Robert Simpson(1921-1997)

[DavidW]

First I have to address the elephant in the room.  The sound quality is not that good.  There is a very audible noise floor even through speakers.  There is distortion and these popping sounds.  Basically it is like someone did a hasty digital recording of vinyl instead of a careful mastering of well preserved reel-to-reel to my ears.  I think that on speakers it is fine, it might not be on headphones.

That being said, these performances are dynamite!  They are far better than anyone else I've heard.  This is the kind of recording that would make fans of Robert Simpson that didn't like him before.  It is really that good.  It is that revelatory.  And in particular the string section is just so lush.  Obviously for fans of Simpson, you got to hear this.  You really do.  I love it despite the dodgy sound.

Edit: fixing my awful sentences, I was excitedly typing as fast as I could.

[foxandpeng]

First I have to address the elephant in the room.  The sound quality is not that good.  There is a very audible noise floor even through speakers.  There is distortion and these popping sounds.  Basically it is like someone did a hasty digital recording of vinyl instead of a careful mastering of well preserved reel-to-reel to my ears.  I think that on speakers it is fine, it might not be on headphones.

That being said, these performances are dynamite!  They are far better than anyone else I've heard.  This is the kind of recording that would make fans of Robert Simpson that didn't like him before.  It is really that good.  It is that revelatory.  And in particular the string section is just so lush.  Obviously for fans of Simpson, you got to hear this.  You really do.  I love it despite the dodgy sound.

Edit: fixing my awful sentences, I was excitedly typing as fast as I could.

I am still waiting for Spotify to get their act together!

[DavidW]

I am still waiting for Spotify to get their act together!

Oh that is weird that Qobuz got it first!

[calyptorhynchus]

Well there's no documentation for the Horenstein 2 & 3 issue, however I know that the  3 was issued in the 70s as an LP coupled with the Clarinet Quintet. It was reissued by NMC in 2000s.

It may be that the recording of the 2nd was never issued in any form. I don't know the technical details but I believe there was a way of storing a recording on a disc or some sort, rather than tape, back in the 1960s and before. Certainly sounds as if the recording of 2 came off a disc, what with the surface noise.

As well as the tragedy of Horenstein never having a permanent contract with any orchestra after he fled Nazi Germany in the 30s, he never had a decent recording contract either in the stereo era. So many of his recordings are one-offs, or off-air or whatever.

[vandermolen]

Well there's no documentation for the Horenstein 2 & 3 issue, however I know that the  3 was issued in the 70s as an LP coupled with the Clarinet Quintet. It was reissued by NMC in 2000s.

It may be that the recording of the 2nd was never issued in any form. I don't know the technical details but I believe there was a way of storing a recording on a disc or some sort, rather than tape, back in the 1960s and before. Certainly sounds as if the recording of 2 came off a disc, what with the surface noise.

As well as the tragedy of Horenstein never having a permanent contract with any orchestra after he fled Nazi Germany in the 30s, he never had a decent recording contract either in the stereo era. So many of his recordings are one-offs, or off-air or whatever.

Here's the original CD release of Horenstein's recording of Simpson's 3rd Symphony on Unicorn. I like the cover art:

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

And this is the original LP I borrowed in the late 1970s.

[vandermolen]

And this is the original LP I borrowed in the late 1970s.

I took that one out of the record library too Johan. Here it is again on an NMC CD with a different cover. I also see that there's a 'rehearsal sequence' for Symphony No.3 coupled with Bruckner's 8th Symphony (which I saw Horenstein conduct at the Proms in my youth) on the Intaglio label.

[calyptorhynchus]

Ok, so news of a move to record some unrecorded Simpson. The Clarinet Trio has recently been recorded by Emma Johnson, Raphael Wallfisch and pianist John Lenehan, and the two other works that are being prepared for this disk are the original version of the Two Clarinet Quintet (original scoring Clarinet, Bass Clarinet and three double-basses [sic], the Hyperion recording has the version with a standard string trio and the clarinets). Joining this will be a recording of an early string quartet predating the SQ No.1. So Simpson will join the group of composers who have a work No.0 (Bruckner, Tippett, Bax...) (wish they'd record some of Holmboe's pre No.1 SQs!)

I think I posted this link here, but if you want to get an idea of what the Clarinet Trio sounds like I did a midi version last year and it's up on Youtube

https://youtu.be/WUx4Y4Aafhk

Its an amazing work, and quite unlike the Clarinet Quintet written the next year.

[calyptorhynchus]

And another work that is being recorded, though I don't have information on when it is being released, or what the coupling(s) will be, is the Brass Quintet. And this is another piece of his I did a midi version of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BJWvgi08TQ

[calyptorhynchus]

I have uploaded the third (and last) of my MIDI realisations of an unrecorded Simpson work to Youtube.

This is the Variations and Fugue on a Theme of J S Bach (1991) a work for string orchestra.

I completed this last year, but held off from publishing it because the MIDI file isn't ideal and because there was the prospect of a recording (which has now receded).

So enjoy, the video has the 'track list' in the notes.

[Albion]

I really must give Simpson another go. I've got the Hyperion box of symphonies lurking somewhere or other and I remember enjoying them at the time I purchased them, but as with so much then they got put on the shelf and were superceded by subsequent extravagant acquisitions. He's one of those composers that I feel I SHOULD know better (there are countless others) and I have no problem with his idiom at all, but time always seems to get in the way. I'm going to hunt out that box now in preparation for the post-Bax schedule...

 

[foxandpeng]

Cross-post from WAYLT

Robert Simpson
Complete Symphonies
Symphonies 1 - 9
Vernon Handley
Bournemouth SO
Hyperion

Weekend hospital stays are obviously not lots of fun, particularly in a world of short visiting windows. Having said that, time to listen unhurriedly to these first 9 symphonies today has been stunning, and cements Simpson again in my mind as one of Britain's finest 20th century symphonists. His affinities with Holmboe, his brass, and the rewards that come from close listening, have all been a real pleasure.

I'm pretty convinced that his 9 is amongst the very top tier, and getting to know these works as a labour of love in the last 12 months, I'd put many others not far behind. In particular, 2, 4, 6 and 3 have really held their own.

Anyway. I know Simpson sometimes divides, but he's been great today, in my small corner.

Hyperbole doesn't really do anyone any favours, so I'm being careful. I know RS doesn't generally bear the same love as some of the other recent statesmen or Grand Old Men of the British symphonic repertoire. I've probably said before that I really do think that he is the Philip Larkin of the musical world rather than the Ted Hughes, in a material way. Less heart, more head, but memorable and powerful.

I also love Larkin almost as much as Hughes.

[Albion]

Cross-post from WAYLT

Hyperbole doesn't really do anyone any favours, so I'm being careful. I know RS doesn't generally bear the same love as some of the other recent statesmen or Grand Old Men of the British symphonic repertoire. I've probably said before that I really do think that he is the Philip Larkin of the musical world other than the Ted Hughes, in a material way. Less heart, more head, but memorable and powerful.

I also love Larkin almost as much as Hughes.

Simpson, like Brian, was simply writing his own music in his own way entirely regardless of the public and critical response. To me, that shows the mark of a real composer. I equally love Betjeman, Larkin and Hughes. It's great stuff...

 

[relm1]

Simpson, like Brian, was simply writing his own music in his own way entirely regardless of the public and critical response. To me, that shows the mark of a real composer. I equally love Betjeman, Larkin and Hughes. It's great stuff...

 

Isn't that the case with 90% of composers?  The exact same could be said about Bernstein, Copeland, Mahler, Shostakovich, Schoenberg, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Walton, Lloyd, etc.  It's harder to say who doesn't apply to this.

[foxandpeng]

Simpson's SQs are proving to be really worthwhile for me. I have been sold on his symphonies for a long time, but I am finding a similar affinity the more I listen to the quartets.

Listening to SQ #1 and #4 again as a soundtrack to the wee, small hours.

[Madiel]

The string quartets have started appearing on Idagio. I will most definitely be trying them out.

[Maestro267]

Spotify too. Currently available there are Nos. 1 & 4, 2 & 5 and 7 & 8.

[DavidW]

The string quartets have started appearing on Idagio. I will most definitely be trying them out.

I switched to Qobuz because I couldn't wait.  Now Hyperion has finally reached Idagio... I'll try to remember that.  I might switch back in the future.

[krummholz]

Simpson's SQs are proving to be really worthwhile for me. I have been sold on his symphonies for a long time, but I am finding a similar affinity the more I listen to the quartets.

Listening to SQ #1 and #4 again as a soundtrack to the wee, small hours.

Is this back in print? When I was collecting the Simpson SQs a decade or so ago, it was nowhere to be found.

[foxandpeng]

Is this back in print? When I was collecting the Simpson SQs a decade or so ago, it was nowhere to be found.

Up and running on all streaming services now that Hyperion have given the nod ... drip feeding in bit by bit. There are 6 available to stream so far with more to follow throughout September, I think.