Benjamin Britten, masquerading as George Malcolm ,goes into hiding.

[Bryn]

Last night's (recorded) Radio 3 in Concert slot was topped off with Britten's Spring Symphony, the Decca recording conducted by the composer. However, that's not as it was announced. Instead, the role of conductor was attributed to George Malcolm (the conductor or the other works on the CD which currently hold the relevant recording of Spring Symphony). I wonder if that is why there is no mention of the the spinning of Spring Symphony in the online schedule.

Great concert from the BBCSSO and Ilan Volkov, by the way. Kate Molleson did a fine job of presenting it and interviewing Ilan Volkov, too.

[smittims]

I love slip-ups of that sort, my favourite being from the Radio Times:

'.
Mozart piano concerto no.22 in E flat, K482: Sviatoslav Richter, piano, with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer'.

Would that it were so!

(the 'composer' in question was, of course Benjamin Britten).

[Serial_Apologist]

I love slip-ups of that sort, my favourite being from the Radio Times:

'.
Mozart piano concerto no.22 in E flat, K482: Sviatoslav Richter, piano, with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer'.

Would that it were so!

(the 'composer' in question was, of course Benjamin Britten).

I rather enjoyed this Radio Times misprint, from yesterday's Radio 3 in Concert:

Xenakis Altrées Debussy: Jeux

I rather think Yanni would have been tickled by that one!

[Lordgeous]

Just for the record (!) George Malcolm conducted the (superb) Decca recording of Britten's Cantata Academica. Anybody know why Britten didn't?

[Pulcinella]

Just for the record (!) George Malcolm conducted the (superb) Decca recording of Britten's Cantata Academica. Anybody know why Britten didn't?

Good question: I've often wondered that.
Not a piece that's been much recorded (or performed?): too 'academic'?
I rather like it.

PS: Can a kind host please correct Bryn's typo in the thread title?

[smittims]

One possible reason why Britten didn't conduct the Cantata Accademica recording was his Bursitis, a painful condition affecting the arm. When affected he had to choose which activities to drop and which to continue. As a regular pianist and conductor this involved various decisions. One result, not well-known, is that the famous Decca 'Peter Grimes ' record was rehearsed by Reginald Goodall . Malcolm I think had trained the choir and recorded the 'Missa Brevis' so he was an obvious choice to stand in for the Cantata.

[Lordgeous]

Wouldn't Goodall have been more obvious then? Malcolm, although more widely known for his harpsichord playing did conduct regularily at Aldeburgh, even sharing the first performances of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' with Britten. I knew George Malcolm well but I never thought to ask about the Cantata Acadenica. Wouldn't Britten have at least supervised the recording? Did he attend? I don't recall anything in the various Britten books about this.

[smittims]

Sorry I don't have any facts . I think Bursitis was one reason why Britten never ventured a solo piano career, for which he was otherwise well suited. I expect he played the Schubert Impromptus etc, in private.

[Barbirollians]

Wouldn't Goodall have been more obvious then? Malcolm, although more widely known for his harpsichord playing did conduct regularily at Aldeburgh, even sharing the first performances of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' with Britten. I knew George Malcolm well but I never thought to ask about the Cantata Acadenica. Wouldn't Britten have at least supervised the recording? Did he attend? I don't recall anything in the various Britten books about this.

I suspect record company choice. They obviously did't want the piece to take three hours.

More seriously, there was a long gap between Peter Grimes and Cantata Academica and Goodall may have been out of favour by then.

[Bryn]

I suspect record company choice. They obviously did't want the piece to take three hours.

More seriously, there was a long gap between Peter Grimes and Cantata Academica and Goodall may have been out of favour by then.

I find it rather more than a little strange that Britten, with his pacifist outlook, should have let the fascist Goodall anywhere near his work. By the way, when was Goodall awarded his CBE status?

[ahinton]

I find it rather more than a little strange that Britten, with his pacifist outlook, should have let the fascist Goodall anywhere near his work. By the way, when was Goodall awarded his CBE status?

1975, and his knighthood a decade later. In terms of what blighted his reputation, he seems to have been something of a conductorial equivalent of Florent Schmitt...

[Pulcinella]

Do we know what prompted the recording?
It seems first to have appeared in a George Malcolm compilation, on L'Oiseau Lyre:

https://www.discogs.com/master/680168-Britten-Jennifer-Vyvyan-Peter-Pears-Helen-Watts-Owen-Brannigan-Cantata-Academica

[Barbirollians]

I find it rather more than a little strange that Britten, with his pacifist outlook, should have let the fascist Goodall anywhere near his work. By the way, when was Goodall awarded his CBE status?

Yes it is strange - I wonder how well known were his fascist sympathies straight after the war? It may be that like in Humphrey Burton's documentary and indeed Alan Blyth's Gramophone article they were just not mentioned.

[Barbirollians]

1975, and his knighthood a decade later. In terms of what blighted his reputation, he seems to have been something of a conductorial equivalent of Florent Schmitt...

Difficult to imagine he would have received either if his fascism had been widely known about and a fuss been caused.

[Bryn]

Yes it is strange - I wonder how well known were his fascist sympathies straight after the war? It may be that like in Humphrey Burton's documentary and indeed Alan Blyth's Gramophone article they were just not mentioned.

From his Wikipedia entry:

Fascism and Holocaust denials

Passionate about all things German, in the 1930s Goodall openly sympathised with the Nazi regime, which he perceived as a defender of Germanic cultural traditions.[7] Goodall also actively supported Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, and he eventually joined the party just five days after Britain's declaration of war on Germany. He maintained his outspoken pro-Nazi views during World War II, the uninhibited expression of which once led him to be briefly questioned by the police.[8] Goodall was known to refer to the Holocaust as a "BBC Jewish plot".[7]

[7] Pryce-Jones, David (2013). Treason of the Heart: From Thomas Paine to Kim Philby. New York: Encounter Books. p.170. ISBN978-1594035289.

[8] Lucas, John (1993). Reggie: The Life of Reginald Goodall. MacRae. pp.133–139. ISBN978-1-85681-051-7. pp. 49–57