Tippett symphonies by The BBCSSO...

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes, I think I agree, though a close thing between the 4th and 2nd. I certainly wouldn't be taking any Hickox Tippett with me , though.

I have a splendid off-air of Rattle and the CBSO in the 4th...would be great if he could revisit with the LSO.

I'll grant you Colin Davis' greater incisiveness in some of the quicker parts of Symphonies 1 & 2, but Hickox's more realistic, spacious and expansive view compensates with its wide-ranging colours and transparency, especially advantageous in the slow movements, and part one of No.3. One was so grateful for a different view (and the gorgeous Chandos sonics) when they appeared. In No.4 I soon came to have a clear preference for this sound and approach over the more intense, more driven Solti. The Bournemouth Symphony play beautifully throughout.

As for Child of Our Time and the Piano Concerto (with Howard Shelley) , if I took any Tippett to a Paradise Island with a Rose Lagoon, Hickox' recordings would certainly be on the list...

Just comparing the openings of No.2 again, Hickox/Davis/Brabbins - the new Hyperion is absolutely on a par with the Decca for incisive articulation, but the new recording gains from its fuller, weightier, more colourful sound and sheer presence....Hickox seems initially underplayed, but creeps back up on you later on with sonic and musical subtleties. Very strong in the last 2 movements of NO.1 as well.

[Bryn]

So how about the 4th as perfronced by the Russian State Philharmonic under Rozhdestvensky? This was broadcast twice during Through the Night in 2015. I was rather taken with it at the time.

[BBMmk2]

I think i will wait for the rest of this particular Tippett cycle is completed, before I rush into it! Has to be better than Hickox or C Davis?

[Bryn]

One thing I find annoying re. Radio 3 broadcasts of the series is that I can find no accurate reference to a broadcast of the 2nd with the BBCSSO/Brabbins. A Barbican performance by the BBCSO/Brabbins performance was broadcast a couple of years or so back but a search using Google find only the Radio 3 in Concert recording broadcast last February which advertised the 2nd but actually had the 1st. Does anyone here know any better?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think i will wait for the rest of this particular Tippett cycle is completed, before I rush into it! Has to be better than Hickox or C Davis?

In the meantime, you might like to hear the Live Fourth from Monday night's concert, Bbm:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09nnrbt

... starts at 1hr 17mins in, (for anyone who wishes to miss the Mozart).

[BBMmk2]

In the meantime, you might like to hear the Live Fourth from Monday night's concert, Bbm:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09nnrbt

... starts at 1hr 17mins in, (for anyone who wishes to miss the Mozart).

Love the Mozart pun, Ferney! (1hr 17minutes?)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

(1hr 17minutes?)

NO!!!!! The Symphony starts at the 1hr 17min point in the concert (after the chatter, Debussy, Mozart, and interval Music) - the performance lasts just under 36 minutes.

[silvestrione]

For me, if you compare Hickox and Davis in the first movement of the 2nd, Hickox and his orchestra have no feel for it, for the idiom, e.g. in the Davis, the contrast between the first group and the second group (which is surely at the heart of the movement and what makes it symphonic, gives it an 'argument') is just right, the first pounding, rhythmic, driving forward, the second weightless, floating, almost unmeasured...Davis gets this just right (as does Knussen in his live performances of this piece). Hickox and BSO just sound disoriented and confused.

I was never so impressed with the playing of BSO in the 4th as JLW, but I still have that disc and will have another listen. I've always loved the Solti, and my above-mentioned off-air Rattle.

[HighlandDougie]

I listened to the performance of Tippett's Fourth Symphony from the City Halls in Glasgow last night given by the BBCSSO conducted by Martin Brabbins. I couldn't help think that the broadcast quality was so much better than Hyperion's recent recording from the same forces which, to my ears, sounded constricted and distant. Not a patch on Sir Colin Davis' recording on DECCA with the LSO.

Does anyone else have an opinion?

I've finally got round to downloading as Hi-Res files from Hyperion the first and second (and have been listening to the broadcast fourth, too, as well as an off-air recording of the third). I know what PG means about the broadcast sounding better, although I'm pretty impressed with the downloads. Jayne LW's comments about the quality of the recording strike me as pretty much bang on - and it's their sheer quality which reveals the limitations of the City Halls acoustical properties, especially in relation to the violins. I also much like the performances - more reflective, perhaps, than Davis but no less dynamic in, say, the first movement of the second, where, as Silvestrione rightly points out, Hickox doesn't seem to have much clue about the structure or direction of the music. As the likelihood of there being another new recorded Tippett cycle in the next quarter of a century is, frankly, zilch, I don't feel like nit-picking about this or that (or wishing that they had chosen the Henry Wood Hall - alas the preserve of the RSNO) but, rather, can only feel glad that Hyperion, the BBC (and John Grimshaw, whoever he might be) have invested time and money in this new cycle.

[CGR]

I enjoyed the broadcasts and they have sent me back to my CD collection for more Tippett. In particular the String Quartets and also I was struck by the quality of his solo guitar music. I went through a phase on Tippet about 20+ years ago.

I can remember a period when R3 played a huge amount of Tippett and I recorded a lot of it onto tape. Wonderful stuff -though his later music could be rather odd.

[BBMmk2]

For me, if you compare Hickox and Davis in the first movement of the 2nd, Hickox and his orchestra have no feel for it, for the idiom, e.g. in the Davis, the contrast between the first group and the second group (which is surely at the heart of the movement and what makes it symphonic, gives it an 'argument') is just right, the first pounding, rhythmic, driving forward, the second weightless, floating, almost unmeasured...Davis gets this just right (as does Knussen in his live performances of this piece). Hickox and BSO just sound disoriented and confused.

I was never so impressed with the playing of BSO in the 4th as JLW, but I still have that disc and will have another listen. I've always loved the Solti, and my above-mentioned off-air Rattle.

Interesting! I have the other way round!

[jayne lee wilson]

One thing I find annoying re. Radio 3 broadcasts of the series is that I can find no accurate reference to a broadcast of the 2nd with the BBCSSO/Brabbins. A Barbican performance by the BBCSO/Brabbins performance was broadcast a couple of years or so back but a search using Google find only the Radio 3 in Concert recording broadcast last February which advertised the 2nd but actually had the 1st. Does anyone here know any better?

I guess this is the 2013 Barbican Concert you recall...?

https://bachtrack.com/review-barbican-bbc-so-brabbins-simpson-tippett-2?destination=%2Fcomposer%2Fmark-simpson

You jogged my memory..... I'm sure I reviewed a Proms Tippett 2 on here.... maybe these performers took it on to the RAH that year.... ? I'll have a look, but I didn't always save everything back then.

EDIT....Turned out it was Knussen....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ehb9rz

[Bryn]

Only a few minutes to go until we get a chance to hear the early symphony.

[pastoralguy]

Well, it's difficult to give an opinion on one hearing but, imho, there WAS a lot of Sibelius in it which is hardly surprising but it still had plenty of Tippett in it. A good symphony but definitely not a great symphony. Will it gain a foothold in the repertoire?

[Boilk]

Will it gain a foothold in the repertoire?

Certainly not, it will remain unpublished and in any case would have to compete with 4 better symphonies by this composer ...and 11 worse symphonies by Philip Glass.