Favourite Sargent recordings.

[Ventilhorn]

I still admire quite a few of Malcolm Sargent's recordings. His Ma Vlast with the RPO and the Dvorak Symphonic Variations with the Philharmonia, his Elgar symphonies with the BBCSO, the 1945 and 1954 Gerontius recordings, his slightly Beechamesque way with light-hearted overtures like Donna Diana, many others.

If I've got it right, he died 44 years ago today and his recordings are showing their age. However he could turn out some good work IMO.

Does anyone else have any favourites?

I had a very fine recording by MS with the Philharmonia playing Walton's 1st symphony on cassette, but sadly, the tape jammed and shattered.

Having played the work with the BBCSO only a few months previously under Eugene Goosens, I was particularly interested in having the only recording then available and, compared with Goosens reading, I was quite staggered by the contrast.

Whilst allowing that the Philharmonia was probably at its peak at that period, I was bowled over by the electrifying precision of Sargent's interpretation ─ especially the savagery and malevolance of the scherzo; which I'm sure was just what Walton intended.
(A stark contrast to Goosens, who couldn't even avoid stumbling over some of the scherzo's 5/8 bars)

I don't know if this MS recording might still be available, but I would recommend anyone to listen to it.

VH

[Barbirollians]

Rather expensive !

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walton-Symphonies-1-2-William/dp/B00000DO46/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317669053&sr=8-1

According to one of the commenters on the review however it is due to be reissued in a box set of walton next year .

[pastoralguy]

I've always loved his Sibelius Karelia Suite with the Vienna Phil. Just super>

[johnb]

I think that his BBC SO recording of the Planets reveals the strangeness of Holst's music in a rather special way which is hard to define. This was one of EMI's first stereo releases, and still sounds impressive.

That was the first LP I ever bought - when I was in my early to mid teens and was very new to classical music. I couldn't afford it outright so I bought it on the never-never (with my parents' blessing). I probably still have the LP somewhere but it was thoroughly worn out many decades ago.

Come to think of it, that is almost the only Sargent recording I can ever remember hearing.

It seems to have been re-issued on a Classics for Pleasure label CD and, though it isn't currently available as a disc, it is available as an mp3 download on Amazon. I'm tempted to get it to see what it sounds like after all these decades.

[Roslynmuse]

I agree with the praise for (some of) the G & S recordings; Princess Ida and Yeoman with D'Oyly Carte, Ruddigore with the 'Glyndebourne' cast in particular. I remember an HMV Concert Classics disc of overtures that was more than acceptable - Meistersinger, Carnaval romain, Fingal's cave, Scala di seta and Bartered Bride. The Sibelius 2 mentioned above was with the BBC SO and available on MfP many years ago.

Sibelius himself certainly rated Sargent, and there's a story of a September 1957 headline - "Sibelius dies as Sargent conducts his Fifth Symphony"...

Who was it that Beecham described as 'a sort of musical Malcolm Sargent'?

[Curalach]

Who was it that Beecham described as 'a sort of musical Malcolm Sargent'?

Karajan.

[Curalach]

His Sibelius 2 with the BBCSO was one of the first LPs I bought as a teenager. Happy days!

[Roslynmuse]

Karajan.

[Dave2002]

I had a very fine recording by MS with the Philharmonia playing Walton's 1st symphony on cassette, but sadly, the tape jammed and shattered.

Whilst allowing that the Philharmonia was probably at its peak at that period, I was bowled over by the electrifying precision of Sargent's interpretation ─ especially the savagery and malevolance of the scherzo; which I'm sure was just what Walton intended.
(A stark contrast to Goosens, who couldn't even avoid stumbling over some of the scherzo's 5/8 bars)

I don't know if this MS recording might still be available, but I would recommend anyone to listen to it.

VH

VH this might be your recording. Bit pricey though - http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...&condition=all

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Sibelius 2 mentioned above was with the BBC SO and available on MfP many years ago.

... and my schooldays were "many years ago"!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Sargent's Enigma Variations was my first LP interpretation salymap & I loved it. Ditto his earlier Gerontius with Heddle Nash which is my all-time favourite. We had a double LP of Messiah at my parents' home in a snazzy (not a word you hear these days!) blue plastic folder on the Pye label conducted by Sargent too.

I think the Pye Messiah in a blue plastic folder was conducted by Walter Susskind. But I did like Sargent's first and third recordings of Messiah, with the Huddersfield Choral.

[Ferretfancy]

Dave 2002 and ventilhor

The Amazon recommendation appears to feature Walton's own performance. The Sargent was not received very well by the Gramophone when it appeared on LP, but i used to own it and thought it rather good. Top recommendations at the time were for Boult / Nixa and the earlier Walton recording, both mono of course.
Incidentally, Boult's version was originally in stereo but only appeared in mono on LP.It has been reissued by First Hand Remasters as the 1956 Nixa-Westminster stereo recordings Vol. 1 It sounds pretty good for the period.
I also have another Boult performance with the BBC SO from 1975which appeared on that short lived series issued by Pickwick. It isn't as good as the 1956 performance.

It would certainly be good to have the Sargent back in circulation.

[Dave2002]

I think it is Sargent's. It may have been done in the presence of the composer. On the other hand Amazon might have got it wrong and displayed the wrong cover, but the EMI cover shown does seem to attribute the performance to Sargent.

[Barbirollians]

The one on Amazon.co.uk is definitely Sargent coupled with Previn's Walton no 2 .

[Chris Newman]

His "Beggar's Opera" on Classics for Pleasure is very good. Great cast too: Owen Brannigan, John Cameron, Robert Hardy, Elsie Morison, John Neville, Alexander Young, Zena Walker, Ian Wallace.