Havergal Brian.

[Albion]

Yes, I have noticed, too. Another strange glitch is on Dutton's latest Brian CD. There seems to be some sort of interference by a telephone at the end of the slow movement of Symphony No. 19, if I remember correctly.

That was me calling Dutton to let them know that I'd found the full scores of The Vision of Cleopatra, Hero and Leander, English Suite No.2 and Prometheus Unbound in my granny's old commode...

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

😂

[calyptorhynchus]

The new Naxos disk arrived in the post this morning, just in time for listneing over the Easter weekend.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Excellent!

[vandermolen]

I've now retrieved my copy from my place of employment. 

Look forward to hearing it later today.

[cilgwyn]

The Testament release of The Tigers is on the way. I got an email from Presto informing me that it has been despatched. I would have liked to have bought from the Testament 'shop',but I've spent too much already,and my electricity supplier has just contacted me!!
Good new about those releases of off air recordings by Lyrita,over at the AMF forum. It isn't music that I'm particularly into;but it is enterprising and it will be nice for Malcolm Lipkin. As I know from bitter experience,creativity is hard work. Not like breaking rocks in a quarry,or working in a steelyard,of course.....just in a different kind of way!
Going back to the new Naxos recording. Quite frankly,any grumbling about the new recording of the Sixth does seem like nit-picking. All things considered,it is a fantastic recording in every possible way;as are the performances of the other symphonies. Real eye,or should I say,ear openers.....oh,and mind openers too!! And that Russian sound. It has me wondering what the great Svetlanov would have done with these scores. Not so polished....but it's not just about that is it?
I did grumble about the old Marco Polo releases,I'll admit. Very ungrateful,but I absolutely hated them all.........although,I do rather like their Das Siegeslied (if like is the right word for that score?) and the choirs in their recording of the Gothic were very good indeed. I just didn't like the conducting! Still,each to his own. And could I do any better? No,I can just about play chopsticks!! So,more fool me!!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Agreed. Any criticisms you might level at the new Tragica pale in comparison with everything that it accomplishes. We can be very happy, indeed! There have been worse times for us Brianites, when there was simply nothing at all to rejoice (or carp, for that matter) about!

[Sergeant Rock]

My 6/28/29/31 arrived today. (Yeah!!!) For some reason, it still isn't available at Amazon DE. Had to order it from the UK. Looking forward to those trumpets 

Sarge

[calyptorhynchus]

It's very difficult to review a disk when you start off saying 10/10, but it would be churlish not to say at once that the new Andrew Walker Brian disk is 10/10 and should win more converts to Brian.

Listening to this disk last night made me reach for other Brian recordings and I stayed up late making comparisons and listening to the surrounding symphonies. Nos 6 and 31 are amazing performances, I don't think they're better than the Fredman* or Groves recordings, but they're more modern and they're different accounts. The No.6 is much more outgoing and bright than the Fredman recording, and this isn't just because the recording is more modern: the Fredman is inward looking, it's like reading the tragedy of Deirdre, whereas Walker's is wild and extrovert, and it's like being part of the tragedy. The Walker and the Groves 31 I found more similar, just the more recent recording giving this account the edge.

No 28 is like listening to the work for the first time. Suddenly we have a new Brian symphony, and a wonderfully strange one. It's remarkable how different all the Brian symphonies without any of them being unBrianic. I hope Walker will tackle No.26 next, another strange little symphony that we don't really have a proper account of.

And finally No.29, it too is like listening to the symphony for the first time, the slower tempi sound absolutely right and the ending (the coda to the finale) is wonderfully luminous and mysterious, like nothing else in Brian, or in music anywhere, but only Brian could have written it. It's now clear that the Mackerras recording was too fast in the first and last movements.

* I only just found out that Myer Fredman passed away in July last year. Farewell maestro and thanks for the recordings.

[vandermolen]

Have just listened to No.6 and entirely agree with Calyptorhynchus above. It was a riveting performance and I loved the much clearer brass fanfares towards the start. Wonderful to rediscover this great work - undoubtedly one of Brian's greatest, especially in this performance. Will need to listen to it again before going on to 28,29 and 31. Also, I love the bronze bust of Havergal Brian by  the Welsh sculptor Robert Thomas (the dedicatee of Symphony 29) on the front cover of the Naxos CD:
[asin]B00U2OT186[/asin]

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Just listened to the CD again, and it occurred to me just how miraculous the Tragica is: here is a man, retired, 72 years old, unperformed, and he writes this utterly original and fresh work with which he seems to reinvent himself... ('Seems', because we don't know Prometheus Unbound.)

[Christo]

Just listened to the CD again, and it occurred to me just how miraculous the Tragica is: here is a man, retired, 72 years old, unperformed, and he writes this utterly original and fresh work with which he seems to reinvent himself... ('Seems', because we don't know Prometheus Unbound.)

Very sorry for asking again: I know of course that the massive score Prometheus Unbound went lost, but missed the story about how that could happen. Where can it possibly be?

[springrite]

Very sorry for asking again: I know of course that the massive score Prometheus Unbound went lost, but missed the story about how that could happen. Where can it possibly be?

It is a little known fact that before the score was lost, it was known as "Prometheus Bound".



Now, that would have been so much more effective on April First... Just missed it...

[Sergeant Rock]

It is a little known fact that before the score was lost, it was known as "Prometheus Bound".

Yep, Havergal should have tied those knots tighter.

Sarge

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Very droll, Mr Springrite...

If I remember correctly, the full score was with Brian's publisher. When, a decade or more later, he asked for it, they couldn't find it. All we are left with is the vocal score.

[cilgwyn]

http://recordreview.co.uk/index.php

Hope the link works!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

The link works fine. I get a page telling me that due to the death of IRR's proprietor, the magazine is now insolvent...

[vandermolen]

http://recordreview.co.uk/index.php

Hope the link works!

Very sorry to read of this. It was an excellent serious publication.

[vandermolen]

Well, I have greatly enjoyed Symphony 28, especially the last two movements. I fact I enjoyed this work more and more as it progressed. As it stands it is now my favourite of the later symphonies along with No.22. I am now listening to it again.

[springrite]

The link works fine. I get a page telling me that due to death of IRR's proprietor, the magazine is now insolvent...

IRR Unbound