Sir John Barbirolli

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Was CC the 4th Side of the 1956 Sym 1?

It was. Spreading the symphony over 3 sides was a good idea. The Golden Guinea reissue on a single LP meant that there was then a break between the 2nd and 3rd movements. Some other recordings of the symphony managed to squash the last three movements on to a single side.

[akiralx]

It was. Spreading the symphony over 3 sides was a good idea. The Golden Guinea reissue on a single LP meant that there was then a break between the 2nd and 3rd movements. Some other recordings of the symphony managed to squash the last three movements on to a single side.

I suppose there was the option of doing what they did for one curious LP of the Eroica (by Colin Davis?): starting the symphony half way through side 1, having II-III on side 2, then flipping back for the finale at the beginning of side 1 (allowing for the opening movement to be then played as an imposing encore, as a late friend of mine used to - the same one who thought the blonde on the cover of Anda's Mozart concerto K467 on DG was actually the pianist...)

Though of course the movements of E1 are not laid out like the Eroica... Were any other LPs designed like this?

[cloughie]

It was. Spreading the symphony over 3 sides was a good idea. The Golden Guinea reissue on a single LP meant that there was then a break between the 2nd and 3rd movements. Some other recordings of the symphony managed to squash the last three movements on to a single side.

The EMI Barbirolli in the 60s, squeezed the 3 movts on one side but then decided to spread the 2nd Symphony on 3 sides with Falstaff. What I cannot remember for certain but was Falstaff after movt 4 and split over two sides?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The EMI Barbirolli in the 60s, squeezed the 3 movts on one side but then decided to spread the 2nd Symphony on 3 sides with Falstaff. What I cannot remember for certain but was Falstaff after movt 4 and split over two sides?

You remember well. The Elgar 2 first is issue was:
Side 1: 1st movement
Side 2: 2nd & 3rd movements
Side 3: 4th movement/Falstaff Pt 1
Side 4: Falstaff Pt 2

On re-release the symphony was accommodated on two sides, and Falstaff on a recoupled single side.

The Philharmonia Symphony no. 1, original released with that unsatisfactory side break between the linked middle movements, was reissued by a skilfully repressed side 2 with the rogue split removed, but the Gramophone reviewer noted a rather clumsy “very full [I]pp[/]” as the slow movement began. This was improved on subsequent releases.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Though of course the movements of E1 are not laid out like the Eroica... Were any other LPs designed like this?

There was a recording of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata that did the sameZ

[Bryn]

There was a recording of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata that did the sameZ

Indeed. The Saga recording by Louis Kentner. I see the recording, now straight through, is available for download, https://crqeditions.bandcamp.com/alb...t-major-op-106

[cloughie]

I suppose there was the option of doing what they did for one curious LP of the Eroica (by Colin Davis?): starting the symphony half way through side 1, having II-III on side 2, then flipping back for the finale at the beginning of side 1 (allowing for the opening movement to be then played as an imposing encore, as a late friend of mine used to - the same one who thought the blonde on the cover of Anda's Mozart concerto K467 on DG was actually the pianist...)

Though of course the movements of E1 are not laid out like the Eroica... Were any other LPs designed like this?

The Eroica in question was Loughran and the Halle on Enigma! I think it also had a locking groove at the end of the finale.

[Barbirollians]

The Eroica in question was Loughran and the Halle on Enigma! I think it also had a locking groove at the end of the finale.

When reissued by ASV in the 1980s it was laid out in the same way.

[johnb]

Just in case anyone is interested, I've uploaded a slightly amended version of the "Track Listing" Excel file linked to in post http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...473#post800473. The original link still applies.

(I've moved the track number to the left of the work/movement.)

The preview on the Box website is pretty crude and it is best to download the file if you want to access whether it is of any use.

[jonfan]

Some wonderful JB stories here on this thread. My uncle took me to hear JB and the Halle at the Albert Hall in Nottingham in 1957 when I was 11 play Mozart Linz and Tchaikovsky 6, the first time I’d heard an orchestra and I was bold over with the experience and set me off on a lifetime of enjoying classical music. (A good investment and sacrifice on my uncle’s part as he was unemployed at the time and paid for the train and concert ticket). I later heard a Messiah in Sheffield (awful) and Tallis Fantasy (as JB called it) in the same place - out of this world. There’s a wonderful BBC documentary, perhaps a Monitor programme, about JB that’s worth repeating. It shows him cooking Italian over a hob with a lighted cigarette plus an amusing story where he was auditioning for bass players in 1943 and along came a chap from the dales. He was asked to play high up on the top string ‘ Nay lad, I’ve never been up theer.’
THE wonderful moment on disc is the climax of Elgar 2, second movement, where everything spills over. No other recording does that. There’s a great Bruckner 8 from the RFH which reminds me of Previn’s story of JB; crossing the Atlantic the plane hit turbulence ‘No, no I can’t die yet, I haven’t conducted all Bruckner symphonies,’ said JB.

[Petrushka]

There’s a wonderful BBC documentary, perhaps a Monitor programme, about JB that’s worth repeating. It shows him cooking Italian over a hob with a lighted cigarette plus an amusing story where he was auditioning for bass players in 1943 and along came a chap from the dales. He was asked to play high up on the top string ‘ Nay lad, I’ve never been up theer.’
THE wonderful moment on disc is the climax of Elgar 2, second movement, where everything spills over. No other recording does that.

I watched it the other day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX5leRghjYk

[jonfan]

I watched it the other day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX5leRghjYk

Many thanks for this Pet, great. I remember Alan Bennett reviving it.

[eighthobstruction]

....yea thanks Pet'....

[Barbirollians]

I remember seeing that Monitor programme repeated in the late 1980s and it made me want to buy as many Barbirolli records as I could but also the rehearsal sequence of the opening of the third movement of Bruckner 7 made me interested in Bruckner who my early experiences of had not been that prepossessing. Great to find many years later that a recording by JB of Bruckner 7 was preserved on BBC Legends.

[Barbirollians]

Some wonderful JB stories here on this thread. My uncle took me to hear JB and the Halle at the Albert Hall in Nottingham in 1957 when I was 11 play Mozart Linz and Tchaikovsky 6, the first time I’d heard an orchestra and I was bold over with the experience and set me off on a lifetime of enjoying classical music. (A good investment and sacrifice on my uncle’s part as he was unemployed at the time and paid for the train and concert ticket). I later heard a Messiah in Sheffield (awful) and Tallis Fantasy (as JB called it) in the same place - out of this world. There’s a wonderful BBC documentary, perhaps a Monitor programme, about JB that’s worth repeating. It shows him cooking Italian over a hob with a lighted cigarette plus an amusing story where he was auditioning for bass players in 1943 and along came a chap from the dales. He was asked to play high up on the top string ‘ Nay lad, I’ve never been up theer.’
THE wonderful moment on disc is the climax of Elgar 2, second movement, where everything spills over. No other recording does that. There’s a great Bruckner 8 from the RFH which reminds me of Previn’s story of JB; crossing the Atlantic the plane hit turbulence ‘No, no I can’t die yet, I haven’t conducted all Bruckner symphonies,’ said JB.

.

Barbirolli ‘s Elgar 2 is the one which Richard Morrison described as “ staid and stolid” . My response to that would have the Mods getting their bad language delete buttons out.

Sometimes I just play the Larghetto from that recording - the part you describe with the harps is emotionally overwhelming and a desert island disc for me.