British Music

[semloh]

David Morgan is a somewhat mysterious character about whom little seems to be known. He composed comparatively little.

Thanks for the web links, Colin.   I have Morgan's Partita on r2r tape, from an old Radio 3 broadcast by the BBC Concert Orch, cond. Lockhart, and have tried several times to find out who "Morgan" is/was without success.
Problem solved! 

You mentioned Chagrin .... I have The Girl With Hiccups on cassette, ex-radio, attributed to Chagrin, and I assume it's the same person (?). I have no idea of the provenance or performers, but will do some sleuthing... 

[albion]

This place is fast becoming the biggest repository of British music in the galaxy.

Surely the cosmos?



To bulk out the somewhat meagre contents of the archive, the following have just been added -

Francis Chagrin (1905-1972) - Symphony No.1
Alun Hoddinott (1929-2008) - Piano Concerto No.3; Organ Concerto; Landscapes for orchestra
David Morgan (1933-1988) - Sinfonia da Requiem

Many thanks to Dundonnell - he's clearly not giving up.

I believe music gets rusty when it's not performed.

Indeed it does - here is the piano specially reserved at Maida Vale for the performance of British concertos -

[semloh]

- here is the piano specially reserved at Maida Vale for the performance of British concertos -

- priceless, Albion!

[Holger]

I have now uploaded Iain Hamilton's Symphony No. 3, which is a lighter piece. The link is only waiting for approval. While I lack information about the date of broadcast again I could more or less find out the movement titles when reading the following article:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Hamilton/index.htm

There is also an article about Hamilton by David C F Wright but I clearly prefer the Conway one. Actually, when I recommended Wright's Gipps essay a while ago I did not know anything else by this author, which has changed in the meantime - with the result that I now perfectly understand Albion's statement about him (though in case of Hamilton, he is even in favour of him).

[Dundonnell]

Thanks so much for the Hamilton Third, Holger

Yes, Paul Conway is a more reliable writer than David Wright. Wright is certainly immensely knowledgable and informative but his prejudices seriously let him down.
When he is writing about composers whose music he admires he can be an excellent source but one has to trudge past vicious invective directed at his usual targets(Elgar and Britten, for example)

[albion]

Many thanks to Holger for Hamilton's Symphony No.3 - a copy has been put into the archive.



Meanwhile, more files have been kindly sent by Dundonnell -

George Lloyd (1913-1998): Symphony No.6

Kenneth Leighton (1929-1988): Concerto for Viola, Harp, Timpani and Strings; Passacaglia, Chorale and Fugue for orchestra; Piano Concerto No.2; Dance Overture

As usual, more complete details can now be found in the listing.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks to Dundonnell (and Albion) for the upload of George Lloyd's Sixth. Another gap nicely filled. Does anybody have shareable recordings of Nos.2,3,7,9 & 10 by any chance?

[eschiss1]

btw re Hoddinott piano concerto no.3, Cadensa claims August 2, not June 2, 1974. A check of the radio listings from those months in 1974 (even available here on Microfiches of back issues of the Times) (unless the broadcast was listed but delayed as happens) should confirm... (of course the tape may announce the date on it- will have to check...)

[albion]

btw re Hoddinott piano concerto no.3, Cadensa claims August 2, not June 2, 1974.

Thanks, Eric, duly amended provisionally! The National Sound Archive cataloguers were having a laugh (to put it charitably) when they decided to catalogue by year-month-day without any punctuation. For example 1979122 could mean 22nd January or 2nd December. Bloody fools!



I've spent the last few days researching and checking the long list of forthcoming items from Dundonnell - composer dates, composition dates, opus numbers, performers, broadcast dates ....

... some with more luck than others - unfortunately things may occasionally go astray!

[Dundonnell]

None of this would be necessary if I had kept a note of the dates of each recording

Unfortunately, it never entered my mind that this would matter. I was in my late 20s at the time and thought that I was simply recording my own private collection.
It obviously never occurred to me that one day I could be sharing it with people all over the world

Actually...that is such a nice thought.......

[eschiss1]

by the way, mightn't the Cooke violin concerto be the 1966 one listed on Cadensa with Maurice Handford conducting the same orchestra with the same soloist? Did Handley conduct the BBC Northern Symphony much before 1982 when it changed its name?

[albion]

mightn't the Cooke violin concerto be the 1966 one listed on Cadensa with Maurice Handford conducting the same orchestra with the same soloist?

Possibly yes, then again probably no - I believe that Dundonnell knows his Handford from his Handley.



Now would that be 12th January or 2nd November 1966?

Did Handley conduct the BBC Northern Symphony much before 1982 when it changed its name?

Yes, during the 1960s and 1970s he was a regular guest conductor, also of the BBC Welsh and BBC Scottish.

[semloh]

Colin- I've downloaded Lloyd's 6th (my favourite with the 4th) but it's so quiet, I can hardly hear it. 

I am reluctant to say anything becuase I know how much effort you are putting into sharing your files, but if you can possibly increase the volume it would be greatly appreciated. 

Are you using an amplifier between the tape-recorder and the computer? And, which input sockets are you using on the computer? It maybe just a simple technical issue to resolve.

Gosh, I do love that symphony!

[albion]

Colin- I've downloaded Lloyd's 6th (my favourite with the 4th) but it's so quiet, I can hardly hear it. 

I've been experimenting with audacity, have managed to amplify the file and have replaced the one in the archive.



As it has taken quite a while to do this, hopefully Colin can sort the other files out at source.

[eschiss1]

Re Josephs' symphonies, some useful and hopefully accurate information here - no movement listings there, though. (Symphony 5's LP recording on Unicorn, released 1983, may have had a movement list on its cover but I don't know.)