The First Night of the Proms 1943

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One would now be surprised to find such a first-half sequence as Bax’s London Pageant, Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No 2, a Handel aria and Beethoven’s Fifth,... — Sunday Times, 20th July 2008, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 14th Jul 2008
Catalogue No: SOMMCD076
Label: Somm
Series: Céleste
Length: 77 minutes

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na Not Applicable: Radio Broadcast Introduction I

Work length2:51

$1.00

$1.30

Stuart Hibberd

anon.: Great Britain (God Save the King, "God save our gracious King …")

Work length1:06

$1.00

$1.30

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Henry Wood

Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Work length11:43

$3.00

$3.85

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Henry Wood

na Not Applicable: Radio Broadcast Introduction II

Work length0:18

$1.00

$1.30

Stuart Hibberd

Excerpt, Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22

Work length17:42

$4.00

$5.15

Dame Moura Lympany
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Henry Wood

I. Andante sostenuto

Track length11:07

$3.00

$3.85

III. Presto

Track length6:35

$1.00

$1.30

Handel: Acis and Galatea, HWV 49, Act I

Work length7:27

$2.00

$2.60

Heddle Nash
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Henry Wood

Love in Her Eyes Sits Playing

Track length7:27

$2.00

$2.60

Excerpt, Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

Work length6:40

$1.00

$1.30

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Henry Wood

I. Allegro con brio

Track length6:40

$1.00

$1.30

Lamar Stringfield: A Negro Parade

Work length9:29

$2.00

$2.60

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Henry Wood

Excerpt, Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 3 in G major, Op.55

Work length19:58

$4.00

$5.15

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Henry Wood

Theme and Variations

Track length19:58

$4.00

$5.15

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A valuable new addition to the SOMM catalogue is the premier CD release, this month, of a BBC broadcast of the first night of the 1943 Proms Season.

Sir Henry Wood was the first, and for decades the only conductor of The Proms from their very beginning, in August 1895 A musician of tremendous dynamism and enterprise he conducted between 1889 and 1944, the world or British premières of no fewer than 716 works by 356 composers. As it happened, 1943 was to be the last complete Proms season under his direction. On June 10th 1944 he conducted at what was to be his final Proms First Night – but the first half only; ill-health was taking its toll, and he died after a short illness on August 19th 1944.

The complete, and by today’s standards very long programme for the 1943 First Night was:- Bax: London Pageant; Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice; Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 (with the brilliant 27-year old pianist Moura Lympany, a firm favourite of Sir Henry’s and of Proms audiences judging by the deafening applause which breaks out even before the end of her performance); Handel: Love in her eyes sits playing, from Acis and Galatea with the well-loved tenor Heddle Nash; Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 – Interval – Lamar Stringfield: Negro Parade (first performance in Britain); Tchaikovsky: Theme and Variations from Suite No. 3.

Despite the survival of most of the broadcast of this concert, it has not proved possible to obtain all the items performed on that First Night and the following have not been included on this CD: Bax’s London Pageant. The second movement of the Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 and the second, third and fourth movements of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. However, this surviving broadcast vividly conveys the frisson of that First Proms Night. It’s also a rare and valuable document and, we hope, a fitting tribute to one of England’s greatest musicians and musical pioneers.

A very special release at this time of the year from Somm. A live recording of a concert given at the Royal Albert Hall on 19th June 1943.

Reviews

20th July 2008

One would now be surprised to find such a first-half sequence as Bax’s London Pageant, Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No 2, a Handel aria and Beethoven’s Fifth, though former approaches to programming are being revisited this season. The bittiness is compounded by the fact that only two Saint-Saëns movements survive, and one Beethoven (the Bax not at all). There is a pitch sag early in the concerto, but Moura Lympany’s account is enjoyable. Heddle Nash is the delightfully “period” tenor.

19th July 2008

A young Moura Lympany gives a vivacious account of Saint-Saëns's Second Piano Concerto (although the central scherzo is missing from this off-air recording, and the pitch drops in the first movement); and the prized tenor Heddle Nash sings Handel. Dukas, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and an oddity in the shape of Lamar Stringfield's A Negro Parade complete an intriguing glimpse into a piece of Proms history.

Offer,The First Night of the Proms 1943

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