Barbirolli - favourite recordings

[Nimrod]

What memories, Slarty, please tell us more! The Brahms 1st symphony from the 1954 Proms is a fabulous performance and so many of the Pye recordings are electrifying; I often play the Suppe overtures to cheer me up! His Die Meistersinger Overture and Hebrides are so exciting and rythmically alert; the list is endless and of such a wide reportoire. Which orchestra did you play in, BBC Northern?

[vibratoforever]

Agree completely, thanks Slarty!
I bought quite a few Pye lps, which were invariably crackly and low quality. What these faults did not disguise was the quality of some of the performances. The Dvorak 7th, 8th and 9th symphonies are so vibrant and lyrical as if live and are for me some of the best Barbirolli recordings outside of Mahler and English music. That these performances are available to download today for just under £8 for the lot is a minor miracle and well worth the cost! (and sounding much better than the lps)

[slarty]

That was always the problem with Pye LP's . They were never as good as the sound on the master tapes,until Mike Dutton started remastering them for PRT in the late 80's.(I wote a commisioned report for PRT on how best to utilise their back catalogue with Mike's stunning transfers and the repertoire of JB never since duplicated by HMV, but it had too short a run)
Then HMV(EMI) bought the back catalogue and hired MD to continue and issued them on the long defunct but still sought after Pheonixa CD series. Now they are all mixed together with the main HMV
Barbirolli back catalogue. I still use Michael Kennedy's discography although it is long out of date, for the original information on the pye years.

One of the best was "Puccini Love Scenes" with Leonora Lafayette and Richard Lewis with the Halle and JB with big chunks of Tosca, Boheme, Butterfly and Manon Lescaut.
The only recorded examples of JB's marvellous Puccini conducting (Butterfly excepted), recorded in stereo and superbly sung by both soloists.
The other was the stereo transfer of Mahler 1 ,which is still my favourite.
slarty

[cloughie]

That was always the problem with Pye LP's . They were never as good as the sound on the master tapes,until Mike Dutton started remastering them for PRT in the late 80's.(I wote a commisioned report for PRT on how best to utilise their back catalogue with Mike's stunning transfers and the repertoire of JB never since duplicated by HMV, but it had too short a run)
Then HMV(EMI) bought the back catalogue and hired MD to continue and issued them on the long defunct but still sought after Pheonixa CD series. Now they are all mixed together with the main HMV
Barbirolli back catalogue. I still use Michael Kennedy's discography although it is long out of date, for the original information on the pye years.

One of the best was "Puccini Love Scenes" with Leonora Lafayette and Richard Lewis with the Halle and JB with big chunks of Tosca, Boheme, Butterfly and Manon Lescaut.
The only recorded examples of JB's marvellous Puccini conducting (Butterfly excepted), recorded in stereo and superbly sung by both soloists.
The other was the stereo transfer of Mahler 1 ,which is still my favourite.
slarty

Dodgy pressings and when they started Golden Guinea and Marble Arch they got even worse. I think some of the Philip's stuff which was reissued on Concert Classics and Wing suffered similarly.

[Barbirollians]

It is a shame - that 1957 Elgar 1 for example sounds so constrained by the recording - but you can sense that there is a truly sensational account of the symphony just being muffled by it.

[Barbirollians]

Saints above what a stupendous account of the Brahms First Symphony with the Halle and Barbirolli at the Proms in 1954 is contained on that Guild disc .

Absolutely gripping from first to last and a coda to rival the Karajan RFH account on Testament which is saying something .

Stunning .

[Ferretfancy]

I've just been listening to a 2CD set from Disky on their budget Royal label, four Barbirolli performances, Sibelius 1 & 5, Brahms 4 and Nielsen 4. The two Sibelius performances were recorded in 1958 and 1959 by EMi, so predate the later issues in the Barbirolli Sibelius box. I particularly like the 1st, which goes quite swiftly which is effective in this symphony. Although the 5th has similar timings to his later recording, I find it rather laboured by comparison. The Brahms is romantic and too understated for me, especially in the last movement which has not got the inexorable quality i like to experience.\

I have the 1965 Proms performance of the Inextinguishable , but prefer the 1963 EMI which is better recorded. This is a terrific performance.
All in all, picking this up for a song has been well worth it. If you ever saw Barbirolli alive the con amore passages in his performances simply remind you of the loveable man.

[Barbirollians]

Those VPO/Barbirolli performances except for the Third Symphony are very con amore indeed - the Third is much the most vigorous of that set .

The 1954 Guild disc of the Proms performance of the First Symphony is very different , a visceral scintillating account.

[Barbirollians]

The VW 4 recently released on Barb Society is quite stunning - so different from the composer much slower but intense and extraordinary .

A great shame he and the Halle were not given a chance to record a complete studio set .

Listening to this again it ought to come with an X certificate ( but for good reasons ) a truly disturbing and terrifying account .

[Barbirollians]

I've just been listening to a 2CD set from Disky on their budget Royal label, four Barbirolli performances, Sibelius 1 & 5, Brahms 4 and Nielsen 4. The two Sibelius performances were recorded in 1958 and 1959 by EMi, so predate the later issues in the Barbirolli Sibelius box. I particularly like the 1st, which goes quite swiftly which is effective in this symphony. Although the 5th has similar timings to his later recording, I find it rather laboured by comparison. The Brahms is romantic and too understated for me, especially in the last movement which has not got the inexorable quality i like to experience.\

I have the 1965 Proms performance of the Inextinguishable , but prefer the 1963 EMI which is better recorded. This is a terrific performance.


All in all, picking this up for a song has been well worth it. If you ever saw Barbirolli alive the con amore passages in his performances simply remind you of the loveable man.

The EMI Nielsen has reappeared on a Barbirolli Society CD coupled with his earlier Halle Brahms 4 .

[Nimrod]

Slarty
Just seen your post from May (!) and thought you might like to know that you can get the Delius Idyll and the Puccini Love duets on fairly recent CD's from the Barbirolli Society. The Delius is found on SJB 1059-60, a two disc set featuring two performances of the Idyll, the Pye and a 'live' performance. Also there is a fascinating extract of a live Appalachia given in New York in 1938!! Never let it be said that JB was shy at championing English music abroad!!

The Puccini duets can be found on 'Barbirolli at the Opera' a two disc set SJB 1062-63 and I have really enjoyed listening to Lewis and Lafayette give their considerable all with JB providing sensitive accompaniment.

Have you got any other 'off the air' Barbirolli recordings?
Nimrod

[Karafan]

Nimrod - please check your PMs.

Thanks
K

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

He had a rough time when he was the Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, but I recently heard excerpts from some concerts that he led when re turned as a guest there after the war. The rapport between him and the Orchestra seemed fantastic and one would never know that there had been problems. It must have been a case of absence making the heart grow fonder.

Researching available recordings of Elgar's Intro & Allegro, I encountered this set for the first time:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/European_Badger#p007fndy

... does anybody know this set? (Apologies if I've missed discussion of this - a quick skim through 20 pages suggested it hasn't been mentioned.)

EDIT: before anyone badgers me about this, here is the correct (I hope!) link:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/West%2BHill%2BRadio%2BArchive/WHRA6033

[Bryn]

Researching available recordings of Elgar's Intro & Allegro, I encountered this set for the first time:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/European_Badger#p007fndy

... does anybody know this set? (Apologies if I've missed discussion of this - a quick skim through 20 pages suggested it hasn't been mentioned.)

Just had to quote that before you realised what you had done and edited it. A fine set(t) indeed.

[slarty]

Slarty
Just seen your post from May (!) and thought you might like to know that you can get the Delius Idyll and the Puccini Love duets on fairly recent CD's from the Barbirolli Society. The Delius is found on SJB 1059-60, a two disc set featuring two performances of the Idyll, the Pye and a 'live' performance. Also there is a fascinating extract of a live Appalachia given in New York in 1938!! Never let it be said that JB was shy at championing English music abroad!!

The Puccini duets can be found on 'Barbirolli at the Opera' a two disc set SJB 1062-63 and I have really enjoyed listening to Lewis and Lafayette give their considerable all with JB providing sensitive accompaniment.

Have you got any other 'off the air' Barbirolli recordings?
Nimrod

Sorry that it took so long to get back to you.
Yes quite a few, including some rare Houston Symphony broadcasts - Strauss Oboe Co, and Bürger aus Edelmann suite and Stravinsky's Firebird - none of which he recorded.
There is a marvelous chamber concert with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra from 1969
The two Boston symphony concerts from 1964 (parts of which have been issued) Beethoven Piano Co 3 with Magaloff in Houston 1966, Mozart K503 with Dino Ciani Naples 1968 - Proms 1967 Tchaikovsky Piano 1 Posnikova/Dvorak 7 - Proms 1969 Viennese Evening complete(not the BBC legends) Strauss 4 Letzte Lieder with Schwarzkopf from 1969
Probably the most memorable is the Papal concert at the Vatican in 1957 of Elgar's Gerontius with Jon Vickers! and Constance Shacklock.