BBC Symphony Archive
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: A Sea Symphony – BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Martyn Brabbins – Hyperion
Martyn Brabbins and his selected principals delivers a powerfully mounted Sea Symphony by Vaughan Williams.
SZYMANOWSKI: Violin Concertos; KARLOWICZ: Violin Concerto – Tasmin Little, violin/ BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Edward Gardner – Chandos
SZYMANOWSKI: Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35; Violin Concerto No. 2 in a minor, Op. 61; KARLOWICZ: Violin Concerto, Op. 8 – Tasmin Little, violin/ BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Edward Gardner – Chandos CHSA 5185, 73:18 (9/1/17) ****: Tasmin Little embraces the early 20th Century Polish violin concerto tradition with an easy and articulate grace. Just preceding the First World War, Karol Szymanowski traveled extensively around the Mediterranean, including Italy and North Africa, whose respective influence combined with the composer’s long admiration of French music, particularly of Debussy and Roussel. The Violin Concerto No. 1 (1916) testifies to the composer’s new-found lyricism and unified sense of form: in one, extended rondo movement, the music falls into five identifiable sections. The poem “May Night” by Tadeusz Micinski invokes many of the effects of the music: fireflies, nereids, fairies, and other ephemeral beings close to Shakespeare’s Queen Mab. Pan plays his pipes in the woodlands, and Szymanowski means to capture a delicate majesty in the richly fertile scoring of his concerto. The composer wrote the work with Paul Kochanski in mind, and that fine instrumentalist helped conceive the cadenza. A kind of ecstatic virtuosity marks Tasmin Little’s solo part, with its improvvisando elements, […]
SIBELIUS: Historic Recordings and Rarities, 1928-1945 – feat. Boult, Beecham, Koussevitzky etc. – Warner Classics (7 CDs)
For his 150th birthday, Sibelius has his classic inscriptions restored for a grand pageant by many of his favored interpreters. SIBELIUS: Historic Recordings and Rarities, 1928-1945 = The Seven Symphonies; Karelia Suite; Andante festive; Pohjola’s Daughter; Belshazzar’s Feast; Tapiola; Night Ride and Sunrise; The Oceanides; Romance in C Major; The Bard; The Tempest; Pelleas and Melisande; In Memoriam; Violin Concerto in d minor; Luonnotar; King Christian II; En Saga; The Return of Lemminkainen; Scenes historiques – Festivo; Finlandia; Valse triste; String Quartet in d minor; Romance in F; Danses champetres; Mazurka; Auf dem Herde; Malincolia; Romance in D-flat Major; Songs – Helmi Liukkonen, soprano/ Marian Anderson, contralto/ Anja Ignatius, violin/ Jascha Heifetz, violin/ Emil Telmanyi, violin/ Louis Jensen, cello/ Budapest String Quartet/ Gerald Moore, piano/ Eileen Joyce, piano/ Kosti Vehanen, piano/ Tino Makkila, piano/ G. v. Vasarhelyi, piano / BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/ Finnish Radio Orchestra/ London Philharmonic Orchestra/ London Symphony Orchestra/ Stockholm Opera House Orchestra/ Jean Sibelius/ Robert Kajanus/ Sir Adrian Boult/ Sir Thomas Beecham/ Armas Jarnefelt/ Georg Schneevoigt/ Serge Koussevitzky – Warner Classics 0825646053179 (7 CDs) 74:22, 77:08, 73:21, 79:07, 67:44, 75:39, 67:05 (10/7/15) ****: Much of this collation – celebrating the 150th anniversary of the […]
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 1 in E Minor; Pohjola’s Daughter; Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major – BBC Sym. Orch. /Sir Malcolm Sargent – Guild
Sir Malcolm Sargent proves a credible leader in the music of Sibelius, a composer he well championed in performance and on records.
LUTOSLAWSKI: “Orchestral Works Vol. 4” = Symphony No. 1; Partita for Violin and Orchestra; Chain 2 (Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra); Preludia tanczne – Elizabeth Burley, piano/ Michael Collins, clarinet/Tasmin Little, violin /BBC Symphony Orch./ Edward Gardner – Chandos
A welcome performance of the Symphony No. 1 and more in excellent high resolution sound.
SUK: Symphony in C Minor “Asrael”; BRITTEN: Sinfonia da Requiem – BBC Symphony Orch./ Jiri Belohlavek – Supraphon (2 CDs)
The Prague concert of June 1, 2008 celebrates conductor Belohlavek’s mastery of the two nations in his musical bloodstream, Czechoslovakia and Britain.
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 4 in E Minor; MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4, “Italian” – BBC Symphony Orch./ Royal Philharmonic Orch. (Mendelssohn)/ Sir Adrian Boult – ICA Classics
The veteran conductor Sir Adrian Boult delivers two high-powered readings of familiar classics that well attest to the security of his artistic discipline.
JOSEF SUK: A Summer’s Tale; Prague – BBC Sym. Orch./ Jiri Belohlavek – Chandos
Two colorful Czech symphonic poems in hi-res surround.
* WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI = Orchestral Works II – Louis Lortie, p./ BBC Sym. Orch./ Edward Gardner – Chandos
************ MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH ************
The third volume of Muzyka Polska’s Lutoslawski series has probably the most listener appeal.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
