Latest CD from BBCMM Recorded in 1948/1936

[salymap]

Has anyone sampled the Beethoven VC with Menuhin/BBC Scottish orch/ Ian Whyte

RVW Dona Nobis Pacem. Rene Flynn/Roy Henderson/BBCSOand chorus, conducted by the composer.

I haven't had time yet. Any opinions?

[Bryn]

I plan to spin it fairly soon. They seem to have a bit of a thing about ancient Menuhin broadcast recordings. A few years a go they gave us his Brahms concert, transferred from the optical track of a cine film, IIRC.

[Barbirollians]

Are you sure ? I have that CD ( the performance is of the Brahms with BBCSO/Boult and is preceded by a BBC Home Service announcement ) and I thought it was a radio recording .

It is a terrific performance .

[Roehre]

I haven't listened to the Beethoven yet (not particularly my favourite concerto), but IMO RVW's Dona nobis Pacem is a must-have for every RVW-admirer.

IMO beautifully restored with -generally speaking- only the rather woolly sound of the strings a give away for the age of the recording.

Two critical remarks however:
don't be put off by the opening phrases of the soprano, where she uses a very wide vibrato (much better controlled further down the performance) which I really dislike;
Track 7 (Dirge for Two Veterans) has got a very ugly cut, or perhaps editing mistake, at 9'18-9'19.

But these are really peanuts considering the importance of this recording and therefore this CD.

[Bryn]

Are you sure ? I have that CD ( the performance is of the Brahms with BBCSO/Boult and is preceded by a BBC Home Service announcement ) and I thought it was a radio recording.

I am fairly sure, but not entirely, hence the "IIRC". The details about the recording medium and the transfer process were in the magazine itself, which I have not kept. The much briefer documentation accompanying the disc itself merely notes that it was recorded in Studio 1, Maida Vale, for the BBC Home Service in 1943. The choice of media available to the BBC at that time would have been acetate disc or optical film. I recall the article in the magazine stating that the transfer was from the latter.

[Biffo]

I agree with Roehre regarding the importance of the VW. The soprano soloist doesn't trouble me at all, quite the opposite, I find her opening very dramatic. The performance has been available for some time from Somm, coupled with VW conducting a live performance of his 5th Symphony.

[Roehre]

I've listened now to the Beethoven too.

Menuhin is in great form.
I love the really rather fierce "Allegro ma non troppo" opening of the 1st mvt - at last a tempo I consider to be more appropriate than the nowadays more often heard slower, more lyrical approaches to it.
A nice subtile use of some portamenti (especially noticable in the opening ritornello), by then (1948) already rather old fashioned.
But I am afraid the horn players had a bad day: a too early entrance in the opening ritornello, dodgy intonations during the 1st mvt, straightforwardly out-of-tune playing at the beginning of the 2nd mvt, and dodgy hunting horn evocations in the finale....
Remarkably this recording seems to be older than the RVW one: the acoustics are worse, and there is noticably more wow and flutter, but - to be fair- the exposure of the winds in the concerto doesn't help much to cover this up.

[salymap]

Roehre I'm glad to hear Yehudi was in great form. At one or two concerts I attended in the 1950s his playing could vary greatly from concert to concert. I wonder if our horn players know who would have been playing in the Scottish Orchestra in 1948?

[makropulos]

I haven't listened to the Beethoven yet (not particularly my favourite concerto), but IMO RVW's Dona nobis Pacem is a must-have for every RVW-admirer.

IMO beautifully restored with -generally speaking- only the rather woolly sound of the strings a give away for the age of the recording.

Two critical remarks however:
don't be put off by the opening phrases of the soprano, where she uses a very wide vibrato (much better controlled further down the performance) which I really dislike;
Track 7 (Dirge for Two Veterans) has got a very ugly cut, or perhaps editing mistake, at 9'18-9'19.

But these are really peanuts considering the importance of this recording and therefore this CD.

Is anybody able to say whether this is the same performance of Dona Nobis Pacem already released by Somm (SOMMCD071)? That say it's the first broadcast performance given at BBC Studios in November 1936, but I don't remember any horrible edit near the end of the Dirge for Two Veterans. I'd be very grateful for confirmation that they are the same - or that they are different, in which case I'll need to hunt down this BBCMM disc. Thanks in advance.

[salymap]

Makropulos. I can give you the date of the recording from the CD: 13th November, 1936. Can't give any further information regrettably.

[makropulos]

Makropulos. I can give you the date of the recording from the CD: 13th November, 1936. Can't give any further information regrettably.

Thanks very much salymap ! That's very helpful - it's the same performance on the Somm disc, and it's was on Pearl too. It was given just a few weeks after the premiere. That was in Huddersfield conducted by Albert Coates and this BBC/Somm/Pearl broadcast performance was the first time RVW himself conducted it.

[BBMmk2]

I plan to spin this later todfay(time permitting!!:)).

Thank you Roehre!

[Barbirollians]

I liked both these performances . I agree that the brass in the Beethoven are rather ropey in places but Menuhin is in excellent form . The DNP is very moving and quite strident compared with Hickox .

[Chris Newman]

I am saving this CD for Christmas Day as the recordings are things I have heard so many good things about I do not wish to open the prezzy too early.

[pastoralguy]

Which BBCMM was this disc issued with? I got really excited and thought the new one was out but it's still the Christmas edition.

I love the cd of him playing the Brahms with Boult during the war. Just wonderful!