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Beecham ABC, Vol. 4 – Pristine Audio

Beecham ABC, Vol. 4 – Pristine Audio

by | Aug 30, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

The last of the Beecham ABC Network concerts evokes thunderous applause at every piece. Beecham – The ABC Blue Network Concerts, Vol. 4 = HAYDN: Symphony No. 102 in B-flat Major; MOZART: The Impreasario – Ov., K. 486; SAINT-SAENS: Omphale’s Spinning Wheel, Op. 31; BERLIOZ: Les Troyens: Royal Hunt and Storm; Hungarian March from La damnation de Faust – Blue Network Sym. Orch./ Sir Thomas Beecham – Pristine Audio PASC 480, 53:37 [avail. in various formats from www.pristineclassical.com] ****: The Haydn 1795 Symphony No. 102 in B-flat Major provides the centerpiece for this high-energy concert from 28 April 1945, the fourth and last of Sir Thomas Beecham’s concerts sponsored through the ABC network. The onrush of musical dynamism begins earlier, with Beecham’s thoroughly spontaneous approach to Mozart’s 1786 singspiel The Impraesario, whose Overture permits all sorts of interior colors as well as witty rhythmic subtleties not lost on our engaged conductor.  Even narrator Milton Cross seems delighted to announce it as his prelude to the Saint-Saens symphonic poem that depicts the Lydian queen’s “humiliation” of the Greek hero Hercules – for the fatal fall of Iphitos – in the form of “women’s work.” A brilliant piece of orchestration – set […]

Beecham, ABC Blue Network Concerts, Vol. 3 = MOZART: Symphony No. 31; HANDEL: Piano Concerto in A Major; CHABRIER: Espana – Betty Humby, p./ Blue Network Sym. Orch./ Sir Thomas Beecham – Pristine Audio

Beecham, ABC Blue Network Concerts, Vol. 3 = MOZART: Symphony No. 31; HANDEL: Piano Concerto in A Major; CHABRIER: Espana – Betty Humby, p./ Blue Network Sym. Orch./ Sir Thomas Beecham – Pristine Audio

by | Jul 21, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

The third of the Blue Network concerts by Beecham restores the sense of musical festivity and stylistic brilliance.  Beecham – The ABC Blue Network Concerts, Vol. 3 = MOZART: Symphony No. 31 in D Major, K. 297; HANDEL: Piano Concerto in A Major; CHABRIER: Espana – Betty Humby, p./ Blue Network Sym. Orch./ Sir Thomas Beecham – Pristine Audio PASC 477, 54:40 [var. formats avail. from www.pristineclassical.com] ****:  The concert by Sir Thomas Beecham and the “Blue Network Symphony Orchestra” of 21 April 1945 certainly assumes a more optimistic tone than that which occurred as President Franklin Roosevelt had been laid to rest. The high energy of the occasion bursts forth immediately, with Mozart’s 1778 D Major “Paris” Symphony, expressly conceived to parody the musical conceits of the day, such as the so-called premier coup d’archet, or the Parisian version of unison Mannheim rocket figures at a symphonic opening. The addition of trumpets and tympani – and the clarinets – increases the often ceremonial pomp of the performance. Throughout the performance, Beecham emphasizes the suave grandeur Mozart controls in this, his largest symphonic structure in his oeuvre at the time. The virtuoso syncopations of the last movement move with a […]

Beecham conducts The ABC Blue Network Concerts, Vol. 1 – Pristine Audio

Beecham conducts The ABC Blue Network Concerts, Vol. 1 – Pristine Audio

by | Mar 20, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

A previously unissued live broadcast from NYC by Sir Thomas Beecham enjoys the lively brio we expect. Beecham conducts The ABC Blue Network Concerts, Vol. 1 = NICOLAI: Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor; ELGAR: Serenade for String in e minor, Op. 20; HANDEL (arr. Beecham): The Great Elopement; DELIUS: The Walk to the Paradise Garden; J. STRAUSS II: Voices of Spring Waltz, Op. 410 – Blue Network Sym. Orch./ Sir Thomas Beecham – Pristine Audio PASC 461, 54:43 [avail. in var. formats from www.pristineclassical.com] ****: In his explanatory notes, producer and editor Andrew Rose traces the history of the Red and Blue Networks, subsidiaries of the original NBC ownership, forced by FCC regulations to break up a possible monopoly of radio networks. In June 1945 the Blue Network became the ABC Network; prior, in April, Sir Thomas Beecham had accepted a contract for four concerts: “Sir Thomas Beecham conducting a Symphonic Orchestra.” Likely, these responsive players derived from assorted members of both the New York Philharmonic and NBC Symphony. This concert of 7 April 1945 had been preserved on acetate 33 rpm records. The broadcasts originated at the Ritz (now Walter Kerr) Theater, 219 W. 48th Street, in […]