Bax: The Garden of Fand - CD

This BARBIROLLI ENGLISH MUSIC ALBUM contains something of a scoop in that the recording of Elgar’s Enigma Variations was made on 12 May 1947, the first time Barbirolli recorded the work. For some undiscoverable reason, the discs were never issued and the work was re-recorded on 23 October of the same year (also issued on CD by the Barbirolli Society on SJB1017). His affection for this inexhaustible masterpiece shone through every performance of it he gave as he gloried in the piquancy of the illustration of Elgar’s “friends pictured within” — and he liked to remind Michael Kennedy that the Variations and JB were born in the same year, 1899. Elgar’s genius was to weld his series of vignettes into a large-scale composite portrait — of himself. This gift for writing a miniature which was a microcosm of a big work is illustrated also in the second (the exquisite Lullaby) of the Three Bavarian Dances, a previously unpublished take, recorded on 30 May 1947.

There can be few, if any, musicians who have singlehandedly done so much in the establishment of resources for musical performance than Sir Thomas Beecham.

During WWI he conducted and supported financially both the Hallé and London Symphony Orchestras and the Royal Philharmonic Society. In 1915 he formed the Beecham Opera Company which trained many young British singers in this field. Eight years later this became the British National Opera Company and was absorbed into Covent Garden in 1932 when Beecham returned to be its Musical Director.

To quote David Cairns “We are nationally and individually a more musically aware people because of him and what he gave us”. A forceful statement, true, but whose life could ever challenge it?

Dissatisfied by conditions and practices, notably the supply of deputies for rehearsals, prevalent in British orchestras, he formed the London Philharmonic Orchestra that same year. Beecham was now able to be at the fulcrum of all developments in music in Britain. WWII put an end to this halcyon period. With Covent Garden shut he travelled, primarily in America, and did not return to Britain until 1944. The London Philharmonic had now become a self-governing body so Beecham, then aged 67, launched the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This was the orchestra with which he committed to disc so many classic recordings with which EMI Classics marks the 50th anniversary of his passing.

It is true that Beecham had particular favourites in composers – Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Berlioz, Bizet and Puccini spring immediately to mind; also his love for Handel – even though his performances were always BIG-scale! He was an early champion of Richard Strauss and became a most effective exponent of Sibelius. His name will always be inextricably linked with that of Delius whose music Beecham seemed to know better even than the composer and it is appropriate that they are buried not far apart in the graveyard at St. Peter’s Parish Church, Limpsfield, Surrey.

He was knighted in 1916, the year he succeeded to his father’s baronetcy, and made a Companion of Honour in 1957.This affable, brilliant, usually charming, ever-communicative, quick-witted – even, at times, to the point of cruelty, dedicated conductor was also the most gifted executive musician England has ever produced.

He was fortunate that his grandfather, a chemist, had created the highly successful pharmaceutical manufacturing business which bore his name. His father, who had started in the company whilst still a teenager, was also fond of music so he was prepared to fund his son’s enthusiastic appetite to attend operas and concerts both here and abroad.

Born on 29th April 1879 in St. Helens, he attended public school at Rossall where his talent at the piano became a legend (the only boy ever to have been allowed a grand piano in his study!). From there he briefly attended Oxford (Wadham) but the composition classes, with Charles Wood in London and Moszkowski in Paris, were funded privately. As a conductor he was purely self-taught.

He formed an orchestra in his home town and deputised for Richter at a Hallé concert when his father was mayor. His career path was clear: he would use his financial resources to support the art which he enjoyed with the aim of bringing it to as many as possible.

At the age of 30 he launched the Beecham Symphony Orchestra, all young and carefully chosen. They would tour, play for opera and ballet and give concerts of adventurous music. London duly welcomed him for a season of intensive opera performances and over the next three years introduced many new ones to British audiences, including by Strauss, Delius and the Russians. He also brought Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes starring Nijinsky and Karsavina to the British stage.

Sir John was born in Holborn, London, on 2 December 1899. His father and grandfather were both professional violinists who had settled in London from Italy and were employed in theatre orchestras around the West End. They had also been members of the orchestra at La Scala Opera House in Milan and had played under Arturo Toscanini. Barbirolli's mother came from a town on the Atlantic coast in the south-west of France.

The EMI Classics catalogue of recordings includes many unique treasures by most of the great musicians of the 20th century, but few are greater than those made for the Company by Sir John. This set not only includes some of the truly incomparable interpretations he made for EMI but also some he made during the period he was with Pye. Many of these are with his beloved Hallé Orchestra, the orchestra with which he became most closely associated during the last 30 years of his life.

Barbirolli had an enormous love of English music and was one of its greatest exponents. More than any other conductor he revived the public's affection for the music of Elgar back in the 60s, when EMI issued his irreplaceable Elgar recordings, virtually all of which have never been out of the catalogue.

Perhaps the best-known of Barbirolli's Elgar recordings is that of the Cello Concerto with the young Jacqueline du Pré. In this set we have taken the opportunity to re-issue the earlier recording of the Concerto with André Navarra. This is a marvellous performance that has largely been over-shadowed by the du Pré, but it is no less excellent and deserving of wider appreciation.

The music of Delius was another of Barbirolli's great loves and his recordings rival those by Beecham, who was regarded as Delius's prime advocate. Here we have two works by Delius: the beautiful orchestral interlude from the opera A Village

Romeo and Juliet and one of his longer tone poems. Barbirolli's final recording was of music by Delius, made in the month of his death.

Vaughan Williams's music had a prominent place in Barbirolli's repertoire and, being a Londoner, the London Symphony had a very special place in Sir John's affections. His excellent 1957 Pye recording with the Hallé Orchestra is featured here. Barbirolli made the first ever recording of the Fifth Symphony for EMI in 1944 and it was this 1962 Philharmoniarecording that marked his return to EMI, after a seven year period of recording for Pye.

As well as these three great English composers we also have music by Bax, Butterworth and Ireland, whose music was also very close to Sir John's heart. The recordings of Bax's The Garden of Fand and Butterworth's A Shropshire Lad are being released on CD for the first time.

English music was not the only great love of Sir John's life. From early in his career he championed the music of Sibelius and recorded some of its greatest interpretations. His 1962 recording of the Second Symphony, made with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Reader's Digest, has still to be surpassed, and the Violin Concerto he did with Ida Haendel for EMI is still among the best. Sibelius is here represented with a selection of short orchestral pieces, most notable amongst which is a stunning performance of Pohjola's Daughter. French music, too, was another musical genre in which Sir John excelled and the recordings he made for Pye in the late 50s received rave reviews when they were first issued.

In the mid-sixties EMI went with Sir John to Vienna to record a very successful cycle of Brahms's Symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The recordings were singled out not only for the quality of the orchestral playing but also for the excellent quality of the recorded sound; this version of No.3 was reckoned to be the best of the interpretations.

Tchaikovsky is not a composer one necessarily associates with Barbirolli but the 1957 recording of Symphony No.4 that he made with the Hallé is an exceptionally exciting performance. The 1964 recording of the popular Serenade for Strings, made with the London Symphony Orchestra, is extremely fine with an exquisite third movement.

Barbirolli came late to the music of Mahler and it was not until he was in his sixties that he made the first of only a handful of marvellous recordings. He made this recording of the Fifth, and the Five Rückert Lieder with Janet Baker and the NewPhilharmonia, just a year before he died.

Throughout his life Sir John loved to conduct operas, especially those by Verdi and Puccini, and it is only fitting that we should include on the final disc of this set some excerpts from one of the finest Butterfly recordings ever made.