Havergal Brian from Dutton

[Dundonnell]

Well Done, that man

If Brabbins is not going to get the European opera house directorship he craves then he could do a lot worse than become the new Handley/Hickox

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

If we are fortunate enough to get (at some point) another all-Brian disc from Dutton under the baton of Martyn Brabbins, I wonder which commercially-unrecorded works other members would like to see on it ...

 

... with a playing-time pushed to the limit, I'd especially welcome the following action-packed (and very varied) programme -

Symphony No.5, Wine of Summer (1937) - c.20 minutes
Symphony No.13 (1959) - c.18 minutes
Symphony No.24 (1965) - c.17 minutes
Symphony No.27 (1966) - c.22 minutes

All of these scores (especially No.27) have become firm favourites with me and it would be a treat to have modern digital recordings (especially if Roderick Williams was willing to take on the baritone solo in No.5).

I have no quarrel with this selection, although I'd take No. 19 instead of No. 24, because that's a part of the trilogy of 22-24. No. 19, as a three-movement symphony, would be a good trait-d'union between the one-movement No. 13 and No. 27, which is in three movements, too.

I also like No. 14 a lot. And No. 28 certainly deserves a new recording, after the exciting but inaccurate Stokowski (tempi and dynamics).

As to the 22-24 and the Naxos recording - I know nothing (as Manuel would say, but I really don't, there has been no news at all about it in the HBS Newsletter).

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I want to alert members to the following - after the historic recordings of symphonies 8 and 12 under Schwartz and Newstone, the HBS have now put up for download the first performance (1958) of Havergal Brian's Symphony No. 10 (1954), with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Stanley Pope. It's excellent and surpasses its rivals in some of the crucial passages.


http://www.havergalbrian.org/download.htm

[Albion]

Thanks, Johan - I just picked this up on GMG as well.

The HBS site is a wonderful resource (the vintage recordings are a great supplement to the essential Dutton disc of 9 and 11), and thank goodness that Brian was so well served by the BBC during this period.

 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

From the latest HBS newsletter (don't know if it has been reported here already):

At the end of May our President Martyn Brabbins and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra will be recording the Violin Concerto (with Lorraine McAslan), Symphony no. 13 and English Suite no. 4, plus another short work if time allows.

Another great Dutton CD in the making, methinks.

[Dundonnell]

I flagged it up in the New Duttons thread, Johan

.....but the more publicity the better

[eschiss1]

Belated thanks for noting the HBS download of symphony 10 (have already downloaded the others and listened to it a few times- as with symphony 32 and some others, quite a different notion of tempo for funeral marches etc. than on the Marco Polo recordings, and often I think better ones in those earlier performances, especially with symphony 32, the better for deliberation and general lack of rush ) ...

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I flagged it up in the New Duttons thread, Johan

.....but the more publicity the better

Ah... 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Belated thanks for noting the HBS download of symphony 10 (have already downloaded the others and listened to it a few times- as with symphony 32 and some others, quite a different notion of tempo for funeral marches etc. than on the Marco Polo recordings, and often I think better ones in those earlier performances, especially with symphony 32, the better for deliberation and general lack of rush ) ...

I agree with you here. It is very clear that slowness often doesn't hurt Brian's music (though you must be careful not to overdo it!)

[Dundonnell]

The financial climate for record companies is, at present, tough. It is also tough for their customers

Surely the sensible approach for all concerned is a measure of co-operation. Some of us have commented on the remarkable news that Chandos and Naxos are actually dividing the remaing unrecorded Weinberg repertoire between them to avoid overlap. I would like to see some possible co-operation between Dutton and Naxos with regard to the outstanding Brian symphonies.

I can understand the rationale for Dutton recording a new performance of the Violin Concerto since the Naxos version was problematic. The additions of the unrecorded Symphony No.13 and the English Suite No.4 fill gaps. It would be good to get a new version of Symphony No.2-the Naxos version with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra did not do the work justice-but that symphony is long and requires a very large orchestra.

Naxos had planned a recording of the ''trilogy' of Symphonies Nos. 22, 23 and 24 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under James Judd. That project fell through because of cuts to the Liverpool orchestra's budget. There was talk of seeking another orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra was mentioned in this context. How far, if anywhere, these plans have got I do not know.

In any case, Symphonies Nos. 22-24 would together have taken 40 minutes of a cd and there would need to be a coupling of some kind. Pace my good friend Malcolm MacDonald, that could have been the earlier Symphony No.14-a better work than he gives credit to. Symphony No.26 is one of the weaker Brian symphonies. So that could leave Nos. 19, 27, 28 and 29 of the unrecorded Brian. (I omit Symphony No.5 "The Wine of Summer" which needs a baritone soloist).
These four together add up to 72 minutes.

So....Naxos records Nos. 14, 22, 23 and 24 and Dutton records Nos. 19, 27, 28 and 29. Nos. 5 and 26 come later. Solved

No....I know that is overly simplistic. For one thing, learning, rehearsing, performing and recording any one Brian symphony takes a lot of time and time=money.
My point about some co-operation between Naxos and Dutton however stands.

[Jimfin]

I am *never* anything but ecstatic to learn of a new Brian release (and how spoilt I've been lately), but I must say no. 13 was a surprising choice to me. An interesting piece, but I wouldn't put it in the top flight of the unrecorded Brian symphonies. I'll be glad to hear another version of the violin concerto: Brian's concertos seem to have a different, more lyrical quality, compared to his symphonies. Anyway, I'll be drinking yet another toast to Mike Dutton.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Re Colin's idea of co-operation between Naxos and Dutton - it would be sensible, but being sensible and running a business are two separate things, alas. And what about Hyperion? If 'The Gothic' has really sold well, perhaps they would want to do another Brian CD, too... It would be wonderful if companies pooled their resources for the greater good of a composer, but I don't see that happening.

I don't find the Naxos VC 'problematic', by the way. Bisengaliev can easily hold his own against Ralph Holmes (though I personally prefer the latter).

As for Symphony No. 13 - I have a soft spot for that piece. I can't wait for Brabbins' take on this rather maligned work (by MM).

[Dundonnell]

I seem to recall complaints about the recording quality of the Bisengaliev

[Gareth Vaughan]

It might be useful to bring in a breath of arctic realism here. Klaus Heymann was interviewed on Radio 4 yesterday and he said, quite categorically, that, nowadays, when it comes to recording orchestral music it is impossible (that was his word) for a company to recoup its expenses on non-core repertoire, and particularly so if the works are in copyright. Challenged then as to how Naxos manages to continue to record non-core repertoire Klaus explained that it is paid for by the continuing sales of all his earlier standard repertoire disks (e.g. the Haydn symphonies) of which there are, as we know, a vast number. Thank God that musicians are, by and large, a blessed race who WANT to play music and explore repertoire and are happy to do so for virtually nothing if they find the works engaging.

[Mark Thomas]

In the industry in which I used to be involved any such agreement between potential competitors to abstain from competing in a particular area, no matter how casual or obviously beneficial to the customer, was liable to have the heavy guns of the anti-trust regulators (in the UK the Competition Commission) open up on one at close range. Years ago I spent a lot of money defending one minor arrangement we had with a competitor, despite it clearly being in the public interest and enjoying the support of all the customer stakeholders. So I was very surprised to read Klaus Heymann's statement of co-operation with Chandos over the Weinberg symphonies, laudable though it clearly is. Maybe such supra-national arrangements are difficult for the anti-trust regulators to enforce but be in no doubt that even something as seemingly innocuous and trivial as co-operation between Naxos and Dutton over Brian would attract the attention of these pro-competition zealots if they knew of it. Perhaps both the companies and ourselves should be a bit more circumspect?