Havergal Brian: Orchestral Music Volume 2: Music from the Operas

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[Walker's] affinity with the idiom and his attention to detail are their own justification...[he] is mindful to bind the Turandot sequence into a cohesive whole and secures playing from the BBC... — International Record Review, February 2012 More…

Release Date: 5th Dec 2011
Catalogue No: TOCC0113
Label: Toccata Classics
Length: 70 minutes

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Brian: Symphonic Variations on ‘Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?’

Work length12:15

$9.00

$11.70

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Garry Walker

Molto Allegro e con brio -

Track length0:46

$1.00

$1.30

Allegro spiritoso – Più Lento – espressivo molto -

Track length1:08

$1.00

$1.30

Allegro spiritoso -

Track length1:06

$1.00

$1.30

Pomposo e Grave –

Track length0:54

$1.00

$1.30

Allegro Moderato –

Track length0:48

$1.00

$1.30

Andante quasi Lento –

Track length1:38

$1.00

$1.30

Lento –

Track length3:44

$1.00

$1.30

Allegro molto –

Track length0:38

$1.00

$1.30

Allegro molto

Track length1:33

$1.00

$1.30

Brian: 3 Pieces from Turandot

Work length17:17

$4.00

$5.20

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Garry Walker

No. 1, Andante moderato

Track length6:54

$1.00

$1.30

No. 2, Allegro molto

Track length8:40

$2.00

$2.60

No. 3, Allegro vivo

Track length1:43

$1.00

$1.30

Brian: Faust

Work length5:21

$1.00

$1.30

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Garry Walker

Night ride of Faust and Mephistopheles

Track length5:21

$1.00

$1.30

Brian: The Cenci

Work length13:42

$3.00

$3.85

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Garry Walker

Preludio tragico

Track length13:42

$3.00

$3.85

Brian: Turandot Suite

Work length22:07

$6.00

$7.80

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Garry Walker

I. At the Court of the Emperor Altoum (Arr. M. MacDonald for orchestra)

Track length5:01

$1.00

$1.30

II. Minuet: Launisch (Arr. M. MacDonald for orchestra)

Track length1:48

$1.00

$1.30

III. Entrance of Princess Turandot and her Retinue (Arr. M. MacDonald for orchestra)

Track length4:16

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Nocturne (Arr. M. MacDonald for orchestra)

Track length2:04

$1.00

$1.30

V. To the Divan! (Arr. M. MacDonald for orchestra)

Track length4:32

$1.00

$1.30

VI. Lugubre-Marsch (Arr. M. MacDonald for orchestra)

Track length4:26

$1.00

$1.30

About
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About

The long-neglected British composer Havergal Brian (1876–1972) is gradually coming in from the cold, with recordings on Naxos, Dutton, Testament and now Toccata Classics.

Self-taught, from a working-class family in Stoke-on Trent, he shot to fame when Henry Wood discovered him for the 1907 Proms; but he remained an outsider to the British musical establishment, and is as much known for his creative persistence in the face of utter neglect as for the extremely serious and ambitious works that he produced.

His copious output famously includes 32 symphonies, begun when he was in his mid-forties and continued at a constant rate well into his 90s. The first of these works, the famous Gothic Symphony, was performed at the Proms this summer.

Not so well know is the fact that Brian also composed five operas, none of which has as yet been professionally staged. These works contain much impressive orchestral music, and this CD presents orchestral movements from four of them.

The Symphonic Variations on ‘Has Anybody here Seen Kelly?’ from Brian’s anti-war satire The Tigers takes the famous music-hall song and puts it through kaleidoscopic symphonic development.

The most generous selection of music here comes from Brian’s opera Turandot (a third version, to set alongside Puccini’s and Busoni’s): the Three Pieces Brian himself excerpted and the Turandot Suite prepared by the Brian expert Malcolm MacDonald, who also provides the extensive booklet notes.

Reviews

February 2012

[Walker's] affinity with the idiom and his attention to detail are their own justification...[he] is mindful to bind the Turandot sequence into a cohesive whole and secures playing from the BBC Scottish Symphony that - for the most part - makes light of Brian's orchestral demands.

17th November 2011

It's substantial stuff by any standards...As so often with Brian, the quality of [the] orchestral music is very hit and miss, with occasional striking ideas interspersed with longer passages that are rather generic. It is nevertheless a useful collection, very well played by the BBC Scottish Symphony under Garry Walker.

Havergal Brian: Orchestral Music Volume 2

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