An Irish Symphony

[Barbirollians]

Listened to Hamilton Harty's symphony today - great fun and much more fun than Stanford's version with its Brahms borrowings .

Looking at the proms archive it seems the last time it was performed was in 1930 ! Nothing by Harty since 1951 .

[Serial_Apologist]

Listened to Hamilton Harty's symphony today - great fun and much more fun than Stanford's version with its Brahms borrowings .

Looking at the proms archive it seems the last time it was performed was in 1930 ! Nothing by Harty since 1951 .

Nor by his friend Hale.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Nor by his friend Hale.

Ach so, ve haff heard so oft of ze English Harty-choke!

And your Wilhelm Shakespeare also make sehr oft ze Globe Harty-choke ve hear.

[Ve vill not even mention ze Jerusalem Harty-choke, but only you understand because (weil) zey are weil/Weill/completely inedible..](*)

(*)EDIT Frau LMP informs me that unsere Guinea-schweine ze Jerusalem Harty-chokes gern haben. "More fools they", sag' ich...

[Parry1912]

What about Sullivan's? Surely that's the best 'Irish' symphony!

[EdgeleyRob]

They are all worth hearing.

[Serial_Apologist]

Ach so, ve haff heard so oft of ze English Harty-choke!

And your Wilhelm Shakespeare also make sehr oft ze Globe Harty-choke ve hear.

[Ve vill not even mention ze Jerusalem Harty-choke, but only you understand because (weil) zey are weil/Weill/completely inedible..](*)

(*)EDIT Frau LMP informs me that unsere Guinea-schweine ze Jerusalem Harty-chokes gern haben. "More fools they", sag' ich...

[Barbirollians]

Not fond of the Sullivan - cod Irish sounding to my ears.

[BBMmk2]

Harty's is the best. I do rather like the Chandos recording! Shame on the Proms not having any of Harty's music since 1951! Thank you for that Barbs!

[Barbirollians]

Played it again tonight - it really is a charming piece and would be splendid for it to make a return to the Proms perhaps with the Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concerto in the first half and Ethel Smyth;s Overture to The Wreckers

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Forumistas whose interest has been piqued can hear the Bryden Thompson recording via youTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3PylSkxwY4

(Incidentally, don't be put off by the shown running time of 1hr 2mins: it's just over 53mins with 9mins of silence at the end!)

[Barbirollians]

There must be more music there fhgl - the symphony is about 30 minutes long.

[rauschwerk]

They are all worth hearing.

Once or twice.

[Pabmusic]

Once or twice.

I've conducted the Stanford. Apparently it was the most-played British symphony before Elgar 1. Very enjoyable.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There must be more music there fhgl - the symphony is about 30 minutes long.

- yes, the "uploader" appears to have had difficulties: I think (I don't know the piece) that only the symphony is here, but with very long pauses between the movements (to allow for extended bouts of applause from the youTube audience?). So, the First movement ends at 13mins 8secs, and the Second Movement doesn't start until 23mins 56secs! Movt ends at 27mins, and the the Third starts two minutes later, ending at 37mins 12secs, and the Finale "follows" at 43mins 10secs!

Bizarre! And apologies - this is the only youTube recording of the entire symphony; it may be less frustrating to go to the individual movements that are scattered around the youniverse; including this recording of the Scherzo conducted by the composer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3YtFhLVQNk

[Lat-Literal]

Listened to Hamilton Harty's symphony today - great fun and much more fun than Stanford's version with its Brahms borrowings .

Looking at the proms archive it seems the last time it was performed was in 1930 ! Nothing by Harty since 1951 .

Thank you. Interesting. I've listened to it all this morning. I feel it is a spirited if mild and somewhat formal romp through Irishness rather than something of considerable romance, nuance, tenderness and delicacy. Nevertheless, it is what it is and it works if one meets it on its own terms. I like it. One thing that surprises me is the absence of significant Irish composers historically in comparison to many other countries. I feel we should hear more of those who did make a contribution and would welcome more on the radio etc by Harty.