ICON box- Sir Malcolm Sargent - the great recordings

[Barbirollians]

Bax:
Morning Song (Maytime in Sussex)
Beethoven:
Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 'Eroica'
Bliss:
Piano Concerto in B flat major
Britten:
Simple Symphony, Op. 4
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34
Coleridge-Taylor:
Hiawatha's Wedding Feast
Delius:
A Song before sunrise
Songs of Farewell
Elgar:
Enigma Variations, Op. 36
Serenade for Strings in E minor, Op. 20
The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38
German:
Henry VIII – Incidental music
Nell Gwyn: suite
Grieg:
Lyric Suite, Op. 54
Handel:
Messiah
Holst:
St Paul's Suite, Op. 29 No. 2
The Perfect Fool, Op. 39/H 150: Ballet Music
Beni Mora, Op. 29 No. 1
The Planets, Op. 32
Mendelssohn:
Elijah, Op. 70
Rossini:
La Boutique fantasque
Rubbra:
Piano Concerto in G, Op. 55
Schubert:
Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D759 'Unfinished'
Sibelius:
Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39
Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 82
Pohjola's Daughter, Op. 49
Finlandia, Op. 26
En Saga, Op. 9
Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22: The Swan of Tuonela (No. 2)
Karelia Suite, Op. 11
Smetana:
The Bartered Bride Overture
Má Vlast
Vaughan Williams:
The Wasps Overture
Fantasia on Greensleeves
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Serenade to Music
Toward the Unknown Region
Romanza
Walton:
Belshazzar's Feast
Façade (excerpts)
Symphony No. 1 in B flat minor
Warlock:
Capriol Suite


I have to admit to that apart from his magnificent Dream of Gerontius to only knowing Sargent's shorter Sibelius recordings with the VPO ( jolly good they are too ), Delius's Songs of farewell and the Coleridge Taylor and Messiah from this box. I am pretty sure my grandparents owned his Enigma Variations but I have a vague feeling they were on a Decca album so perhaps he recorded them twice . Looks a wide ranging box and as he was such a renowned accompanist in concertos I assume the Bliss and Rubbra have been included for their rarity value . If not his Dvorak and Elgar Cello Concerto recordings with Tortelier would have made splendid additions .

Yet another tempting box .

[richardfinegold]

Bax:
Morning Song (Maytime in Sussex)
Beethoven:
Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 'Eroica'
Bliss:
Piano Concerto in B flat major
Britten:
Simple Symphony, Op. 4
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34
Coleridge-Taylor:
Hiawatha's Wedding Feast
Delius:
A Song before sunrise
Songs of Farewell
Elgar:
Enigma Variations, Op. 36
Serenade for Strings in E minor, Op. 20
The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38
German:
Henry VIII – Incidental music
Nell Gwyn: suite
Grieg:
Lyric Suite, Op. 54
Handel:
Messiah
Holst:
St Paul's Suite, Op. 29 No. 2
The Perfect Fool, Op. 39/H 150: Ballet Music
Beni Mora, Op. 29 No. 1
The Planets, Op. 32
Mendelssohn:
Elijah, Op. 70
Rossini:
La Boutique fantasque
Rubbra:
Piano Concerto in G, Op. 55
Schubert:
Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D759 'Unfinished'
Sibelius:
Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39
Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 82
Pohjola's Daughter, Op. 49
Finlandia, Op. 26
En Saga, Op. 9
Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22: The Swan of Tuonela (No. 2)
Karelia Suite, Op. 11
Smetana:
The Bartered Bride Overture
Má Vlast
Vaughan Williams:
The Wasps Overture
Fantasia on Greensleeves
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Serenade to Music
Toward the Unknown Region
Romanza
Walton:
Belshazzar's Feast
Façade (excerpts)
Symphony No. 1 in B flat minor
Warlock:
Capriol Suite


I have to admit to that apart from his magnificent Dream of Gerontius to only knowing Sargent's shorter Sibelius recordings with the VPO ( jolly good they are too ), Delius's Songs of farewell and the Coleridge Taylor and Messiah from this box. I am pretty sure my grandparents owned his Enigma Variations but I have a vague feeling they were on a Decca album so perhaps he recorded them twice . Looks a wide ranging box and as he was such a renowned accompanist in concertos I assume the Bliss and Rubbra have been included for their rarity value . If not his Dvorak and Elgar Cello Concerto recordings with Tortelier would have made splendid additions .

Yet another tempting box .

Classic Record Collector current edition features an article on Sargent. Nowhere do they mention his nickname, "Flash Harry". Was it Beecham that so dubbed him?

[Barbirollians]

Classic Record Collector current edition features an article on Sargent. Nowhere do they mention his nickname, "Flash Harry". Was it Beecham that so dubbed him?

Salymap would know as I think she knew Sir M well and is an admirer of his conducting.

[HighlandDougie]

I am pretty sure my grandparents owned his Enigma Variations but I have a vague feeling they were on a Decca album so perhaps he recorded them twice .

If I may be forgiven a bit of anorakery, yes, Sargent recorded the Enigma Variations for Decca with the LSO in 1953 - available later as Ace of Clubs ACL 55. His HMV recording was one of the first issues on HMV Concert Classics, which issued new recordings in mono and stereo at what in those days was bargain price. The "newness" and the stereo versions set them apart from Ace of Clubs which were reissues and in mono. I just about remember my father buying a stereo record player and I think that the Sargent Elgar/V-W issue was the first LP he bought. As full-price LPs were an extravagance which he couldn't really afford, much of my introduction to recorded music came through such bargain releases (Colin Davis's Mozart; Kletzki's Scheherezade etc etc). I'm not quite sure why Malcolm Sargent was relegated to the bargain label in 1959 but I'm glad that it's being made available again in what I assume will be re-mastered sound.

[Barbirollians]

If I may be forgiven a bit of anorakery, yes, Sargent recorded the Enigma Variations for Decca with the LSO in 1953 - available later as Ace of Clubs ACL 55. His HMV recording was one of the first issues on HMV Concert Classics, which issued new recordings in mono and stereo at what in those days was bargain price. The "newness" and the stereo versions set them apart from Ace of Clubs which were reissues and in mono. I just about remember my father buying a stereo record player and I think that the Sargent Elgar/V-W issue was the first LP he bought. As full-price LPs were an extravagance which he couldn't really afford, much of my introduction to recorded music came through such bargain releases (Colin Davis's Mozart; Kletzki's Scheherezade etc etc). I'm not quite sure why Malcolm Sargent was relegated to the bargain label in 1959 but I'm glad that it's being made available again in what I assume will be re-mastered sound.

Did he record the Tallis Fantasia too for Decca . I am pretty sure that was on side 2 and my grandparents were not particularly fans of it . I soon was !

[PJPJ]

...... his Dvorak and Elgar Cello Concerto recordings with Tortelier would have made splendid additions

Seems to me crass omissions - is there a policy for not including concertos?

[cloughie]

Seems to me crass omissions - is there a policy for not including concertos?

I agree and the omission of his BBCSO Sibelius 2 which has not to my knowledge appeared on CD whereas 1 and 5 have on a couple of occasions.

[Don Petter]

Did he record the Tallis Fantasia too for Decca . I am pretty sure that was on side 2 and my grandparents were not particularly fans of it . I soon was !

The XLP Tallis from 1959 referred to by HD was with the Philharmonia.

Sargent's earlier Tallis was not for Decca, but also HMV, with the BBC SO. It was reissued on a 10" LP in 1953, but was a transfer from 78s (not sure of recording date). This LP coupling was the Wand of Youth suite.

[HighlandDougie]

Did he record the Tallis Fantasia too for Decca . I am pretty sure that was on side 2 and my grandparents were not particularly fans of it . I soon was !

The "B side" of the Decca/Ace of Clubs Sargent Enigma was a concoction of arrangements by Albert Coates, entitled, " A Suite from the Dramatic Music of Purcell". The original Decca release was, I think, timed for the Coronation Year, hence the patriotic combination of Elgar and Purcell. As far as I know, Sargent never recorded the TT Fantasia for Decca (although he had recorded it earlier for HMV with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, coupled on a 10" LP with one of the Wand of Youth Suites). So, if the TT Fantasia was on the other side of your grandparent's Enigma, I think that it might have been the HMV Concert Classics release. It had a colour photograph of distant hills (the Malverns? the Long Mynd?) on the rather attractive cover.

Apologies, Don, for the cross-posting.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Nowhere do they mention his nickname, "Flash Harry". Was it Beecham that so dubbed him?

From Wikipedia:-

A number of purported explanations have been advanced for Sargent's nickname, "Flash Harry". Reid opines that it "was first in circulation among orchestral players before the war and that they used it in no spirit of adulation."[77] It may have arisen from his impeccable and stylish appearance – he always wore a red or white carnation in his buttonhole (the carnation is now the symbol of the school named for him). This was perhaps reinforced by his brisk tempi early in his career, and by a story about his racing from one recording session to another. Another explanation, that he was named after cartoonist Ronald Searle's St. Trinian's character "Flash Harry", is certainly wrong, since Sargent's nickname was current long before the first appearance of the St. Trinian's character in 1954. Sargent's devoted fans, the Promenaders, used the nickname in an approving sense, and shortened it to "Flash", though Sargent was not especially keen on the soubriquet, even thus modified.[78]

Beecham and Sargent were allies from the early days of the London Philharmonic to Beecham's final months when they were planning joint concerts. They even happened to share the same birthday. When Sargent was incapacitated by tuberculosis in 1933, Beecham conducted a performance of Messiah at the Albert Hall to raise money to support his younger colleague.[79] Sargent loved Beecham's company,[80] and took in good part his quips, such as his reference to the rising conductor Herbert von Karajan, as "a kind of musical Malcolm Sargent"[81] and, on learning that Sargent's car was caught in rifle fire in Palestine, "I had no idea the Arabs were so musical."[35] However, Beecham declared that Sargent "is the greatest choirmaster we have ever produced... he makes the buggers sing like blazes." And on another occasion he said that Sargent was "the most expert of all our conductors – myself excepted of course."

From Sargent himself:-

'My 'Flash Harry' nickname came after I'd been doing a Brains's Trust with Professor Joad and Huxley. The announcer of the programme said they were now going over to Manchester for a concert by me. It sounded as if I'd gone there straight away, in a flash.
"I don't mind. But it's not true I'm flash or gawdt. I never wear rings. I can't bear badly fitting clothes, so I have a good taylor. I think if I'd been a cat I would always have made sure my fur was in good condition."

[Barbirollians]

The "B side" of the Decca/Ace of Clubs Sargent Enigma was a concoction of arrangements by Albert Coates, entitled, " A Suite from the Dramatic Music of Purcell". The original Decca release was, I think, timed for the Coronation Year, hence the patriotic combination of Elgar and Purcell. As far as I know, Sargent never recorded the TT Fantasia for Decca (although he had recorded it earlier for HMV with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, coupled on a 10" LP with one of the Wand of Youth Suites). So, if the TT Fantasia was on the other side of your grandparent's Enigma, I think that it might have been the HMV Concert Classics release. It had a colour photograph of distant hills (the Malverns? the Long Mynd?) on the rather attractive cover.

Apologies, Don, for the cross-posting.

Could be but I have a very vague memory of it being a The World of Great Classics release . Memory plays tricks I was sure their Ace of Clubs pastoral was conducted by Sargent but it is absolutely clear not only from the label but also from a second hand copy of the cover i found on ebay that it was the LPO/Erich Kleiber .

[gurnemanz]

Classic Record Collector current edition features an article on Sargent. Nowhere do they mention his nickname, "Flash Harry". Was it Beecham that so dubbed him?

His full name was Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent.

[Hornspieler]

I would be very interested to know who on these message boards actually saw Sir Malcolm conduct and more particularly, whether anyone apart from myself who actually played (not sang) under his baton.

My first experience was in 1951 to play in Ein Heldenleben. Caustic remarks about "stirring the pudding" and "...looks like an organ grinder's monkey" were much in evidence during rehearsal. It was obvious that he was unpopular with the players - and particularly Paul Beard, presumably because he was not Sir Adrian Boult.
As an eighteen year-old novice, I kept quiet and concentrated upon the demands of Richard Strauss's score.


In 1956, I played once more under MS in a broadcast performance of Elgar's 2nd symphony in the Royal Festival Hall.

Magnificent! The audience were ecstatic!

Possibly Mark Elder or Charles Makerras would have come close but certainly not Andrew Davis (IMV)

I still have my recording of Sibelius 1st Symphony which, for me, sets a benchmarch for that work.

Hs

Flash Harry? What about Jimmy Loughran when he took over the Scottish Orchestra?

"Flash Haggis" became his nickname.

All conductors acquire nicknames - some affectionate and others condemnatory.

[Ariosto]

I would be very interested to know who on these message boards actually saw Sir Malcolm conduct and more particularly, whether anyone apart from myself who actually played (not sang) under his baton.

My first experience was in 1951 to play in Ein Heldenleben. Caustic remarks about "stirring the pudding" and "...looks like an organ grinder's monkey" were much in evidence during rehearsal. It was obvious that he was unpopular with the players - and particularly Paul Beard, presumably because he was not Sir Adrian Boult.
As an eighteen year-old novice, I kept quiet and concentrated upon the demands of Richard Strauss's score.


In 1956, I played once more under MS in a broadcast performance of Elgar's 2nd symphony in the Royal Festival Hall.

Magnificent! The audience were ecstatic!

Possibly Mark Elder or Charles Makerras would have come close but certainly not Andrew Davis (IMV)

I still have my recording of Sibelius 1st Symphony which, for me, sets a benchmarch for that work.

Hs

Flash Harry? What about Jimmy Loughran when he took over the Scottish Orchestra?

"Flash Haggis" became his nickname.

All conductors acquire nicknames - some affectionate and others condemnatory.

Far be it for me to comment on a conductor OR (heaven forbid) disagree with the venerable Hornspieler - but, yes I heard him (Sargent) live many times (fortunately never played under 'I'm) - but my opinion was that he was great at turning many composers music to mud. However, I do think he was a very excellent accompanist, and the likes of the great Heifetz i think bore this out. (Unlike Boult who was a disastrous accompanist but a great conductor [although accident prone] when conducting orchestral works composed by the great classical composers).

Hereby ends my last lesson, and now I will retire to a corner, and pass on to another world ...

PS Charlie Mac yes, but the elder mark no, he won't do at all! (IMV)(A la HS)

[frankwm]

This material is all stereo-era, and, mostly, of interest as illustrations (if it wasn't for the now-obsolete CD-quality format) of some early Blumlein tapings....and having been demoted to bin-end budget labels decades back..such was the inherent lack of demand..

Sargent's recordings, justifiably, invariably received mediocre reviews at the time of release, with rather few exceptions; and you need to be indulgent/misty-eyed not to hear the lackadaisical orchestral playing by the BBC/LSO, and lack of 'interpretation/insight' in the Symphonies...the Sibelius 5 being spineless/a shambles from the start..(and the unissued on CD Rachmanininov 3/BBC shambolic near the end...)

Aside from the excellent Bliss Concerto (and possibly the Rubbra - which I don't recall listening-to) there isn't much that warrants more than a single hearing/compares to alternative recordings of the time (the 1965 'Elijah' bits though are nice)...and some is plain dreary, musically.

The mono-era has been neglected - and the Dvorak concerto/Tortelier is excellent - as is the Tchaikovsky/Ricci..the Handel 'Israel in Egypt' too..but concerti/choral were his 'strengths'..and why EMI were right to employ him in that capacity (the splendid Miaskovsky/Prokofiev stereo's with Rostropovich could be mentioned - also FournierSchumann, etc) - the former plus the Tchaikovsky VC/unissued on CD Elgar 'Wand 2'/Tallis' I've made available) - and the Tchaikovsky LP contents should have been included - an excellent '1812'/'R&J' with the RPO for EMI's budget line -instead of some obvious 'flops'/run-throughs....