Cliffe Symphony No.1 German premiere

[Alan Howe]

A fine performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13wzEKQp7rM

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, it really is. I had never come across the AOIDE orchestra before, but this is a really persuasive performance.

[Alan Howe]

And what a marvel the symphony itself is. We owe so much to Chris Fifield.

[hyperdanny]

"marvel" is just right..in fact , every time I listen to it, I never cease to marvel at the sheer quality of this music.
It's a wonderful symphony, really undeservedly unsung.
There quite a bit of symphonies that have a great first movement, then gradually fizzle out......this one is consistently inspired.
The performance in question is really really good.  Even through youtube it seems to me the orchestra is somewhat more refined sounding than the Malmo orchestra, at least as conveyed by the rather mediocre Sterling sound,

[Alan Howe]

The Sterling sound is spectacular, but the acoustic is rather too reverberant to reveal all the details of the orchestration.

This release was awarded a rosette in the Penguin Guide.

[hyperdanny]

I beg to differ: if it's too reverberant (and it is, to the point of being cavernous) how can it be spectacular? It cannot, for audible reasons.
The engineers have not been able to tame the hall, or did not even try.
As per the rosette, I stopped caring about critics' awards long ago....and anyway the Gramophone people give a rosette to almost anything that has a Union Jack on it.

[Alan Howe]

It is too reverberant, but it has tremendous impact. The performance is spectacular too, from the world's foremost expert on Cliffe. It's an essential document.

anyway the Gramophone people give a rosette to almost anything that has a Union Jack on it

Really? I trust you'll substantiate that claim. In any case, this was the Penguin guide, not the Gramophone magazine - which doesn't award rosettes! It's good to be accurate, surely?