Brian's 'Gothic' at the Proms 2011?

[Alan Howe]

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

[eschiss1]

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...

[petershott@btinternet.com]

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

[Pengelli]

I would personally err on the side of caution with this one!

[Pengelli]

Was that Kendo Nagasaki or Mick Mc Manus,Peter? ('End in the blooo corn-er,Yehudi Menhuin & the Rpo'....submit!).

[Rob H]

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

[Pengelli]

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'.

[Pengelli]

Sorry,silly me; I forgot to mention,I'm referring to the excerpts on 'You Tube'.

[John H White]

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. 

[ahinton]

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...

[albion]

Yes, it is actually happening - http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2011/july-17/5

[Alan Howe]

Well, that is good news!

[eschiss1]

cause enough for me to see if I can, with some help, make a trip.  Thanks much!

[petershott@btinternet.com]

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.

[M. Henriksen]

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