British Music

[eschiss1]

I'll see if I can find my tape of Parry's string quartet no.3 as broadcast on BBC a few years back- not one of the oldest tapes around etc. (though for all of that I'm not sure where I put my copy- I'll find it. Should be able to digitize it and send it along, I think... though really the quartets and quintet ought to reach CD sometime, I would think. They're available in modern edition scores I believe... who knows.)

[albion]

Two important broadcasts by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Sir Edward Downes have been added to BMB - Rutland Boughton's gorgeous Symphony No.2, Deirdre (1/10/1985) and Granville Bantock's Pagan Symphony (27/1/1984). These can be found in Folder 1.

[eschiss1]

An important broadcast by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Sir Edward Downes has been added to BMB - Rutland Boughton's gorgeous Symphony No.2, Deirdre (1/10/1985). This can be found in Folder 1.

The one that used to be available on Carlton Classics/BBC? Wonderful indeed imhonesto.

[Pengelli]

Wonderful,I'm sure everyone here will be grateful.....but lucky ol' me,I've got the original cd's! If only the current releases from the BBC archives were as exotic! Still,we got some Havergal Brian.
Downes takes a quite different approach to the 'Pagan',and the 'Deidre Symphony' really should receive a commercial cd recording.

[Pengelli]

Oh dear,I've got that one wrong! The Bantock 'Pagan' is conducted by Maurice Handford in on a cd of,decidedly, less than hi-fi  sound quality. Of interests to commited 'Bantockites,but worth collecting for comparative purposes,I suppose.' only! It's coupled with the 'Hebridean' conducted by Boult,from 1968 on the Intaglio label.
'Made in Italy!'
The Carlton cd is of superior quality.
Question: Does anyone here know the date of the Handford recording?

[Pengelli]

The Carlton cd of Downes conducting the Bantock is coupled with music by Bax,and I bought it partly because I don't like 'Fifine at the Fair,whch is paired with the 'Pagan' on the Hyperion. Carlton's coupling of 'Tintagel' & two of Bax's 'Northern Ballad' seems more appropriate in terms of mood & atmosphere.
I wish the Carlton series had been able to continue. Some of the stuff on the 'BBC Legends' label should have stayed in the vaults!

[Pengelli]

If anyone out there fancies buying the Intaglio cd of Bantock,the sound quality is thin,and sounds like it was recorded off the radio with one of those ancient portable cassette players with the keyboard controls,shoved in front of the radio,except that you can't hear people slamming doors,the toilet flushing in the background and mum doing the washing up. (The 'Aries' team would be proud of them) It's quite clear though.  Hopefully,one day,someone will release these performances in better sound quality.

[albion]

Question: Does anyone here know the date of the Handford recording?

It was part of the rather lacklustre 'celebrations' surrounding Bantock's centenary in 1968. From Rob Barnett's review of the Handley/ Hyperion box set -

Bantock's stars rather unluckily had his centenary year (1968) fall slap-bang in the middle of the most unpropitious cultural period. What would a musical world focused on dissonance, exclusivity and novelty make of this tumultuously productive orchestral writer of tone poems, ballads and songs. The reception was all too predictable. He was ignored by the many; condemned by the few who found time to bother. His music was considered an irrelevance to a new age. He was not alone in this: indifference and spleen greeted the likes of Josef Suk, Adolphe Biarent and Arthur Farwell.

There were outposts from which Bantock was saluted but they were not numerous. There were articles in 'Music and Musicians' and various other music magazines. Harold Truscott and Stephen Lloyd wrote articles and gave broadcast talks. Boult, Del Mar and Handford directed BBC studio broadcasts of Overture to a Greek Tragedy, the Pagan and Hebridean symphonies and extracts from Omar and Sappho. The reel-to-reel tape machines of the era - Philips, Grundig, Ferrograph, Vortexion, Akai, Sony and Sanyo - whirred away as recording angels and we can still enjoy some of that legacy.

[Pengelli]

Interesting. I don't want to go into the tonal v progressive debate here,but of the three composers here,Arthur Farwell is now the most neglected on cd. Suk is the one who seems to be taken the most seriously by mainstream critics,but mostly on the basis of his 'Asrael Symphony.' Biarent has made it to cd,and I don't know if it's just my imagination,but I have noticed that reviews of Bantock in the newspapers are getting politer,even if they're not generaly enthusiastic.
So it was one of those 'centenary things',where the interest is either formal or driven by a minority of commited enthusiasts and then just fizzles out. Strange how things change. Back in the early eighties I never expected to be buying recordings of Bantock,let alone Holbrooke,and most recently,Stanley Bate.
One last point,relating to newspaper critics,and that's the one who writes for the 'Yorkshire Post'. Very enlightened,to say the least. I wish they were all like that.
Another thing,when I was a teenager, I always fancied a reel to reel tape recorder. Now that I have enough cash they're of interest only to curio collectors!

[albion]

Folder 2 now contains some fascinating broadcasts of music by York Bowen and Norman O'Neill, very kindly provided by dafrieze. Some of these recordings are of considerable vintage and we are very fortunate to now have access to them.

York Bowen has gradually been emerging from relative obscurity in recent years, but the music of O'Neill is still something of an unknown quantity: a pupil of Arthur Somervell at the Royal College, he became conductor at the Haymarket Theatre in 1908 and a professor at the Royal Academy in 1924.

Despite research into these latest contributions, I still haven't been able to confirm precise broadcast dates for Bowen's Festal Overture or the Sinfonietta Concertante - anybody who has this information is warmly invited to get in touch! 

[albion]

We now have a copy of Percy Whitlock's Symphony in G minor for Organ and Orchestra (1936-7). I have transcribed it from a cassette tape very kindly provided by Dylan: this is a splendid performance of an intriguing and rewarding piece (Folder 2).

Here is some background information on the music and it's composer - http://www.musicweb-international.com/whitlock/organsymphony.htm 

[edurban]

Fascinating read, Albion.  Thanks for the link.  Now to hear Whitlock's Symphony...

David

[Pengelli]

Wow! The fabled Percy Whitlock! This is one people talk about in tents and around firesides! The first few bars made me think you had uploaded the 'Last night of the Proms' by mistake!

[Pengelli]

Marvellous!

[Pengelli]

Albion! Regarding your above post. My mother had heard of Norman O' Neill. Well,some of his music at least. I remember playing a cassette of some light music I recorded off Radio 3 & her eyes 'lit up'.I think it might have used on 'Childrens Hour' or somewhere. At any rate what ever it was,it was popular when she was a youngster,(she's 78 now). I wonder what it was? I've forgotten & I must ask. It may have been 'The Bluebird',(which was also a movie rival to 'The Wizard of Oz',starring,the once hugely popular, Shirley Temple).
I shall have to ask.