in his orchestral works I can't think of anything else as pared-down... Tragica, opening movement, perhaps? Those lost loves burning like fierce red kings... And then Brian erects a skeletal contrapuntal edifice in response. I wonder who is weirder, Douglas or Brian!

[springrite]

I wonder who is weirder, Douglas or Brian!

Anyone similar to me can not possibly be weird. Unique, one of a kind, yes!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

When you return from your appointment, please tell us what your psychiatrist thought about that.

[springrite]

When you return from your appointment, please tell us what your psychiatrist thought about that.

I AM my psychiatrist!