BaL - Long Overdue Works

[BBMmk2]

Agreed. It would be nice to know what the principles are, by which works are chosen, and chosen again. My impression now is that it has a 'make it up as you go along feel'....'oh, we haven't done that one for a while, have we, let's go for that'...

I'd love to hear one on Bach's Orgelbuchlein, to go no further.

And earlier music? Purcell's string fancies, or trio sonatas? Gibbons is probably one of the great English composers, for goodness sake, and has never figured.

I can see they may want to keep to fairly mainstream repertoire, but it still does not justify the amount of repetition, and the gaps.

Indeed, Silvertrione. This period needs further attention. Not much, if at all gets a look in fro BaL. Occaisionally the main programme has a clutch of recordings, but afaik, not many?

[Petrushka]

Has the Verdi Requiem had the BaL treatment in recent years? There have been some fresh re-issues and new recordings in recent years which might warrant a fresh appraisal.

If it's been done fairly recently then I must have missed it.

[Sir Velo]

A list of BAL reviews since 1999 is here.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I would like A McG to select works for BaL that have only one or two recordings.

So Britten's Paul Bunyan or Noye's Fludde would be good choices.

[pastoralguy]

A list of BAL reviews since 1999 is here.

Thank you.

[BBMmk2]

Not, Richard Strauss's Alpine Symphony, then EA?

[Keraulophone]

I don't remember an Eroica one ever ( but I did spend five years out of the country in the 70s)

I remember an Eroica BaL in the '70s which persuaded me to part with scarce student cash for the mid-price recommendation of Szell/Cleveland Orch on CBS... LP still sounding fine. Can't recall the full-price choice.

[Bryn]

Not, Richard Strauss's Alpine Symphony, then EA?

Covered as recently as 22/01/2011 by William Mival. HvK's was the recommended recording.

[Karafan]

I quite liked it when board members recently unearthed BaL scripts from god-alone-knows-where - very interesting to peruse....

As a dyed-in-the-wool Brucknerian, I agree I don't remember the 6th ever getting an airing on BaL, though the 5th has been done at least twice as mentioned (Barenboim being chosen on the second occasion, and didn't David Mellor - how did he get on to R3!? - choose Karajan in the first survey?).

What about the Bruckner 1-3?

K.

[Nick Armstrong]

I quite liked it when board members recently unearthed BaL scripts from god-alone-knows-where - very interesting to peruse....

Did I unearth my Michael Kennedy script of his 80s BAL on Mahler 7? I keep meaning to look for it again....

[Karafan]

You may have done Cali - will have to check when I get home....

[Sir Velo]

I would like A McG to select works for BaL that have only one or two recordings.

Well, of course this is done on a fairly regular basis. Since 2004 we have had conspectuses of Berio, Charpentier, Biber, CPE Bach, Scarlatti sonatas, Carter, Tippett, Lully, Duparc songs, Finzi, Poulenc, Gesualdo, Vivaldi operas, Telemann and, most recently, Dowland in which recommendations for works have been made on the basis of few, if any, alternative recordings being available.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

As a dyed-in-the-wool Brucknerian, I agree I don't remember the 6th ever getting an airing on BaL

It was "done" in the early 1980s (c1982) by Richard Osborne who chose Klemperer, but who said that if there were ever a performance that combined the strength of Klemperer's outer Movements with Barenboim's inner Movements, he would endorse that more fully than the Klemperer. Several recordings since - not least Barenboim's BPO recording: be good if RO were invited back to do his own remake.

What about the Bruckner 1-3?

[Sir Velo]

One glaring omission is the piano works of Nicolai Medtner. Listening to the Sonata Tragica today reminds one of how transcendentally magisterial works like this and the Sonata "Night Wind" are. Come on BBC! Pull your collective fingers out and get Bryce Morrison to review this ridiculously neglected composer ASAP.

[amateur51]

One glaring omission is the piano works of Nicolai Medtner. Listening to the Sonata Tragica today reminds one of how transcendentally magisterial works like this and the Sonata "Night Wind" are. Come on BBC! Pull your collective fingers out and get Bryce Morrison to review this ridiculously neglected composer ASAP.

I second that Sir Velo, both the piece and the librarian - no smart cracks about Joyce Hatto please, because over the years Bryce Morrison & Joan Chissell in the pre-Haymarket Gramophone steered me in the direction of some very fine recordings of piano music, and I have every confidence that he can still do it