Barbirolli - favourite recordings

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

any idea what the Hallmark transfers are like?

I don't know these particular transfers - I tend to avoid those which don't mention the orchestra/conductor - but I remember the original LPs from other people's collections when I was starting my own. The Second is worth a punt at that price. The cheapest Amazon MP3 downloads are of variable quality: some are excellent; others sound as if someone's just downloaded their ancient vinyl collection via one of those players on offer in the Radio Times - with scratches, missing bars etc.

I've not tried any of these, either, 'tho' the first looks very enticing!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/barbirolli-See-148-MP3-album-results/s/qid=1353062573/ref=sr_shvl_1-all?ie=UTF8&keywords=barbirolli&rh=n%3A77197031%2Cn%3A!77925031%2Ck%3Abarbirolli%2Cp_n_format_browse-bin%3A78186031#/ref=sr_st?keywords=barbirolli&qid=1353062578&rh=n%3A77197031%2Ck%3Abarbirolli%2Cp_n_format_browse-bin%3A78186031&sort=price

[mathias broucek]

I've not tried any of these, either, 'tho' the first looks very enticing!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/barbirolli-S...031&sort=price

Amusing review of one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B004VUSJQ2/ref=sr_cr_hist_all?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

[Barbirollians]

I've so many Barbirolli recordings that this is an almost impossible choice. I was lucky enough to see him conduct on numerous occasions, including the first London performance of VW 8, and a specially memorable evening at the Fairfield Halls in a programme of fifths, VW, Sibelius and Schubert.

Anyway, here are a few slightly less obvious Barbirolli Favourites

ARENSKY Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky

SIBELIUS Pohjola's Daughter - the best since Koussevitsky

STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben - the last recording he made.

DVORAK Symphony No. 8

TCHAIKOVSKY Francesca da Rimini

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 8 ( Premiere recording )

In The Maestro Myth, that otherwise rather nasty book by Norman Lebrecht, he says that Halle musicians were sometimes near to tears when remembering Barbirolli

The Monitor film of him , which can be seen on YT - although looking amazingly dated ( manchester sure doesn't look much like that any more ) is a lovely piece of film about him and his charm and sheer professionalism shines through .

I agree entirely about that Dvorak 8 - a deserved Rosette in the Penguin Guide and the Ein Heldenleben is good too though it iss not a work I have ever warmed to . I should love to hear the Arensky .

No mention yet of his Mahler -strangely , his most famous recording if the Fifth - is to me less satisfying than that Berlin 9th, the Stuttgart No 2 ( for all the faults of ensemble) and his Sixth .

Some interesting rarities there ferretfancy .

[johnb]

No mention yet of his Mahler -strangely , his most famous recording if the Fifth - is to me less satisfying than that Berlin 9th, the Stuttgart No 2 ( for all the faults of ensemble) and his Sixth .

The first Mahler symphony I heard live (as opposed to on LP) was Mahler 2 at the Halle, conducted by Barbirolli. For me it was a shattering experience (though the reviewer in the Manchester Evening Post rather looked down his nose at the performance and at Mahler in general).

Back to the topic: I was very taken by his live Mahler 6 (mono) with the BPO, released on Testament, when I heard it many years ago on CD Masters.

I feel great warmth towards Barbirolli and grew up with his concerts at the Halle but quite a few of his studio recordings, made in later life, are frustratingly slow. I often feel like shouting "get on with it".

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I forgot about the Dvorak 8th. That is really special and I heard JB conduct it live. And then there's the magnificent premier recording of VW's Sinfonia Antartica. We had that at home when I was very young. My father had attended the first performance.

[Ferretfancy]

Barbirolli gems can still be found. My local OXFAM had a very nice Pye Golden Guinea LP of the maestro conducting "A section of the Halle Orchestra " in Gounod's delightful Petite Symphonie for Winds, coupled with the Dvorak Wind Serenade. I have the Dvorak on CD, but not the Gounod, which receives a delightfully perky performance with a few background grunts from the man himself.
Francescatti has been mentioned elsewhere on these threads, and I was lucky enough on the same visit to find his performance of the Max Bruch No. 1 with the NYPO and Thomas Schippers.This is a very passionate performance, with Franscetti balanced very close, but his intonation is so perfect that it hardly matters. The coupling is his excellent Mendelssohn with the Columbia SO and Szell. I was carried away by this performance of a very overplayed piece.

[Barbirollians]

tut tut - isn't Francescatti a bit off topic

Barbirolli was very good at light music . I have a lovely CD called Viennese Night where he conducts a performance of Lehar's Gold and Silver waltz that is exquisite.

[cloughie]

tut tut - isn't Francescatti a bit off topic

Barbirolli was very good at light music . I have a lovely CD called Viennese Night where he conducts a performance of Lehar's Gold and Silver waltz that is exquisite.

Also some very good Rosenkavalier Waltzes.

[AjAjAjH]

I saw him just once on 5th September 1962 in Bridlington of all places and (unlike many other concerts that I have attended) I can remember the full programme. That was when as a 17 year, I became hooked on live classical music.

The first time I heard his Bruckner 8 on the 'BBC Legends' recording, I was moved to tears. Flawed yes but absolutely wonderful. There is hardly a month goes by without I listen to it.

Other favourites Mahler 3 with Kirstin Meyer. Gerontius and the Stutgart Mahler 2.

I'm also very fond of his Bruckner 7 as featured in the famous documentary. I call it my 'singalong' version.

[Barbirollians]

I saw him just once on 5th September 1962 in Bridlington of all places and (unlike many other concerts that I have attended) I can remember the full programme. That was when as a 17 year, I became hooked on live classical music.

The first time I heard his Bruckner 8 on the 'BBC Legends' recording, I was moved to tears. Flawed yes but absolutely wonderful. There is hardly a month goes by without I listen to it.

Other favourites Mahler 3 with Kirstin Meyer. Gerontius and the Stutgart Mahler 2.

I'm also very fond of his Bruckner 7 as featured in the famous documentary. I call it my 'singalong' version.

The BBC Legends Bruckner 7 is also very fine . Barbirolli understands more than any conductor I think the importance of keeping Bruckner moving forward . That Eighth is utterly wonderful .

[JFLL]

Does anyone know whether he ever recorded Nielsen? I remember an electrifying account of the Fifth in Wolverhampton in 1964 (?), at a time when Nielsen wasn't much played. JB used to visit that much-maligned town at least once a year with the Hallé, also giving a memorable performance of Shostakovich's Fifth (another composer one doesn't usually associate him with), and the VW oboe concerto with his wife Evelyn Rothwell.

[aeolium]

I liked Barbirolli's partnership with his wife Evelyn Rothwell in various oboe concertos - I had an old Pye LP similar to this one. The Corelli and Pergolesi were arrangements, but delightful ones, and the Haydn probably not by Haydn, but apart from that it was all good authentic stuff

[hafod]

Does anyone know whether he ever recorded Nielsen?

Yes - I have a wonderful performance of the 4th symphony on a Royal double cd recorded with the Halle in 1963 (according to the insert).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sir-Barbirolli-Conducts-Great-Symphonies/dp/B0000508FB/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1353172950&sr=1-3

This is presumably the same performance available more cheaply.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Symphony-4-Pohjolas-Daughter-Nielsen/dp/B00000DO7D/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1353172950&sr=1-1

[Bryn]

There's also a live 4th on BBC Legends. It'd coupled with Sibelius's 3rd.

http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Music/CD/Nielsen-Sibelius/Symphony-No-4-Symphony-No-3-Barbirolli-Halle-Orchestra/product.html?product=E10137951

[Roslynmuse]

Barbirolli gems can still be found. My local OXFAM had a very nice Pye Golden Guinea LP of the maestro conducting "A section of the Halle Orchestra " in Gounod's delightful Petite Symphonie for Winds, coupled with the Dvorak Wind Serenade. I have the Dvorak on CD, but not the Gounod, which receives a delightfully perky performance with a few background grunts from the man himself.

A year or two back I bought a secondhand score of the Gounod and when it arrived in the post I discovered it had belonged to Evelyn Rothwell (signed on the cover!)