What download have you bought?

[Beef Oven!]

My latest download (an hour ago) is Mahler 3, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Haitink. BR Klassik.

Hi-Res (24-bit – 48.00 kHz) Qobuz download £17.59. I think the CD version is cheaper on Amazon, but instant gratification wins - it’s playing as I type, it’s gonna be a late one!

I bought this because I was enthralled by last summer’s performance of this symphony by uncle Bernie and the LSO and as Petrushka says, this recording took place only a few weeks earlier - I hope to capture the magic of that later performance that we witnessed (does anyone have a sharable recording of that Prom?).

[mahlerei]

Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 – Wiener Symphoniker/Kreizberg (Pentatone)

https://pentatone.nativedsd.com/albums/ptc5186051bruckner-symphony-no-7-in-e-major

Strauss: Zarathustra; Holst: The Planets – NYOGB/Gardner (Chandos)

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%205179

Pettersson: Symphony No. 14 - Norrköping SO/Lindberg (BIS)

http://www.eclassical.com/composers/pettersson-allan/allan-pettersson-symphony-no-14.html

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Strauss: Zarathustra; Holst: The Planets – NYOGB/Gardner (Chandos)
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%205179

I'd be interested to hear your views on this recording, mahlerei - I've heard good reports.

[Alison]

Beef, the LSO Mahler 3 is on YouTube.

[Beef Oven!]

Beef, the LSO Mahler 3 is on YouTube.

Fantastic!

Thanks for the heads-up Alison, will eagerly check it out

[Beef Oven!]

Just downloaded Carl Ruggles complete from Qobuz on 16 Bit CD quality.

2 CD set at £11.99 - good value, IMV.

Michael Tilson Thomas, The Buffalo Philharmonic

[Dave2002]

Hyperion is definitely worth a regular look-in, especially if you are a Bob Simpson fan. All his string quartets are available (while the CDs are not, anymore), for between £6.99-£7.99 a pop. I rang Hyperion and asked them if they have plans to issue a box set of Bob’s string quartets. They said they have no plans and advised me that this question is put to them often!

I haven't heard anything by Simpson for years. It is interesting to note that many of the Hyperion recordings of his string quartets are by the Delme Quartet. I haven't heard them (live) for years either, but much of their work was very good. I wonder what has happened to them. I once attended a series of performances of Simpson's quartets which were being done for the BBC. Things didn't work out too well I heard. One member of the audience used to bring along refreshments, including bags of crisps, and as he unwrapped them and munched his way through them the sounds were clearly audible. I think that much of the "live" recording had to be remade afterwards because of that.

There are still some CDs of Simpson's quartets available at Amazon - at a price - https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&...l_7qu2hnfubm_b

The last piece by Simpson I remember hearing was a performance of one of his symphonies - was it the 9th? - at the Proms. I really struggle to get the Proms archive to work to find this - whereas in previous years the archive was really good and sensibly searchable and could search through all the proms in the database - not just year by year. I suspect the performance I heard was sometime around 1994-1997

A search for Robert Simpson on Qobuz does not reveal anything too interesting - mostly completely unrelated "music". I suppose having downloads available is better than nothing, though I still buy CDs, and am much more reluctant to buy downloads. I don't know if there are any streaming sites which offer works by Simpson. I suspect that there is some music by him on Spotify.

Curiously, while trying to find out whether Spotify has any Simpson works (probably Symphony 3) I found this - https://toccataclassics.com/product/...iola-concerto/ It appears that it is possible to listen to Matthew Taylor's symphony from that site - perhaps the company has given up charging? It is claimed that Taylor's music is influenced by Simpson.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/composers/f7aad2df-2f07-420a-b3d4-f998ce633b59/works

First Symphony: 1957
Third: 1967
Fifth: 1990

[Beef Oven!]

So the programming of Simpson’s works at the Proms is what we suspected it is - scandalous.

Dave, thanks for the link to the Mathew Taylor.

[Dave2002]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/co...ce633b59/works

First Symphony: 1957
Third: 1967
Fifth: 1990

I'm really pushing my brain here. I don't think I was in the country during the summer of 1990, and I definitely wasn't at any of the Simpson performances in the 1950s or 1960s. I feel sure there was a Simpson symphony performed in the 1990s - but not in 1990.

[Dave2002]

So the programming of Simpson’s works at the Proms is what we suspected it is - scandalous.

Dave, thanks for the link to the Mathew Taylor.

That Toccata site is really odd - and there's loads of stuff there. Also it appears that most of the material can be listened to. Maybe that's deliberate, or a mistake ...... shhhhh!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

So the programming of Simpson’s works at the Proms is what we suspected it is - scandalous.

In the twenty years since his death - before that, of course, he placed his own embargo on Proms performances of his work (because of his belief that the administration of the Proms was basically unfair and undemocratic). Works written when he was a BBC employee (c1951-80) wouldn't have featured very often, either, as such was BBC policy.

[Beef Oven!]

I'm really pushing my brain here. I don't think I was in the country during the summer of 1990, and I definitely wasn't at any of the Simpson performances in the 1950s or 1960s. I feel sure there was a Simpson symphony performed in the 1990s - but not in 1990.

I was a member of the Robert Simpson Society back in 1990 and we used to get all the info about up and coming performances (which were as rare as hens’ teeth) and wracking* my brains, I can’t recall a BBC outing. Was a long time ago, though, memory fades.

Edit: *Perhaps I was racking my brains.

[cloughie]

The Big Americana Box HMV digital £7.99

[Beef Oven!]

In the twenty years since his death - before that, of course, he placed his own embargo on Proms performances of his work (because of his belief that the administration of the Proms was basically unfair and undemocratic). Works written when he was a BBC employee (c1951-80) wouldn't have featured very often, either, as such was BBC policy.

I had no idea he had embargoed the Proms. This fact has completely escaped me!

Thoroughly misguided of him, I’d say. He doesn’t own the music once it’s written, We The Fans do!!