It's been some time since we have had a classical LP appear here. This one features two 20th century composers, one familiar, the other less so.
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| Boyd Neel |
The popularity of Gustav Holst's "The Planets" almost eclipses his other works, but most of his music is of considerable interest. The St. Paul's Suite is a very attractive folk-derived work named for the girls' school where the composer taught. Here it is well performed by Boyd Neel and his orchestra, which made many records for English Decca at mid-century.
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| Grace Williams |
To me, the real interest is in Grace Williams' lovely Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes, from 1940. This, the first recording of any music by the Welsh composer, is from October 1948. It was made for the Welsh Recorded Music Society and issued on 78 in 1949. It then was reissued with the Holst on 10-inch LP in 1951.
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| Mansel Thomas |
Mansel Thomas, a notable figure in Welsh musical life, conducted the Fantasia. He was at this time the director of the BBC Welsh Orchestra, although here he leads the London Symphony.
The sound is adequate. The download includes contemporary reviews from
The Gramophone.
15 comments:
Buster, how wonderful! How do you always manage to supply just what I l like to hear, no matter how eclectic?
JAC - Shared splendid taste!
I can only concur with JAC - I've had the Grace Williams at the back of my mind for a long time and not got round to doing anything about it.
A really excellent ffrr recording, and beautifully transferred. Thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The Grace Williams is a superb piece of music, which I haven't heard since I misplaced a Carillion LP of her works during a move some time back.I'm not sure how you manage to have such eclectic luck in picking posts, but long may it continue, and many thanks again
Great stuff Buster
Just for your information Holst recorded at Hampstead Studios matrix nos. AR13176-79 on 1 Feb 1949 (AR13179 recorded 8 Mar 1949 and re-made 27 Jan 1950 for the UK LP issue); William recorded at Kingsway Hall matrix nos AR12796-98 on 6 Oct 1948.
Jols
Thanks Jols! Most welcome info (which I couldn't find!).
First time I've ever seen your website.
The Grace Williams piece is really nice and enjoyable. The sound is quaint, but good. I like it.
Thank you
Bob
Any chance of a re up? THanks
OK, assuming I can find the files.
Remastered version (Apple lossless):
https://mega.nz/#!DJ1X0QpC!4RKC23_ejMd96bz5DgTWURJqXYUHCY0LP3Vhju2AlUM
Splendid! Here's my reverse treat: the obscure Swiss conductor Cedric Dumont directing the Boyd Neel Orchestra in superb performances of an orchestration of some Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes; Dvorak's exquisite Nocturne; Grieg's In Popular Style Op63 Nr1; and Elgar's charming Serenade in E. This is from a c.1958 Epic mono LP (never issued in stereo) sourced originally by Philips. Some other Dumont items were also issued, with this ensemble, in Europe on 45s and Lps.
Discogs page on Dumont:
https://www.discogs.com/artist/978314-Cedric-Dumont
File expires -- alas -- in only 30 days as I'm not using any registration. Oh, BTW: it's my own transfer, done in minimalist purist manner, and my copy was MINT.
https://www8.zippyshare.com/v/P84tXrVb/file.html
(71 MB, mp3s zipped)
8H Haggis
I've heard the name Cedric Dumont, but don't think I have ever encountered a recording. Thanks!
Here is one of the most obscure Boyd Neel recordings! I believe it may date from either just before, or just after, WW2 (probably the latter.) It is the Sixth Symphony by Asger Hamerik -- more on this Danish composer here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asger_Hamerik
Apparently it has been issued on CD in a Danacord set; but this transfer was pieced together by me, from uploads of the raw, unjoined, uncorrected 78 sides on a European archive. When I put them together the way they were labelled, about a decade ago, the symphony's structure simply *made no sense at all*. I was convinced that the labels were wrong, and corrected the order to the manner I'd decided was right--and when I eventually heard a modern cpo CD of another performance, this confirmed my supposition EXACTLY.
(I hope the Danacord is OK!)
https://www106.zippyshare.com/v/aAv0x2vj/file.html
(18 MB, from edited/joined 78s onto mp3)
Limited availability; expires around 8/23/18
8H Haggis
Thank you, Buster, for this relic of the Decca/London discography. The Dumont led recording, for those of us who got to the party late, is available from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/serenadeineminor00elga. There are about 100 78rpm sides collected there, some of which may be duplicates.
Addison - Thanks so much for the link! I will check out the 78s.
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