The story of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is, first and foremost, a story about its founder Sir Thomas Beecham. Beecham was known to distinguish himself from his contemporary colleagues by reminding them that his title was inherited. He was the grandson on Thomas Beecham, founder of a major pharmaceutical business based on the creation of a laxative sold under the name “Beecham’s Pills.” Beecham’s son, Joseph, took over the business, expanding it on an international scale. Through his success, he was made a baronet, after which he was known officially as “Sir Joseph Beecham, 1st Baronet.” That title was then passed to his son, who became Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet.
In 1932 Beecham founded the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), which enjoyed support by rich patrons until the outbreak of World War II. During wartime Beecham left England, working as a conductor in both Australia and the United States. He was welcomed back by the LPO in September of 1944, but the ensemble was now managed by all of the players. Beecham would not stand for being an employee; and, in 1945, he conducted the first concert of the Philharmonia Orchestra, founded by Walter Legge. However, when he learned that leading the ensemble would again be a salaried position, he set about to create a new ensemble on his own terms. The Royal Philharmonic Society allowed the new ensemble to replace the LPO at all of the Society’s concerts and was named the “Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,” which was officially founded in 1946.
courtesy of Naxos of America
A little over a month ago, SOMM Recordings released a new album to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the RPO. The title of the album is Thomas Beecham Conducts Sibelius; and the music consists primarily of Jean Sibelius’ Opus 39, his first symphony composed in the key of E minor. This is coupled with two of the movements from his Opus 66, his second Scènes historiques suite. If this strikes readers as a somewhat skimpy offering, they should be informed that the CD also includes a half-hour track entitled “Playing for Beecham.” RPO violist John Underwood and second violinist Raymond Ovens share their memories of working under Beecham with Jon Tolansky.
It turns out that this is my latest encounter with Amazon.com bungling its Web pages, since the search for this album will lead the seeker to “something completely different.” As a result once again, I find myself directing readers to the Presto Music Classical Web page. Presto is based in Royal Leamington Spa in the United Kingdom, which means that, between pandemic conditions and the seasonal rush, delivery time of the “physical version” is likely to be a bit up in the air. However, there are three download options with different levels of audio quality, all of which include the PDF booklet.
By way of disclaimer, I should make it clear that I have not followed the Beecham discography with the same enthusiasm I have devoted to a conductor like Wilhelm Furtwängler. As a result, my fondest memory of Beecham comes from his contribution to the second BBC Legends anthology, which I discussed on this site almost exactly four years ago. That collection included a recording of the second Sibelius symphony, Opus 43 in D major, conducted by Beecham. That recording was made on December 8, 1954, over two years after the Opus 39 recording; and the ensemble was the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Sibelius had accumulated an impressively extensive portfolio by the time he completed Opus 39 in 1899, subsequently revised the following year. Work on Opus 43 would then begin shortly thereafter in 1901. It would probably be fair to say that the symphonies share a common “rhetorical ground;” but I am sad to say that, under Beecham’s baton, the rhetorical approach to Opus 43 is much more full-blooded that what one encounters on the earlier recording of Opus 39.
The fact is that Sibelius occupied a moderately extensive presence in the Beecham discography. However, those who consult the Wikipedia page for that discography will note the absence of Opus 39. This new SOMM album offers the first release of the only known live recording of Beecham conducting that symphony. The Wikipedia page does not account for any studio recording; but Beecham made such a recording a few months prior to the concert performance on the album, which was made during the 1952 Edinburgh International Festival. Having not encountered the studio recording, I do not feel equipped to try to diagnose why this newly discovered Opus 39 account falls so far short of the BBC recording of Opus 43.
No comments:
Post a Comment