As previously observed, I am continuing my examination of the collection Sir John Barbirolli: The Complete Warner Recordings by writing about his long-playing recordings of British orchestral compositions made with the Hallé Orchestra. This is far from a comprehensive survey. Barbirolli clearly had favorites, several of which have both monaural and stereo recordings. Among those favorites, the most attention goes to Edward Elgar, whom Barbirolli presumably knew, since both of them served as guest conductors of the Hallé Orchestra at the same time (when Hamilton Harty was conducting overseas). A fair amount of attention is given to Frederick Delius, who was basically Elgar’s contemporary, and the somewhat more recent Ralph Vaughan Williams. There are then “assorted others,” including two suites that Barbirolli himself arranged based on early English music (both of which he had recorded with the New York Philharmonic when he was leading that ensemble).
One cannot quibble over Barbirolli making multiple recordings of Elgar compositions. He always seemed to find new approaches to the scores. Thus, I have no problems with there being two different recordings of both of the symphonies (Opus 55 in A-flat major and Opus 63 in E-flat major), as well as the Opus 47 Allegro movement for strings (with an introduction). (However, the second recording of Opus 55 was made with the Philharmonia Orchestra, rather than the Hallé.) Most interesting, however, is the “bonus” CD releasing a “live” recording of a performance of the second part of the Opus 38 oratorio The Dream of Gerontius. This may have been previously unpublished due to flaws in both the recording conditions and the omission of the opening three measures of one of the arias. Nevertheless, even as an excerpt, this is probably the largest-scale Elgar selection in the collection; and it is definitely worthy of attentive listening.
The Vaughan Williams selections are much more modest. Nevertheless, there are two recordings of his second (“London”) symphony, along with single recordings of the seventh (“Sinfonia antartica”) and the eighth in D minor. The seventh is particularly notable, since the recording was made about six months after Barbirolli conducted the world premiere performance with soprano soloist Margaret Ritchie; and the recording includes all the resources from the Hallé premiere. If I have any quibble with Barbirolli’s Vaughan Williams repertoire, it is the absence of a complete recording of the “Aristophanic Suite,” whose movements were originally composed for a staging of The Wasps. The overture is wonderfully witty, and Barbirolli’s account clearly honors that wit. However, there is plenty of humor in some of the other movements of the suite, particularly the “March Past of the Kitchen Utensils,” which I very much missed.
Delius has fallen so far out of fashion that, according to my records, my only experience of his music in concert took place in September of 2013, when Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) decided to prepare a large collection of “miniatures” for performance by the San Francisco Symphony. The Delius selection was “On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring,” in which it is not difficult to detect the cuckoo’s song. That piece was recorded twice by Barbirolli, which probably affirms its past popularity. However, the composer had a far richer catalog, which included influences of time that he spent in the United States (in the state of Florida). While I tend to prefer Delius in small doses, I definitely appreciated than Barbirolli made a much better case for him than MTT did.
The remaining selections make for an appealing assortment. Readers may recall yesterday’s observation of my knowing Arnold Bax primarily through his orchestral tone poems. Barbirolli recorded two of them, “The Garden of Fand” and “Tintagel,” both of which are representative of the composer’s expressiveness in this genre. However, beyond any further specific details, Barbirolli knew how to cut to the core of the musical culture of his homeland at a time when most audiences preferred what they could get from Europe. I anticipate that, in the future, I shall be taking the time to revisit many of the recordings in this category of Barbirolli’s catalog.
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