Barbirolli - favourite recordings

[Barbirollians]

You may have gathered that I am a great admirer of the late Sir John B . I was unfortunately only a nipper when he died and never saw him conduct.

His recordings are to me an endless treasure trove - from Elgar to Mahler , Tchaikovsky to Beethoven ,Bruckner to Britten, Sibelius to Mozart . What has struck me in particular over the last couple of years is the electricity of his live recordings . The BBC Legends Bruckner ( no 8 in particular )and Mahler , the Testament Brahms and some of the Barbirolli Society offerings . I am just listenining to their release of a Tchaikovsky 4 with the Halle - some scrappy playing but what a performance - it is extraordinarily moving and captivating .

I do envy any of you who heard him conduct or played for him

[martin_opera]

His opera recordings are very special indeed with the Butterfly making claims as the greatest of all MB recordings. But it's his Otello that I turn to most often and am always enthralled by his taut direction with slower than usual speeds and there's an intensity here that I find missing from all other recordings of this opera. Famously he worked under Toscanini and this helps justify his approach here.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

My favourite Barbirolli recording is also Live: the Hallé Elgar #1 recorded a few days before he died.

But there are many, many others - RVW #2, 5 (twice), the Tallis Fantasia, Gerontius, Brahms, Otello, Delius ... and the Chausson Poeme de l'Amour et de la Mer with Ferrier.

I, too, was too young to have heard him in concert, but as a student met many ex-Halléans who all spoke with the greatest respect for and admiration of him (one of them the composer, Arthur Butterworth). And Barenboim still does an impressive impersonation of him!

[mathias broucek]

Bruckner 8, the Sibelius box, the Stuttgart Mahler 2 and , best of all, a fantastic BBC SO Beethoven 3.

A favourite curiosity is his RVW 6 with the Bavarian RSO - a novelty for the residents of Munich in those days, I suspect!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oh, yes! Sibelius!!! How on earth could I have missed that box out!


(Rhetorical question, by the way! )

[Barbirollians]

I don't have that Otello - must try and find a copy .

I must give that Eroica another go . I did find the first movement rather slow - but I had just been listening to Erich Kleiber that week !

[cloughie]

Where do I start - like you Barbs I am admirer since my schooldays seeing him in Sheffield City Hall - his (EMI 60s) Elgar 1,2 Intro & Allegro and Serenade for Strings are high on the list.

[Tony Halstead]

The EMI 1960s recording of the Elgar Intro & Allegro with the 'Sinfonia of London' ( a 'pick-up band' - I never understood the politics of this when he could have had e.g. the LSO or his own Hallê)
is totally outclassed by the wonderful recording he did several years earlier with the Hallê, originally on 'Pye', coupled with some Delius and Butterworth.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

the wonderful recording he did several years earlier with the Hallê, originally on 'Pye', coupled with some Delius and Butterworth.

There was an even earlier Hallé version on a set of 78rpms: from these (in the mid 1970s - I bought them in a second-hand bookshop) I learnt the work.

[amateur51]

The EMI 1960s recording of the Elgar Intro & Allegro with the 'Sinfonia of London' ( a 'pick-up band' - I never understood the politics of this when he could have had e.g. the LSO or his own Hallê)
is totally outclassed by the wonderful recording he did several years earlier with the Hallê, originally on 'Pye', coupled with some Delius and Butterworth.

I think it was this earlier version that I had on an early cheapo Walkman as I bestrode the lanes of rural Herefordshire on holiday many years ago and I agree that it's a cracking performance

[Bryn]

There was an even earlier Hallé version on a set of 78rpms: from these (in the mid 1970s - I bought them in a second-hand bookshop) I learnt the work.

As far as I can tell, both the late '40 and '50s mono recordings are currently to be found on CD. The former is on a Barbirolli Society album and the latter on an EMI double album which is listed on, for instance, amazon.co.uk. I am happy enough with the Sinfonia of London's players, a session orchestra of the highest order at the time of the rightly famous recording.

[cloughie]

As far as I can tell, both the late '40 and '50s mono recordings are currently to be found on CD. The former is on a Barbirolli Society album and the latter on an EMI double album which is listed on, for instance, amazon.co.uk. I am happy enough with the Sinfonia of London's players, a session orchestra of the highest order at the time of the rightly famous recording.

They also did recordings for World Record Club - a great Mozart 40/41 with Anthony Collins and otherthings with Colin Davis now on

http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Music/CD/Colin-Davis/Icon-The-Early-Recordings/product.html?product=E11123964

[makropulos]

You may have gathered that I am a great admirer of the late Sir John B . I was unfortunately only a nipper when he died and never saw him conduct.

His recordings are to me an endless treasure trove - from Elgar to Mahler , Tchaikovsky to Beethoven ,Bruckner to Britten, Sibelius to Mozart . What has struck me in particular over the last couple of years is the electricity of his live recordings . The BBC Legends Bruckner ( no 8 in particular )and Mahler , the Testament Brahms and some of the Barbirolli Society offerings . I am just listenining to their release of a Tchaikovsky 4 with the Halle - some scrappy playing but what a performance - it is extraordinarily moving and captivating .

I do envy any of you who heard him conduct or played for him

I was very lucky to see him conduct once: at the Festival Hall with the New Philharmonia in December 1969 (on my 13th birthday, in fact - it was a birthday treat). Little did I realise at the time, but the programme was vintage Barbirolli: Britten Sinfonia da Requiem, Delius Brigg Fair, Mahler Symphony No. 1. Even now I remember the impact of that concert - it was marvellous.

As for favourite recordings, there are a lot: Delius Appalachia, Elgar Gerontius and the earlier recordings of the symphonies, VW 2, 5 (especially the later one), 7 and 8, Bax Tintagel, Nielsen 4... and the extracts from Puccini's Turandot with Eva Turner. But really there's so much!

I've never really got on so well with his Brahms and Beethoven, and while I do like the Butterfly, my memories of the Otello are that it was rather too grand and spacious in places. But that's not to take anything away from a really wonderful conductor.

[Barbirollians]

I was very lucky to see him conduct once: at the Festival Hall with the New Philharmonia in December 1969 (on my 13th birthday, in fact - it was a birthday treat). Little did I realise at the time, but the programme was vintage Barbirolli: Britten Sinfonia da Requiem, Delius Brigg Fair, Mahler Symphony No. 1. Even now I remember the impact of that concert - it was marvellous.

As for favourite recordings, there are a lot: Delius Appalachia, Elgar Gerontius and the earlier recordings of the symphonies, VW 2, 5 (especially the later one), 7 and 8, Bax Tintagel, Nielsen 4... and the extracts from Puccini's Turandot with Eva Turner. But really there's so much!

I've never really got on so well with his Brahms and Beethoven, and while I do like the Butterfly, my memories of the Otello are that it was rather too grand and spacious in places. But that's not to take anything away from a really wonderful conductor.

Well - his VPO Brahms cycle is problematic for some . Rather extreme tempi in places.

Then again there is a splendid Brahms Double with Campoli and Navarra and he accompanies Barenboim superbly in both Piano Concertos .

Some of his earlier Beethoven strikes me as fine - his 1 and 5 on the Society recordings and also rather later his 7 on BBC legends from a Prom .

[akiralx]

I have recently got to know his VPO Brahms symphonies on Japanese EMI CDs and like his 2nd very much.

Also his accompaniment to Andre Navarra in the Elgar Cello Concerto on EMI (a much better performance than the du Pre recording).