BBC Music Magazine Cover CD!
Posted by: u5227470736789439 on 22 July 2006
Dear Friends,
I want to alert anyone half interested in the music of Elgar that the Proms issue of the BBC Music Magazine has a cover CD containing what is in my view the finest performance on records of Elgar's First Symphony - taken from the Proms Broascast of 28th July 1976, it is played by the BBC SO under Sir Adrian Boult. Until you have listened to this great, virile, and deeply expressive performance you would hardly guess the music could go quite this well! The counterpart is the 1949 HMV studio recording with the LPO under Boult [currently on Testament], which has many similar qualities, but not quite the sense of occasion that this concert performance brings.
The Magazine cost £4.10, which is a snip considering the music contained in this disc! I guess this means this performance will never see the light of day commercially, so do be quick if you are interested!
All the best from Fredrik
I want to alert anyone half interested in the music of Elgar that the Proms issue of the BBC Music Magazine has a cover CD containing what is in my view the finest performance on records of Elgar's First Symphony - taken from the Proms Broascast of 28th July 1976, it is played by the BBC SO under Sir Adrian Boult. Until you have listened to this great, virile, and deeply expressive performance you would hardly guess the music could go quite this well! The counterpart is the 1949 HMV studio recording with the LPO under Boult [currently on Testament], which has many similar qualities, but not quite the sense of occasion that this concert performance brings.
The Magazine cost £4.10, which is a snip considering the music contained in this disc! I guess this means this performance will never see the light of day commercially, so do be quick if you are interested!
All the best from Fredrik
Posted on: 22 July 2006 by Tam
Dear Fredrik,
I am glad you spotted this it was mentioned on the Radio 3 forum a little while back and I meant to mention it (but must have forgotten).
Out of interest, what is the content of the magazine like? The last time I bought it I found it pretty lamentable. However, that was immaterial because then (as now) the disc more than justified the price (Mackerras doing Mahler 6 with the BBC Phil). To be honest, I wish they'd just put out great recordings for a fiver and forget about the magazine.
regards, Tam
p.s. Note to self, must go out and buy magazine before next month's is released.
I am glad you spotted this it was mentioned on the Radio 3 forum a little while back and I meant to mention it (but must have forgotten).
Out of interest, what is the content of the magazine like? The last time I bought it I found it pretty lamentable. However, that was immaterial because then (as now) the disc more than justified the price (Mackerras doing Mahler 6 with the BBC Phil). To be honest, I wish they'd just put out great recordings for a fiver and forget about the magazine.
regards, Tam
p.s. Note to self, must go out and buy magazine before next month's is released.
Posted on: 22 July 2006 by u5227470736789439
Dear Tam,
Important things first! The recording has been beautifully restored, and much finer than a limited edition I got in 1995, issued to celebrate the Proms centenary...
As for the content of the mag, I was struck by the the review of Dvorak's Violin Concerto, which was mostly fair, and put my favourite Joseph Suk second, because another more modern recording has a better sound! Says it all really! In fact the reviewer pointed out that his decision was based on the sonority of it rather than the music making! I hate this sort of nonesense!
But this Elgar First Symphony performance is worth £10 of anyone's money, so quick folks, while supplies last! Only chance now I suspect...
All the best from Fredrik
Important things first! The recording has been beautifully restored, and much finer than a limited edition I got in 1995, issued to celebrate the Proms centenary...
As for the content of the mag, I was struck by the the review of Dvorak's Violin Concerto, which was mostly fair, and put my favourite Joseph Suk second, because another more modern recording has a better sound! Says it all really! In fact the reviewer pointed out that his decision was based on the sonority of it rather than the music making! I hate this sort of nonesense!
But this Elgar First Symphony performance is worth £10 of anyone's money, so quick folks, while supplies last! Only chance now I suspect...
All the best from Fredrik
Posted on: 22 July 2006 by Tam
quote:Originally posted by Fredrik_Fiske:
As for the content of the mag, I was struck by the the review of Dvorak's Violin Concerto, which was mostly fair, and put my favourite Joseph Suk second, because another more modern recording has a better sound! Says it all really! In fact the reviewer pointed out that his decision was based on the sonority of it rather than the music making! I hate this sort of nonesense!
Dear Fredrik,
How terribly sad! I think reviewers who write nonsense like that are rather missing the point.
I often wonder how much good reviews are to me at all any more. In recent listening I have come to realise how little I care for the Solti/VPO Schubert C major, yet the penguin guide gifts it with a rosette. Had I been drinking coffee (or anything else) I would have spat it all over the living room as I reread Alan Blyth's review of the Abbado Magic Flute while listening to it (his descriptions as near perfect of singers who were anything but were especially galling), what most distressed me about this was that I had thought that while I don't always follow his conclusions (as in Bohm/Solti Ring cycle debates), I absolutely can see his point.
The Gramophone has just undergone a rather awful facelift (they have a frightfully over-busy design which makes it impossible to glean information easily and the exerts on the CD have been cut to around a minute and are now verbally introduced - surely the function of the text within the magazine), in a review by Richard Osborne (whom I also respect), I was shocked when he managed to cover Mahler's second symphony without a single word about the singers. I honestly don't know why I subscribe anymore (it would buy me a budget price CD every two months which would surely give me much greater satisfaction).
regards, Tam
Posted on: 27 July 2006 by Tam
Dear Fredrik,
I got hold of a copy today (though have yet to give the Boult a spin). I must say, on the face of it, it does seem somewhat superior to where Gramophone has been going lately.
However, the problem you noticed in reviews was astute and the practice of giving stars (which I'm not sure I'm convinced by) to both performance and sound, gives the later an excessive weight. Does it matter if something is the best recorded example of something if it isn't also the best musically? Certainly in an ideal world one has both. But if not, what loss? How bad can the sound be on the 50s Horowitz issue to which they give a mere two stars - after all, piano can often sound superior in mono.
I have a sneaking feeling that most of the time what they are looking (or rather listening for) in terms of sound isn't what really matters anyway (i.e. the pitch and so forth of the instruments) but rather for more nebulous round earth qualities like sound stage.
Still, at £4.10, if the disc is good, who cares?
regards, Tam
p.s. I probably also harbour a resentment because the Mackerras prom is not highlighted (I shall charitably assume that is because it is in September).
I got hold of a copy today (though have yet to give the Boult a spin). I must say, on the face of it, it does seem somewhat superior to where Gramophone has been going lately.
However, the problem you noticed in reviews was astute and the practice of giving stars (which I'm not sure I'm convinced by) to both performance and sound, gives the later an excessive weight. Does it matter if something is the best recorded example of something if it isn't also the best musically? Certainly in an ideal world one has both. But if not, what loss? How bad can the sound be on the 50s Horowitz issue to which they give a mere two stars - after all, piano can often sound superior in mono.
I have a sneaking feeling that most of the time what they are looking (or rather listening for) in terms of sound isn't what really matters anyway (i.e. the pitch and so forth of the instruments) but rather for more nebulous round earth qualities like sound stage.
Still, at £4.10, if the disc is good, who cares?
regards, Tam
p.s. I probably also harbour a resentment because the Mackerras prom is not highlighted (I shall charitably assume that is because it is in September).
Posted on: 27 July 2006 by u5227470736789439
Let us know how you get on with the disc.
Really I wish everyone half interested in Elgar would get this.
Only two recordings ot the First Symphony are this fine in my view - Elgar in 1930, and Boult in 1949. [Currently available on Testament and EMI respectively]. The Naxos one under George Hurst is the best of the new issues, again in my view, though the BBC have a finer performance with Hurst, which if it ever sees the light of day as a commerciasl release will be a winner!
All the best from Fredrik
Really I wish everyone half interested in Elgar would get this.
Only two recordings ot the First Symphony are this fine in my view - Elgar in 1930, and Boult in 1949. [Currently available on Testament and EMI respectively]. The Naxos one under George Hurst is the best of the new issues, again in my view, though the BBC have a finer performance with Hurst, which if it ever sees the light of day as a commerciasl release will be a winner!
All the best from Fredrik
Posted on: 27 July 2006 by Ian G.
I'll try and pick it up at the weekend - our student shop doesn't have a big market for that title! - They sell a depressing pile of tabloids every day though.
Ian
Ian
Posted on: 27 July 2006 by u5227470736789439
Dear Ian,
I misread that as 'Tablets!' That is a religeous publication isn't it! Oh dear! I am going mad! Not student fare anyway... Fred
I misread that as 'Tablets!' That is a religeous publication isn't it! Oh dear! I am going mad! Not student fare anyway... Fred
Posted on: 29 July 2006 by Big Brother
I'll bet the live Boult/Elgar is well worth hearing. One version of this symphony that sticks in my mind is Barbirolli's with the Halle. Apparently he was an early champion of Elgar and most especially this symphony, there is I think an autobiography of sir John and it is shot through with references to this most celebrated english composer...Elgar's music seems to inspire great devotion among those who know it well...
Posted on: 31 July 2006 by Ian G.
Just having a first listen to this one having picked it up at the weekend - not for the faint hearted is it !
Ian
Ian
Posted on: 31 July 2006 by Tam
Did you not enjoy it then Ian? (I haven't got round to listening yet.) Was this your first taste of a romantic symphony?
regards, Tam
regards, Tam
Posted on: 31 July 2006 by Ian G.
Tam,
Just back from Tord Gustavsen at the Hub(brilliant, really brilliant).
I didn't mean at all that I didn't enjoy the Elgar, only that some of more lively passages are deliverd with a fair bit of oomph!
I already have an old vinyl copy of the Barbirolli/Halle version which I like so this is not a new piece to me.
It will be interesting to compare the two when I get a chance.
Not any time soon though.
Ian
Just back from Tord Gustavsen at the Hub(brilliant, really brilliant).
I didn't mean at all that I didn't enjoy the Elgar, only that some of more lively passages are deliverd with a fair bit of oomph!
I already have an old vinyl copy of the Barbirolli/Halle version which I like so this is not a new piece to me.
It will be interesting to compare the two when I get a chance.
Not any time soon though.
Ian
Posted on: 31 July 2006 by Tam
That makes sense now!
Glad the Hub was good. I've been toying with trying to pick up tickets for Chick Corea on Thursday (though I should probably be somewhere else).
I haven't got round to listening to the Elgar yet - indeed, I haven't been able to use my system nearly as much as I would like lately (which has been greatly annoying).
Still, less than two weeks today I'll be enjoying (hopefully) Peter Stein's Troilus and Cressida and then the next day is Mackerras and Beethoven. [can't wait smiley]
regards, Tam
Glad the Hub was good. I've been toying with trying to pick up tickets for Chick Corea on Thursday (though I should probably be somewhere else).
I haven't got round to listening to the Elgar yet - indeed, I haven't been able to use my system nearly as much as I would like lately (which has been greatly annoying).
Still, less than two weeks today I'll be enjoying (hopefully) Peter Stein's Troilus and Cressida and then the next day is Mackerras and Beethoven. [can't wait smiley]
regards, Tam