Belshazzar's Feast

[ardcarp]

This was broadcast live with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Chorus.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b083qxwc

It really is a terrific piece! I never tire of hearing it. In particular the sequence 'Praise ye the god of gold, silver, iron, wood, brass, etc' is Walton at his exuberant best. I always wish, though, that choirs matched up to the brilliance of the orchestral score. It's a tricky one, because you need a large body of singers to make themselves heard; but a large body of singers is not, by definition, a professional choir. I would dearly love to hear a performance where several ace chamber choirs (or maybe half a dozen of the best cathedral/collegiate choirs?) combined together to give it the choral pazzaz that it needs...a definitive rendition!

[Vox Humana]

There's probably a whole thread to be posted about ideal performances that we have conceived but have never heard realised! (Bach's Cantata 54 for me - but let's not start that here.)

[BBMmk2]

Well, my favourite Belshazzar's Feast will always be Andre Previn's. Unless other members can say otherwise!

[eighthobstruction]

....is it a proper Xmas dinner with all the trimmings....??

[ardcarp]

Well, my favourite Belshazzar's Feast will always be Andre Previn's.

I've got that one. Agreed, great orchestral playing and plenty of verve (as you'd expect from Mr Preview) but it rather exemplifies what I was trying to say tactfully about choral singing to match.

[Serial_Apologist]

I've still not heard anything to better the 1959 composer's own conducting of the work on Columbia, with baritonist Donald Bell, and the Philharmonia Orchestra and Choir, in its coupling with the Arnoldesque 1958 Partita. I still have the LP my dad bought on the day he acquired our new stereogram with its seemingly lead-weighted pickup; after scores of playings it's pretty much eroded, as may be imagined, and in need of replacement.

[Serial_Apologist]

....is it a proper Xmas dinner with all the trimmings....??

As a waiter I was strictly instructed never to ask a customer if she wanted stuffing. Seasoning was all right, apparently...

[Thropplenoggin]

Well, my favourite Belshazzar's Feast will always be Andre Previn's. Unless other members can say otherwise!

I'll have a think which other version might be your favourite unbeknownst to you.

[Tony Halstead]

Well, my favourite Belshazzar's Feast will always be Andre Previn's. Unless other members can say otherwise!

I played the somewhat tired and worn-out Kingsway Hall organ on that recording.

[DublinJimbo]

I've always had a soft spot for the 1990 recording with Thomas Allen and the London Philharmonic under Leonard Slatkin.

[Barbirollians]

I once saw it conducted in Sheffield in the late 1980s I am pretty sure by Sir Charles Groves and that was a cracking performance .I do not think I have heard it in concert since .

[ardcarp]

Do you remember who the baritone soloist was? It's a gift sent from heaven for some! Was it Roger Stalman by any chance?

[pastoralguy]

My introduction was the Hickox recording which, iirc, was the first cd version which I played to distraction on my new fangled CD player. Alas, it's not as interesting to play as it is to listen to.

In fact, I remember getting into trouble since I got carried away in the rehearsal and joined in the 'SLAIN' moment from the back of the first fiddle section!

[BBMmk2]

I played the somewhat tired and worn-out Kingsway Hall organ on that recording.

Didn't sound tired but better have a listen, more carefully! :)

[ardcarp]

Alas, it's not as interesting to play as it is to listen to.

Maybe not for a fiddler, but the brass and percussion have a field day, surely?
It is a terrific piece to sing. Keeps you on your toes. My first experience of it was as a student, flown out to bolster a performance in Belfast. Before 'the troubles' started. No connection, I hope........