MusicWeb are carrying this somewhat enigmatic announcement:
<<Havergal Brian's Gothic symphony is being performed at the Proms July 17, 2011 - BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Martyn Brabbins (The veracity of this information may be in doubt. Roger Wright of the BBC refuses to confirm or deny as all information is embargoed until April).>>
http://www.musicweb-international.com/index.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/index.htm)
The Brisbane Gothic has been the first successful (erm, I hope. Many a...) attempt to launch the Gothic Symphony performance since Lenard's - but not at all the only one. I can understand caution...
That indeed is the most enigmatic statement. Given the forces involved I would have thought the BBC knows full well now whether or not the work will be performed in July. I shall be so disappointed if it does not go ahead, and for what good it will do I hereby declare war on anyone or anything that prevents it!
I've been in a proper tizz ever since I saw that announcement on Music Web over the weekend. I was in the audience at the Victoria Hall in Hanley on Sunday 21 May 1978 when the Gothic received what was claimed to be its first complete performance, albeit in the hands of amateurs. (I don't know how that performance differed from the Boult performance - in 1966? - in London; but 'first complete performance' was what the programme boasted!)
And what an amazing occasion. The planning must have been an enormous task - all undertaken by local people. They used the North Staffordshire Symphony Orchestra and the City Ceramic Choir, and then at least doubled the size of those bodies by recruiting all and sundry for miles around - just about every instrumentalist or singer available. And rumours about the success of the thing were flying around beforehand. Incredibly, although there had been a number of sectional rehearsals in the preceding weeks, it was only on the Saturday - the preceding day - that all 700 got together for the first time for a first (and only?) run-through.
There was a distinct fear that the performance would fall apart or grind to a halt. But quite miraculously it turned out a magnificent achievement. Some occasional fluffs of course (and especially in the brass), and the children's choirs just didn't project sufficiently. Poor kids, they looked quite dwarfed surrounded by massed choirs and brass sections sitting high up almost to the roof of the hall. No matter, all forgiveable, for in the end we had a performance that enabled us to grasp very vividly indeed the work that Brian had intended. Also great fun to see the local ingenuity employed - the thunder machine, for example, was an enormous box with ball bearings inside which its maker - a chap who lived in nearby Leek - rolled around with great gusto in the performance (and almost broke his back or ran the risk of a cardiac I should think!)
It was also the only concert I've ever attended where the performers easily outnumbered the audience. Sadly the audience can't have numbered more than 400 or so (many of them won't still be with us after 32 years). There were more than a few empty seats. I was also struck by how few of those I talked to actually came from the Potteries - many had travelled very great distances for the occasion, including a couple that I spoke to who had come all the way from South Africa. (Maybe the local press didn't help by running stories about an unplayable monster work composed by a clearly eccentric local man. Stanley Matthews I'm afraid gets far more prominence than Havergal Brian in Stoke-on-Trent. And this was the city - as I discovered a few years later when I got on a body organising a music festival - that wouldn't allow us the use of the Victoria Hall for an already booked Menuhin and the RPO to perform the Beethoven VC because the night in question was the traditional weekly wrestling event!)
Enough reminiscence! Moral of the story is that if local people and forces can pull off such an event, then so surely can the mighty forces of the BBC.
One last bit: I got quite a shock when I heard the Testament CD of Boult. Heck, the work is dashed through, and in contrast the Hanley performance was far slower (by almost half an hour I should guess) and far far more 'monumental' (to use that word that has precipitated a record number of postings!)
Best wishes to all,
Peter
I would personally err on the side of caution with this one!
Was that Kendo Nagasaki or Mick Mc Manus,Peter? ('End in the blooo corn-er,Yehudi Menhuin & the Rpo'....submit!).
I was one of those 400 - is it terrible that I recall almost nothing of it except for the amazing amount of people playing?? I was very new to music at the time, really only just starting to discover what classical music was and Brian was a lot different to the Chopin and Grieg I'd heard up to that point. At 16 I knew enough that it was an "event" and that I should be there. I seem to recall a Mahler 8 either the year before or after? Who organised these things in poor music-starved Hanley?
Rob
The excerpts from the rehearsals for the 'Brisbane Gothic' sound fantastic,much better than the Naxos recording,which was so slip shod,it nearly put me off this fantastic work. (The choirs were good though). Not so sure about the vocal contribution though,although it's only a rehearsal,and the male solo's have always been my least favourite part of this truly colossal work. I can only pray that the performance was a success and the reviews that follow are positive. I remember when the Naxos recording came out one of the few really bad reviews was from Edward Greenfield,or it might have been Seckerson,(it's a few years ago!),who mentioned 'Vincent Price'! My own initial enthusiasm gradually faded. The same goes for the Naxos 'Das Siegeslied'.
Sorry,silly me; I forgot to mention,I'm referring to the excerpts on 'You Tube'.
One of the most amazing events of my musical life was being present at the first live performance of the Gothic Symphony by, if I remember correctly the Polyphonia Symphony Orchestra, a partly amateur band, under Bryan Fairfax at Central Hall Westminster back in 1961. I reckon that, due to limitations of space, the players and singers outnumbered the audience on that occasion, Central hall not being amongst the largest concert venues in London. At the end, it was lovely to see the frail veteran composer himself taking his bow to rapturous applause. Of course, the prime mover in getting all this to happen as well as the later professional performance under Boult was Dr Robert Simpson, a great advocate of Brian's music and no mean symphonist himself.
Quote from: John H White on Tuesday 28 December 2010, 10:52
One of the most amazing events of my musical life was being present at the first live performance of the Gothic Symphony by, if I remember correctly the Polyphonia Symphony Orchestra, a partly amateur band, under Bryan Fairfax at Central Hall Westminster back in 1961. I reckon that, due to limitations of space, the players and singers outnumbered the audience on that occasion, Central hall not being amongst the largest concert venues in London. At the end, it was lovely to see the frail veteran composer himself taking his bow to rapturous applause. Of course, the prime mover in getting all this to happen as well as the later professional performance under Boult was Dr Robert Simpson, a great advocate of Brian's music and no mean symphonist himself.
Well, it is apparently going to happen next year; let's hope that, at last, this very great piece at last gets the performance that it deserves and has yet to receive...
Yes, it is actually happening - http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2011/july-17/5
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2011/july-17/5)
;D
Well, that is good news!
cause enough for me to see if I can, with some help, make a trip. Thanks much!
I've just passed out!!!
If one looks at the list of performers the venture looks rather 'Hyperionish'??? Anyone happen to know anything about a possible recording? If this performance is not recorded, well, I'd say failure to do so would be a treasonable offence.
Hope you're feeling better now Peter! This should be a great opportunity for a record company to make THE reference recording of this symphony. Stupid not to do so..
Morten
If a tie-in recording is being planned for this truly historic event, my first (entirely unsubstantiated) guess would be Chandos, but who knows?
There is no indication yet as to whether or not this performance will be televised - hopefully for the programmers such a spectacle as The Gothic will prove hard to resist! ;D
doesn't Brabbyns usually record for Hyperion?
Martyn Brabbins is not exclusively a Hyperion artist (vide Dutton Epoch), but somehow this just has the Chandos 'feel' about it!
Brabbins has certainly recorded British repertoire for Chandos before...
(In a happy coincidence-or-not for Brian, an announcer on Radio 3 in the morning played a movement from his 5th English Suite a couple of days ago. They haven't, I believe, deteriorated quite as far as I keep hearing (though a disappointment compared to what I'm used to, but head and shoulders above most US stations still) - but rare that they play Brian anymore despite the quantity and quality of what's in their archives... this was from the new Toccata CD.)
Hello! I am a great Brian lover from the Netherlands and a long-standing member of the HBS. I think I recognise Albion from another forum I am active on, too. I found this site looking for reactions to yesterday's confirmation of the 'Gothic' performance. As far as the televising of the event is concerned, it would be great, but according to the programme it's not going to happen, more's the pity.
Ah,the fools. But then again,we'd probably have to sit there watching some of their so called critics picking it apart. But then again,we could just switch it off at the end!
Now we KNOW the bbc are fools! No doubt they'll make up by filling up their schedule with their usual drivel. Thank god for dvd's!
I hope they change their mind though.
There is of course a limit to what the BBC can spend and setting it all up in the hall, crammed with 6000 people listening to 1000 musicians, is perhaps impossible? But a missed opportunity it is.
Bah! Not impressed with this talk of 'limits'. The institution, once glorious, is now obviously run by philistines and those who pander to the mob. At the forthcoming bash at the Abbey, when the celebs conjoin with the aristocrats, without doubt there will be a BBC camera positioned at every nook and cranny of the place. Same with a major event in the world of sport. A two hour performance in the Albert Hall is a trifle in comparison. They will have rigged the place up with microphones for the Prom broadcast. Why not include some cameras? Short-sighted, miserable people!
And it would take no more trouble than it did to televise Mahler's 8th last year!!! >:(
Well, Mahler is a star, and Brian isn't (yet). Perhaps next time. But I'm glad the 'Gothic' will be performed. That is something to be grateful for.
I had been visualising myself sitting down in front of it!
Typical!
Oh well,back to my Bob Hope 'Thanks for the Memories' dvd set.
I wonder if members here know about the excellent introductory talk on the music of Havergal Brian by Malcolm MacDonald (with illustrations), recently recorded especially for the site of the HBS:
http://www.havergalbrian.org/hb_mm.mp3 (http://www.havergalbrian.org/hb_mm.mp3)
it took effort, patience and exposure to their music (under his own conducting, in the former case) before Mahler and Bruckner became 'stars', of course... likewise a lot of composers temporarily forgotten, whether they were earlier momentarily somewhat well-known or not...
What is your favorite recording of Brian's Gothic other than Boult? Either CD or broadcast.
The Boult has huge forces and the excitement of a great event. But the audio is not so great.
Groves' recording of the first part of the Gothic (not presently available commercially.)
Well, I think I'd prefer to listen to the entire work anyway.
It may take me a decade to play through Fibich's Hippodamia trilogy but possibly a lifetime to get through Havergal Brian's symphonies. But I do find the Gothic impressive and the composer fascinating, not least the (world record?) time between writing his first symphonyand its premiere. I also liked his story of being sacked as a young joiner for not only having done his job to plane some boards but then giving his employer a bonus by writing down his compositions on them! Was there ever anyone like him, in life or sound?
Hope those who are going (this Sunday?) have a wonderful time!
I was horrified to learn that this historic Prom is not being televised on the BBC. Shame on them!
i hope they are at least broadcasting and streaming it as usual (or as used to be usual. I know one has to sign up for a free account now, which I have done and use- I still enjoy Radio 3 enough to use it. The Sondheim Road Show hour - did not catch all of it, but I am a great fan of that man of our musicals - was quite good, and I am glad that that work of his is being produced in London- I've only just recently heard it myself, though my favorite musical is another one of his...)
Hmm, Beecham's apparently available now, Naxos have reissued the Marco Polo ... a third version too? Wonder how big a pricetag BBC would put on it.
the Naxos reissue may be a limited edition timed for this event, or so I gather- or maybe just the special packaging/version/etc. is. I wonder if there are plans to issue a new edition of the score- I've seen articles about it (not that specifically, just preparing a better score than the Cranz, etc., though the manuscript of the full score of the finale is missing etc.) from a few years back from- let me see... :) ah, yes, I think it's this (http://www.havergalbrian.org/gothicvocalscore.htm) I was thinking about, and perhaps it was in preparation for the Brisbane performance (as I didn't realize when I read it)- but I wonder if it will be made available commercially... hrm... well, I can always ask the Society, they have their email, etc. Interesting!
Eric, the Gothic Prom is indeed being broadcast, and streamed, live by BBC Radio 3 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/orchestras/events/732).
Well, as for Naxotic Gothics: they're piling 'em in HMV + selling 'em cheap. No sign of the other one, though.
I'm going to be at the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow for the historic Gothic Symphony performance and so won't be able to record the live broadcast on Radio 3 (I'm also working next Tuesday when the broadcast will be repeated at 2pm).
It would be great to put a copy into the BMB archive so that more listeners have long-term access to it. I'm sure that many members with greater technical knowhow than myself will be recording the broadcast either live or through the BBC 'listen again' service (it will be available over the internet for the whole of next week, but my internet connection is dreadful at the moment and couldn't reliably stream twenty seconds, let alone two hours).
If anyone could send me a high-quality recording, that would be very welcome: the audio files should be uploaded to mediafire as usual and ideally be divided into the separate movements to make downloading easier (rather than one enormous file). If several members are kind enough to send files, please don't be offended if some are used rather than others.
:)
Mark Thomas and I will be there too, but I'm sure hard disk recorders will be whirring away at home at the same time...
John, I've set up two different computers to record the Radio 3 digital transmission (not the internet streaming transmission) while I'm in London at the RAH, so I hope to be able to get one decent copy from the two recordings. I'll let you have the finished product, of course.
You lucky people! Very sadly, I can't get away this weekend so I shall be listening to it on Radio 3. However, I'd really love a recording. If all goes well will you guys be uploading to mediafire?
Yes, I'll let John (Albion) have my recoding and he can add it to BMB, Gareth.
Great. Many thanks, Mark.
As one who was present at the world premier performance at Central Hall Westminster all those years ago, I'd also be grateful for a copy of your recording Mark please.
caught some of the pre-concert talk via iPlayer and will be tuning in in 5 minutes. unfortunately now lack recording facilities or would help. (apologies for posting here and not in forum 3.)
The Gothic is also broadcast in the Netherlands (Radio 4). I have forced myself to listen to this very long, strange, powerful, difficult, frightening and not seldom noisy cult symphony. What is its magic?
I think it's hardly possible to understand the intent of the composer if you haven't prepared yourself beforehand and read some informative articles. I'm interested in opinions of others who heard Brian's Gothic for the first time (thus without having any background information).
Well, the Gothic was the greatest concert experience of my life. As Mark T said to me, you had to be there...
More, no doubt, anon!
I said "you had to be there" because I started from the position, obviously unlike most of the people in the sold out concert, of not being a lover of the Gothic. Of course I respected it, admired Brian's achievement and enjoyed parts of it, but knowing it only from the Marco Polo and Testament recordings I found it too long and rambling to get to grips with. Musically it is still, I think, something of a hotch potch; there's Mahler, Strauss, Brahms, Palestrina, even Gounod in the mix, as well as evocations of marching bands and, I thought, fairground rides - a rather Mahlerian mix in fact. But "you had to be there" last night to get the cumulative effect of the work when you have no option but to sit there for two hours as the vast canvas unfolds, to witness the sheer visual and aural scale of the Symphony, to see the literally 1000s of singers, the two brass and percussion bands almost halfway down the auditorium, to hear the offstage brass, the ethereal soprano, also offstage, floating over the hall, the spectacle (yes spectacle is the word) of an orchestra of 400 with four harps, two tubas, even five cymbals all making this truly majestic, almost frighteningly intense sound. But it wasn't spectacle without purpose, the work live had an emotional intensity and sincerity which has never come across for me in either of the recordings and I doubt ever will. You really did "have to be there". Which, luckily, I was.
"All the most ambitious musical works in history are messy." Discuss...
I was guilty of some enthusiastic exaggeration: the choir number around 800 apparently and the orchestra over 200, so there were more than 1,000 performers. I don't think that it matters...
I listened to the broadcast on Radio 3 and I must say I thought it the best performance of the Gothic I have heard - of course, there haven't been many. Setting aside the Marco Polo CDs, of which enough has been said already about their virtues and shortcomings, I attended the Ole Schmidt performance at the RAH which must have been about 30 years ago and, as Mark says, the spectacle is amazing (that's the one and only time I have seen bass tuba mutes!). That performance was marred by occasional poor intonation from the choir in the unaccompanied sections - cruelly difficult as they are, one has to forgive the performers - BUT... No such problems with Sunday night's performance. I recorded the Boult performance when that was broadcast (in mono) on Radio 3 on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Good though that is it lacks the amazing clarity of Brabbins. I found I was aware of contrapuntal lines I had never noticed before, and the whole piece seemed to hold together much better than previous showings had indicated was possible. I doubt, however, that the BBC will release this fine performance on CD because of the cost of residual payments to the artistes, which is a pity.
Without being at all expert in these matters, it was the sheer virtuosity of the performance that struck me. Maybe the mere existence of prior recordings gave Martyn Brabbins a head-start...
My recording is now available at the Downloads board.
QuoteWithout being at all expert in these matters, it was the sheer virtuosity of the performance that struck me.
You're dead right there, Alan. Fantastic playing all round - and it's a really difficult score. Brian's writing for a lot of instruments is unidiomatic. Three HUGE cheers to the xylophone player who has that fiendishly difficult part in the scherzo.
As I wrote earlier, I'm not particularly a Brian aficionado, but the whole event struck me as historic; audience and performers alike seemed to be aware that they were participating in something which was important and which will be remembered. The radio continuity announcer caught it too - just listen to his closing remarks before handing back to the studio. The atmosphere was palpable and only intensified as the performance went on. Magical music making.
I thought it was splendid (despite the problems the Albert Hall's appalling acoustic created). All the more exasperating, then, that some dolt at the BBC thought that this event, important, hyped and lauded as it was, was still not worthy of televising and video recording. I'd like to know who made that decision.
I agree. It is very surprising indeed that the Beeb did not televise this event. I can't undersrand it.
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Monday 18 July 2011, 16:12
I agree. It is very surprising indeed that the Beeb did not televise this event. I can't undersrand it.
Admittedly, with the huge forces and lack of space, this would have been a real challenge (and, no doubt, will be offered-up as a lame excuse), but the BBC has overcome bigger obstacles than that.
I did hear it online over iPlayer at any rate (outside the UK, not HD, even if my computer were set up for such a thing) and was so glad I did. Thanks for informing and reminding about it and grats remotely to all involved :)
A view from the stalls:
Well, what an event! The sense of anticipation was palpable in the three-quarters of an hour from when the doors opened to the moment that Martyn Brabbins signalled that we were all (both at home and in the Hall itself) about to embark on an epic journey through one of the most extraordinary musical creations of the twentieth century. As the innumerable choristers filed in, joined by the vast orchestral forces (marshalled both on the specially-extended stage and off-stage to left and right) the question was - would the actual experience of hearing the music match up to all this pent-up excitement.
Personally, the answer was undoubtedly and triumphantly "Yes"! I think it is fair to say that this was the best performance that the Gothic has ever had - certainly the sheer orchestral virtuosity was breath-taking. The contribution of the 800 choral singers came unnaturally close to matching the super-human (or inhuman) demands made by Brian in his "music of the imagination": true, there were occasional pitch-issues (which are inevitable in a live performance and can probably only be overcome in a recording studio, with the opportunity for cut-and-paste re-pitching), but this all added to a sense of striving against impossible odds which is surely a fundamental part of the composer's vision. The four vocal soloists were excellent too and their dramatic entrance, timed to perfection as the massed choirs stood as one on the dramatic F# chord towards the end of the Scherzo, was truly electrifying.
The hero of the hour was Martyn Brabbins - he did not just beat like a windmill and "hope for the best" but moulded a beautifully shaped performance which was clearly a real interpretation of the work as a whole rather than the sum of it's not inconsiderable constituent parts.
The acoustics in the Royal Albert Hall served to cloud many orchestral subtleties, but luckily the close miking for radio broadcast reveals a fabulous wealth of detail. The technology that we have around us now means that this performance will have been captured by countless music-lovers across the world - it is certainly the recording of Brian's stupendous creation that I will be returning to most often.
An incredible event which I feel immensely privileged to have been able to witness.
:)
As you say, John, as you say. I wonder how many of us were there - four at last count I think?
I agree with everything Albion says. I flew in for the occasion (from Amsterdam) - as a Brian fan I had to, of course. And what an evening it was! Unforgettable. Brabbins really went like a laser through Brian's intricate edifice. It will take me more than a few days to recover and digest.
I also had the great pleasure of suddenly being approached by an unknown man outside the RAH, who 'revealed' himself as Albion!
Did no one tell you about the dangers of being approached by strange men in London, who then reveal themselves? :) Yes, it was a very special evening and I hope a significant one for Brian's reputation at least. I suspect that there will be other performances now of The Gothic.
Any chance of catching it online?
You can hear it online using the BBC's iPlayer catch up service here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012lkly/BBC_Proms_2011_Prom_04_Proms_Choral_Sunday_Havergal_Brians_Gothic_Symphony/), or you can download my recording by going to the Downloads board and finding the link in the British Music Broadcasts thread or the Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony - 2011 Proms thread (its the same recording).
Here is some footage of the Gothic Proms, courtesy of my sister and her trusty Canon. I did a conversion job today. Here is the (first) result:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ugAH0R7S_w (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ugAH0R7S_w)
On this page footage of the rehearsal (2 parts already, sound a bit too loud and distorted, but still...)
http://www.youtube.com/user/tubwelter (http://www.youtube.com/user/tubwelter)
interesting to see, remarkable sound quality, highly illegal pirate recording, however.
Good publicity, I would think, for the CD, in case it comes. The BBC were stupid not to televise the event. If they want me to remove it - okay. Let's wait and see.
Were you the person having an exchange with Jessica Duchen on Facebook? If not, at least one other person flew over from Amsterdam to hear it.
Quote from: J.Z. Herrenberg on Wednesday 20 July 2011, 16:44
Here is some footage of the Gothic Proms, courtesy of my sister and her trusty Canon.
Many thanks, Johan, for this - it brings back
very happy memories of one of the most remarkable concerts I have ever attended.
Quote from: Delicious Manager on Wednesday 20 July 2011, 17:09
interesting to see, remarkable sound quality, highly illegal pirate recording, however.
I think that some perspective is needed here: if this was a high-definition two-hour-long relay involving multiple camera shots I could understand any potential objection.
As it is, it gives a flavour of this unique and quite magnificent occasion to those listening at home.
:)
I've listened to the broadcast and unfortunately didn't appreciate the music, but I can imagine that the concert must have been an immense spectacle for those who were there.
Quote from: Delicious Manager on Wednesday 20 July 2011, 17:52
Were you the person having an exchange with Jessica Duchen on Facebook? If not, at least one other person flew over from Amsterdam to hear it.
Yes. I respect and like her very much.
The second and last of my 'Gothic' footage. From cataclysm to serenity. The ovation lasts forever...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oMxbxI3l18 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oMxbxI3l18)
You were obviously quite close to Alan and I. Brought it all back....
Just wondering where folks rank the Gothic in the whole of Brian's work: anything you like better?
Nope!
the 4th, I think- but I've heard 3 performances by now (broadcast, not live)... (Malcolm/Calum MacDonald, in the third volume of his books on the composer's symphonies, places the 1st out of combat- in the sense of in its own category- for various reasons but thinks the 4th the best of the rest. That may be closer, really, I guess. There are others I think are really close, mind...)
For me the 4th is a pretty intractable juggernaut of a symphony with very little to enjoy. But I'm not a Brian fan in general...
Quote from: Paul Barasi on Thursday 21 July 2011, 22:14
Just wondering where folks rank the Gothic in the whole of Brian's work: anything you like better?
The Gothic (as a totality) is such a peculiar creation that I think it stands to one side of Brian's general symphonic output. Having said that, I tend to regard the two sections as essentially separate works (in spite of the thematic and motivic links between Part I and Part II), and would therefore include Part I amongst the following list of my top favourites -
Symphony No.1,
The Gothic - Part I
Symphony No.5,
Wine of SummerSymphony No.6,
Sinfonia TragicaSymphony No.8
Symphony No.10
Symphony No.16
Symphony No.27
Symphony No.30
I also really enjoy numbers 3, 7, 9 and 15 and I suspect that if there was a first-rate recording of No.2 I would have to add that to the list as well!
:)
My sister and I were in the Stalls, block K, row 1, seat 57 and 58. My sister was sat next to composer and Brian lover John Pickard, who was partly instrumental in getting Martyn Brabbins interested in conducting 'The Gothic' in the first place.
I also place 'The Gothic' hors concours. It is a one-off, sui generis and has to be appreciated on its own merits. If 'The Tigers' is ever put on stage or disc (more likely), the same thing will apply. Both are works of absolute and unbidden inspiration, and are partially beyond aesthetics. Hence their fascination.
As for rating Brian's symphonies... I have a soft spot for several of them that aren't perhaps in the first league, like 13, 14, 17, 19, 24. But works that show Brian at his best are, for me, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 22, 27, 28, 30. I have to admit, though, I like them all, every symphony has a passage, an orchestral detail, an idea, that is peculiar to it and remains with you. But that's love for you.
Outside the symphonies, I also rate very highly the three main pre-war orchestral scores, For Valour, In Memoriam and Dr Merryheart.
Apart from The Tigers, Brian's operas still remain something of an unknown quantity and I'm really looking forward to the disc of orchestral excerpts from Turandot, Faust and The Cenci which will form volume 2 of Toccata's Brian mini-series (TOCC0113).
I'm still getting to grips with the Concerto for Orchestra and the Cello Concerto, courtesy of Dutton, but I like what I hear very much - more so in fact than the Violin Concerto.
:)
I have come to like both the Concerto for Orchestra and the Cello Concerto very much. They are very approachable and could be a way for people to get acquainted with Brian's late style the 'easy' way.
Of the orchestral works I love 'Elegy' (though the radio performance is better than the one on the new Toccata disc, I am sorry to say) and the 'Fantastic Variations', too (which the Hull Youth Orchestra does best (!))
Here is a link to a review which compares all the performances of 'The Gothic' now available (to the enthusiast). It is long, but it makes for interesting reading...
https://sites.google.com/site/recordingmaninoz/gothicreview (https://sites.google.com/site/recordingmaninoz/gothicreview)
What an absolutely fascinating review, although for me the comparison of the recording quality, as opposed to the quality of the performance, rather misses the point. The discussion of the problem of choirs going off-pitch in the a capella section in the Judex is especially interesting and the inventive solution to the problem adopted in the Curro performance is quite startling!
Yes, they have been quite ingenious down under! As for comparing the recording quality and not the quality of the performance, well, the writer is a sound engineer and assesses the relative merits of the currently available performances from that particular perspective. But let's hope that in the coming months someone will give us a musical analysis, too!
I listened to the recording of this -- right after the one from last year in fact (yes, I listened to this piece twice in a row!), and man I absolutely agree. I would love to buy this version.....though I suspect if it were to be released, they wouldn't be as generous as Marco Polo/Naxos with the track separation.
Try this insightful article...
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/July11/Brian_critics.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/July11/Brian_critics.htm)
Another snippet (not by me), stopping just short of the climax of the Judex...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmSL0lsHQZg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmSL0lsHQZg)
Brian in The Economist.
http://www.economist.com/node/21524808 (http://www.economist.com/node/21524808)
Thanks Heavens for The Economist, one of the last bastions of stylish, intelligent writing on our dumbed-down planet. And sensible writing on Havergal Brian to top it off. It's enough to renew one's faith...
David
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Tuesday 19 July 2011, 13:50
You can hear it online using the BBC's iPlayer catch up service here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012lkly/BBC_Proms_2011_Prom_04_Proms_Choral_Sunday_Havergal_Brians_Gothic_Symphony/), or you can download my recording by going to the Downloads board and finding the link in the British Music Broadcasts thread or the Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony - 2011 Proms thread (its the same recording).
Belated thanks!!!!
NEWS just in: Hyperion will be releasing a recording of the 2011 Proms 'Gothic' quite soon.
Well bless their hearts! ;D
Very, very good news!
Morten
What's your source, J.Z?
Indirectly - Malcolm MacDonald, who is busy on the booklet.
Great, thanks!! :D
Great. And being Hyperion, there's hope they will separate the tracks too. I wonder if it's too late to email them and suggest this?
Never too late.
As a fairly new member here - just wanted to say that was a great night at the Albert Hall for Brian's 'Gothic' - I was there for the Ole Schmidt performance in the 1980s too, but I had much greater appreciation of the work - especially the choral sections, this time round. Of course the newspaper reviews were largely hostile - but I regard the apparent non-sequiturs and mad juxtapositions as assetts rather than liabilities - it is what brings this great work alive. One of the best concerts I have ever attended - roll on the Hyperion recording!
Dear all,
There will be an opportunity to hear the 2011 Gothic on the 26th of September, at 19:30 CEST, on Swedish public radio.
See http://sverigesradio.se/p2/ (http://sverigesradio.se/p2/)
It is possible to listen via the web.
/Anders
For those who might not have seen it listed elsewhere:
http://vimeo.com/28335522 (http://vimeo.com/28335522)
About 8 minutes of footage of the 17 July morning final rehearsal. A bit shaky in spots due to unavoidably awkward positioning of the camera, but decent sound.