British Music

[albion]

I'm pretty sure I can fill some gaps that even Albion et al haven't covered...)

I'm painfully aware that there are significant gaps in the broadcast collection, made all the more painful because I originally had some of them on tape including the first seven listed below (since either deteriorated to the point of no return or misguidedly discarded when 'superceded' by commercial recordings on disc):

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Five Choral Ballads (1905)
David Owen Norris, piano/ BBC Singers/ Simon Joly (broadcast 22/5/1984)

Hamilton Harty: The Mystic Trumpeter (1913)
Brian Rayner Cook, baritone/ BBC Singers/ BBC Concert Orchestra/ John Poole (broadcast 5/8/1991)

Alexander Mackenzie: Scottish Rhapsody No. 1, Op.21 (1879)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/ Bryden Thomson (broadcast date unknown)

Hubert Parry: The Lotos-Eaters (1892) and The Soul's Ransom (1906)
Bach Choir/ Philharmonia Orchestra/ David Willcocks (broadcast 5/6/1986)

Ethel Smyth: Mass in D (1893)
BBC Symphony Chorus/ BBC Concert Orchestra/ Meredith Davies (broadcast 6/4/1986)

Arthur Sullivan: The Golden Legend (1886)
Leeds Philharmonic Chorus/ BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/ Charles Mackerras (broadcast 15/3/1986)

Charles Wood: Patrick Sarsfield, Symphonic Variations (1907)
Ulster Orchestra/ Simon Joly (broadcast 19/3/1992)

also

Ina Boyle: Overture (1933-34)
Ulster Orchestra/ Colman Pearce (broadcast 17/3/1992)

Hamilton Harty: The Mystic Trumpeter (1913)
Belfast Philharmonic Society Choir/ Ulster Orchestra/ John Lubbock (broadcast 12/10/1994)

Joseph Holbrooke: Byron (1904)
BBC Singers/ BBC Concert Orchestra/ John Poole (broadcast 6/12/1978)

Charles Villiers Stanford: Requiem (1897)
BBC Singers/ BBC Concert Orchestra/ John Poole (broadcast 6/10/1978)

Charles Villiers Stanford: Phaudrig Crohoore (1896)
BBC Singers/ BBC Concert Orchestra/ Ashley Lawrence (broadcast 11/6/1974)

If any members have good copies of these and would be willing to share them, please could they send me a message. Ideally, the recordings should already be digitally transferred but I can also convert from cassette tapes if necessary. 

[thalbergmad]

Going through this wonderful thread, I think I know how Howard Carter felt when he first opened tutankhamun's tomb and saw the wonderous treasures within.

Regretfully, I don't think I have anything to contribute apart from a 1976 broadcast of the Wordsworth PC.

I will attempt to find it if there is any interest, but I wager that Albion already has it.

Thal

[albion]

I don't think I have anything to contribute apart from a 1976 broadcast of the Wordsworth PC.

Thanks to the generosity of thalbergmad we now have two broadcast recordings of William Wordsworth's warmly romantic Piano Concerto (1946) in Folder 8 of BMB: a performance by the pianist who gave the premiere in April 1947, John Hunt, and one conducted by Simon Rattle in 1976. 

[albion]

Thanks to a very kind donation by hammyplay, there is now a recording of Alexander Mackenzie's 1897 Scottish Concerto in Folder 6 of BMB.

In comparison with the Hyperion disc (Steven Osborne), this 1988 broadcast recording gives greater prominence to the piano, allowing us to hear in greater detail Mackenzie's virtuosic writing (the Concerto was premiered by Paderewski). 

[albion]

Available shortly in Folder 10 will be more music by the Wesley brothers, Charles (1757-1834) and Samuel (1766-1837) - although slightly outside the Romantic remit of the forum, these works stand as important evidence of the enormous talent of native British composers at the turn of the 19th century.

Particularly impressive is Samuel's massive unaccompanied setting of Horace's Ode in praise of Drusus (Drusi laudes). The recordings are from Radio 3's fascinating series on the family (1989). 

Last August Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876) was Composer of the Week on Radio 3 - did any member record these programmes, especially the following performances:

Overture in E (c.1834)

BBC Scottish SO/ Michal Dworzinski (16/8/2010)

Symphony in C (1834)

BBC NOW/ Grant Llewellyn (17/8/2010)

I was on holiday at the time! 

[dafrieze]

I did manage to copy the music that the BBC specially recorded for their week-long survey of Wesley last fall.  The (one-movement) symphony and the overture are in this folder: http://www.mediafire.com/?en8vp1uc5y8bd.

[albion]

I did manage to copy the music that the BBC specially recorded for their week-long survey of Wesley last fall.  The (one-movement) symphony and the overture are in this folder: http://www.mediafire.com/?en8vp1uc5y8bd.

Thanks ever so much for providing the S.S. Wesley recordings. So that people won't miss it in the future, I'll copy the link as Folder 11 at the beginning of the thread - hope this is OK!

[albion]

Thanks to thalbergmad we now have a copy of Leslie Bridgewater's Piano Concerto in C minor played by the composer's wife, Iris Loveridge (1917-2000). Although not strictly a broadcast, this is an otherwise-unrecorded and attractive work and therefore deserves inclusion.

The Concerto was heard on the BBC Third Programme soon after it's completion in 1947 and was recorded shortly afterwards by Paxton (GTR 105/6): this fascinating, if unfortunately heavily-cut, performance of the piece can now be found in Folder 6. 

[albion]

A broadcast performance of Granville Bantock's Symphonic Prelude for Brass Prometheus Unbound (1933) has now been included in Folder 3.

Also, not broadcasts but nevertheless of great interest, there are now further recordings of late Bantock works from Paxton's fascinating catalogue in Folder 8: the Celtic Symphony (conducted by Walter Collins) and Comedy Overtures to two plays by Aristophanes - The Frogs (conducted by the composer) and The Women's Festival (conducted by Dolf van der Linden).

[albion]

I did manage to copy the music that the BBC specially recorded for their week-long survey of Wesley last fall.  The (one-movement) symphony and the overture are in this folder: http://www.mediafire.com/?en8vp1uc5y8bd.

Thanks ever so much for providing the S.S. Wesley recordings. So that people won't miss it in the future, I'll copy the link as Folder 11 at the beginning of the thread - hope this is OK!

Unless I'm very much mistaken, the Overture in E broadcast as part of Radio 3's Samuel Sebastian Wesley series (Composer of the Week) is in fact the last orchestral composition by his uncle Samuel (1766-1837) - the same work published by Redcliffe Edition (http://www.musicweb-international.com/redcliffe/wesley.htm).

When I listened to the recording the piece sounded very familiar and then I realised that it is the self-same work which was broadcast as part of a series on Samuel Wesley in 1986 (Ulster Orchestra/ Brian Wright 11/5/1986) which I recorded at the time.

If anybody can shed further light on the question of attribution I'd be grateful for any information. Until such information presents itself, I've provisionally amended the details for File 11!

[oldman]

Words do not even begin to express ones gratitude to all for this great gift of music.  To say that it has been an eye opening experience is an understatement.

Thanks  to all.

[jerfilm]

Another old man agrees very much with Oldman - Thanks so much for making all of this wonderful British music available - especially here in the colonies where we don't get to hear much of it.

Jerry

[albion]

Another old man agrees very much with Oldman - Thanks so much for making all of this wonderful British music available - especially here in the colonies where we don't get to hear much of it.

Jerry

Hopefully more gaps in the catalogue (including those listed above) will be filled in the future. Anybody with relevant off-air recordings of similar repertoire is more than welcome to get in touch by sending a personal message through the forum. If the broadcasting authorities don't value their resources enough to acknowledge the growing interest in 19th- and early 20th-century British music it is up to enthusiasts to propagate these recordings! 

[Amphissa]

 
I concur! What a bountiful gift to everyone on the Unsung board. (And the lurkers too.) I had never even heard of the Wesleys, and there is music here I had never heard before.

[eschiss1]

I seem to recall at least one of the Wesley extended family may be more famous for something he composed or did than for his name. Maybe someone here, some source on the internet, or some combination provides insight there. (IMSLP has a keyboard sonata of Samuel Wesley's typeset from manuscript apparently.)
Eric