BBC Philharmonic

Liszt - Symphonic Poems Volume 4

Tippett - Orchestral Works

Miklós Rózsa - Orchestral Works Volume 1

Rachmaninov - Symphony No. 1

Regarded as one of the most remarkable composers of the twentieth century, Serge Rachmaninoff wrote three romantically inclined symphonies, two of which are now standard orchestral repertoire. However, the premiere of Symphony No. 1 was such a disaster that Rachmaninoff refrained from composing anything more for the next three years. The conductor, Glazunov, is reputed to have been drunk, and Rachmaninoff was unable to attend the entire performance. He reacted by tearing up the score. Thankfully for posterity, the instrumental parts were preserved and rediscovered in 1945, permitting the work to be restored. It is a work full of youthful fervour, distinctive and sweeping themes, and nationalist sentiments, and is now widely regarded as a vivid example of his early talent. It is complemented here by the ‘Youth Symphony’, the first movement of a projected but never completed symphony in D minor, composed when Rachmaninoff was only seventeen, and the great symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead, inspired by Arnold Böcklin’s painting of the same name which Rachmaninoff had seen on display in Paris in 1907. Composed in 1909, it is still a relatively early work, but contains some of the dark Russian spiritual qualities which Rachmaninoff was to develop further in his later compositions.

Bax - Tone Poems Volume 2

For Bax there were several periods of intense creativity when he committed to paper a variety of works in the form of piano scores, and orchestrated them when required. Many of the tone poems performed here were conceived in this fashion, including Red Autumn, which here receives its premiere recording. Originally a solo piano piece, it was then arranged for two pianos by Bax himself. In 2006 the Sir Arnold Bax Trust commissioned Graham Parlett to orchestrate the work in Bax’s early period style specifically for this recording. Heard in its orchestral dress it immediately reveals its family resemblance to the tone poems Nympholept and November Woods, composed round the same time. Vernon Handley brings together for the first time three orchestral movements to which the collective title ‘Three Northern Ballads’ has been given. They date from the late 1920s and early 1930s, breathe much the same atmosphere, and Handley is keen to promote them as forming a unified, almost symphonic, whole. The first, which Bax composed and gave the name ‘Northern Ballad’ in 1927, was followed by a second Ballad, orchestrated in 1931. The third, formally entitled Prelude for a Solemn Occasion, appears to evoke a Sibelian musical landscape, and occupies the same world as the composer’s Sixth Symphony, which followed almost immediately. When Bax orchestrated the third piece he was taking his usual winter sojourn at Morar, Inverness-shire, and in a letter to a friend wrote, ‘It suggests an atmosphere of the dark north and perhaps dark happenings among the mists’. The nature painting in the work certainly calls to mind the wilds of Scotland. Joining this quasi-symphonic work, in addition to Red Autumn, are three further early tone poems. Into the Twilight dates from Bax’s first intensive period of composition, the years immediately preceding World War I, and originated as the prelude to a planned Irish opera, Deirdre. It received only one performance during Bax’s lifetime, in 1909, conducted by Thomas Beecham. Nympholept which followed was the work in which Bax fully achieved the impressionistic technique of his first maturity. It suggests the pagan natural world in which Bax was so deeply interested. The Happy Forest, follows a pastoral short story by Herbert Farjeon, and is an Arcadian evocation much like Nympholept. It was first performed in 1923 under Eugene Goossens, its dedicatee.

Bainton - Orchestral Works

The earliest work recorded here, The Golden River, is taken from the Newcastle years and takes its inspiration from the short story by John Ruskin. The original version was completed in 1908 before being completely revised and a new third movement added in June 1912 – the version you hear on this recording. Last performed in 1913; this is the first time it has been heard in over 90 years. In 1914 while en route to the Bayreuth Festival, Bainton was apprehended as a British civilian in wartime Germany and interned for the next four years in Ruhleben Camp near Berlin. He was placed in charge of music-making at the camp and became acquainted with a number of other musicians, including Ernest MacMillan and cellist Carl Fuchs. Despite many hardships this four-year exile proved to be a period of great creativity, resulting in Three Pieces for Orchestra and a piano concerto, his Concerto Fantasia, which he completed in 1920, and was awarded a Carnegie Prize. Bainton’s approach to Concerto Fantasia is original, (although possibly sparked on hearing Busoni’s Piano Concerto in 1909) the ‘Fantasia’ element being created by the opening cadenza which continually re-appears at various stages of the work and an integral part of the thematic material. At a performance given in Birmingham in 1921, with Bainton as soloist, the critic Alfred Sheldon wrote “… the event introduced to Birmingham the most considerable contribution to the repertory of music for piano in combination with orchestra we have had from a composer for many years.” Here the work is performed by Margaret Fingerhut, who has an extensive discography with Chandos. In a recent review she was described as “an accomplished and stylish advocate” (BBC Music Magazine). Completing the repertoire is Bainton’s only published orchestral work, the poignantly Pavane, Idyll and Bacchanal. All premiere recordings

Kapp - Orchestral Works

The Film Music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Volume 2

Best of British Light Music

A 2-CD Set of Nostalgic Music by the Best of British Light Music Composers