Havergal Brian.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Just in:

'Brian's final opera, Agamemnon will be released on the Hyperion label on 28th March 2025. The CD will also contain symphonies 6 Sinfonia Tragica and no. 12. The performers will be members of the English National Opera conducted by our President, Martyn Brabbins' (HBS Newsletter 285)

[Albion]

Just in:

'Brian's final opera, Agamemnon will be released on the Hyperion label on 28th March 2025. The CD will also contain symphonies 6 Sinfonia Tragica and no. 12. The performers will be members of the English National Opera conducted by our President, Martyn Brabbins' (HBS Newsletter 285)

Wow! Thanks for the heads-up, great to see that Hyperion's enterprise is not dead in spite of the rumours...

[relm1]

Just in:

'Brian's final opera, Agamemnon will be released on the Hyperion label on 28th March 2025. The CD will also contain symphonies 6 Sinfonia Tragica and no. 12. The performers will be members of the English National Opera conducted by our President, Martyn Brabbins' (HBS Newsletter 285)

Are there any remaining operas that haven't been recorded after Agamemnon's release?

[Augustus]

Are there any remaining operas that haven't been recorded after Agamemnon's release?

There remains the opera Turandot, though substantial orchestral excerpts from that have already been issued on Toccata Classics.  The complete work is probably about 2hrs 30m in duration and is, apart from any re-orchestration of the vocal score of the lost 'By the Waters of Babylon', the only extant Brian work left to be recorded.  All the part songs are recorded and will soon be available on Toccata Classics.  We are lucky to be approaching 'total Brian' as regards recordings, though we can always hope for better recordings of some works to come along.  Personally, I would love to see a modern recording of the Third Symphony, perhaps under Martyn Brabbins.

[Maestro267]

If anything, I'd say the Fourth Symphony needs a better recording with at least a better soloist. At least the Third already has two serviceable recordings.

[Albion]

Just in:

'Brian's final opera, Agamemnon will be released on the Hyperion label on 28th March 2025. The CD will also contain symphonies 6 Sinfonia Tragica and no. 12. The performers will be members of the English National Opera conducted by our President, Martyn Brabbins' (HBS Newsletter 285)

Typical of Hyperion's high standards, here is the attractive and eye-catching cover art:



 

[foxandpeng]

Typical of Hyperion's high standards, here is the attractive and eye-catching cover art:



 

Great cover

[Maestro267]

I saw that and first thought it was a cover from the 70s.

[Roasted Swan]

Typical of Hyperion's high standards, here is the attractive and eye-catching cover art:



 

I hope I am proved wrong but I wonder if this is going to be one of the last 'big' projects for Hyperion?  Brabbins has resigned from ENO over the cuts to the orchestra and chorus/suggested move away from London and Hyperion's release schedule since their sale last year has notably had far fewer big orchestral recordings featured than in the past...... (there might be some recordings 'in the can' but not yet released I guess but as far as brand new projects are concerned.......)

[Klaatu]

Delighted to find this LIVE performance of The Gothic on YouTube- it's the 2011 Curro version in Australia. Apologies if this has already been flagged up - it was posted 5 months ago and I've only just spotted it.

https://youtu.be/b8XKRAAYr_k?si=uHA0fV1BAIZU-YFR

[Roasted Swan]

Delighted to find this LIVE performance of The Gothic on YouTube- it's the 2011 Curro version in Australia. Apologies if this has already been flagged up - it was posted 5 months ago and I've only just spotted it.

https://youtu.be/b8XKRAAYr_k?si=uHA0fV1BAIZU-YFR

Great find - the choir have a bit of a struggle!!

[relm1]

Delighted to find this LIVE performance of The Gothic on YouTube- it's the 2011 Curro version in Australia. Apologies if this has already been flagged up - it was posted 5 months ago and I've only just spotted it.

https://youtu.be/b8XKRAAYr_k?si=uHA0fV1BAIZU-YFR

That's so cool to see!  That's the one I was at rehearsals for and sat next to Malcolm MacDonald who was so pleasant and informative.  The concert was so deeply moving and just a wonderful experience! 

[calyptorhynchus]

My Heritage disc of BBC recordings of symphonies 29-32 arrived from the HBS yesterday and I have been listening to it.

The Myer Fredman recordings of 29 and 32 I already knew from the HBS website streaming recordings, but hearing them in all their original sound is just amazing. I hope this disc will make people reevaluate no. 32. I know there is a danger of overvaluing the last work a composer wrote, but in this case Brian really did go out on top form. I love this work and it reminds me of VW's 9th, the sense of eternally questing.

The other two recordings I hadn't heard before, they are BBC recordings from 1979 (30 Friend) and 1989 (31 Mackerras), and are both very fine too.  Note that the Mackerras 31 is a different recording from that presented on EMI. Is Mackerras the first conductor to have two published recordings of the same HB work?

[krummholz]

My Heritage disc of BBC recordings of symphonies 29-32 arrived from the HBS yesterday and I have been listening to it.

The Myer Fredman recordings of 29 and 32 I already knew from the HBS website streaming recordings, but hearing them in all their original sound is just amazing. I hope this disc will make people reevaluate no. 32. I know there is a danger of overvaluing the last work a composer wrote, but in this case Brian really did go out on top form. I love this work and it reminds me of VW's 9th, the sense of eternally questing.

The other two recordings I hadn't heard before, they are BBC recordings from 1979 (30 Friend) and 1989 (31 Mackerras), and are both very fine too.  Note that the Mackerras 31 is a different recording from that presented on EMI. Is Mackerras the first conductor to have have two published recordings of the same HB work?

I'm impressed - I just received notice from the HBS this morning about the availability of that disc, as well as of Agamemnon together with Symphonies 6 and 12. I assume these had been officially announced earlier on the site (which I rarely visit), and the email was delivering old news.

[calyptorhynchus]

And my copy of Agamemnon arrived from the HBS yesterday.

The performances of the symphonies 6 and 12 by Brabbins are very high quality. I don't think that Brabbins' S6 is quite as majestic as Myer Fredman's on Lyrita, but it's getting close. I was thinking about the three available recordings of this work, rather fancifully I was thinking that Fredman's could be thought of as from the PoV of a witness of the original events (if they ever happened), someone at Emain Macha; Alexander Walker's from the PoV of someone watching  Synge's play (or Brian's opera if he had ever written it); Brabbins is more intense than Walker, but not as objective as Fredman, so I guess you could say it's from the PoV of the protagonist (Deidre).

That's as record-reviewy as I'm ever going to get.

Brabbins' 12 is not quite so good because he doesn't slow down enough for the central funeral march (neither does Adrian Leaper in his recording). That section is titled 'a tempo marcia lento', but Brabbins doesn't take it slowly. (My father, who was in the RAF and used to complain that in his time enlisted he had spent far too much time marching around the parade ground, said that of all the marches the slow march was the most difficult, because it is slow. That's why funeral marches are are so heart-wrenching, they drag the sorrow out.) Norman del Mar in his BBC radio recording does it very well, the adjective is overused, but his performance really is 'shattering'.

And Agamemnon, very well performed and played, great to have a performance in good sound quality.

[Ashen Pathfinder]

From the April-June issue of the HBS Newsletter:

"With Agamemnon and symphonies 6 & 12 now in the process of preparation for release, the committee is preparing for a release on CD of further historic performances on the Heritage label of Brian symphonies taken from original BBC masters. This will be the first of the final three Heritage releases supported by the HBS, one per year until 2026 with the final issue celebrating the 150th anniversary of Brian's birth. Under preparation are the last four symphonies, numbers 29, 30, 31 and 32 in excellent performances conducted by Myer Fredman, Sir Charles Mackerras and Lionel Friend, with the Philharmonia and BBC Symphony orchestras from 1978 and 1989."

That Heritage release will come in late January.

After reading this I am hopeful that the Mackerras performance of Brian's 2nd will get a Heritage release.

That said can't wait to get my hands on the new releases!