Havergal Brian: Orchestral Music Volume 1: Early and Late Works

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

committed performances, caught in excellent sound, too — Gramophone Magazine, August 2011

Release Date: 4th Apr 2011
Catalogue No: TOCC0110
Label: Toccata Classics
Length: 63 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

British Music - up to 25% off

Special offer ends: 08/05/2024

Brian: Legend

Work length7:04

$2.00

$2.60

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Garry Walker

Ave atque vale

Track length7:04

$2.00

$2.60

Brian: Elegy

Work length11:35

$3.00

$3.85

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Garry Walker

Brian: Burlesque Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 2

Work length25:29

$9.00

$11.70

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Garry Walker

Theme. Andante

Track length1:15

$1.00

$1.30

Variation 1: Imitando

Track length1:17

$1.00

$1.30

Vairation 2: Tempesto

Track length1:06

$1.00

$1.30

Variation 3: Elegy

Track length5:46

$1.00

$1.30

Variation 4: Allegretto grazioso

Track length3:35

$1.00

$1.30

Variation 5: Allegro resoluto

Track length2:16

$1.00

$1.30

Variation 6: Adagio e rubato e mistico

Track length2:05

$1.00

$1.30

Finale en form d'Ouverture

Track length8:09

$2.00

$2.60

Brian: English Suite No. 5 - Rustic Scenes

Work length19:08

$5.00

$6.50

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Garry Walker

I. Trotting to Market

Track length4:18

$1.00

$1.30

II. Reverie

Track length7:05

$2.00

$2.60

III. The Restless Stream

Track length4:06

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Village Revels

Track length3:39

$1.00

$1.30

About
Reviews
Explore

About

The long-neglected British composer Havergal Brian (1876–1972) is gradually coming in from the cold, with recordings on Naxos, Dutton, Testament and now Toccata Classics.

Self-taught, from a working-class family in Stoke-on Trent, he shot to fame when Henry Wood discovered him for the 1907 Proms; but he remained an outsider to the British musical establishment, and is as much known for his creative persistence in the face of utter neglect as for the extremely serious and ambitious works that he produced.

His copious output famously includes 32 symphonies, begun when he was in his mid-forties and continued at a constant rate well into his 90s. Only occasionally requiring gigantic forces on stage – Sir Adrian Boult, who conducted his First Symphony (The Gothic), reportedly had to rehearse with a megaphone in order to be heard – Brian’s symphonies do nonetheless demand large orchestras.

There is also a substantial body of smaller symphonic works such as those featured on this disc (overtures, suites, symphonic poems and variations) that he began as a young man and which he continued to compose as a complement to his later symphonic output.

The four works here span 65 years and encompass his entire composing career: from the early Burlesque Variations that was also championed at the Proms and presumed lost until 1974, to two mature and highly contrasted works from the 1950s and finally his epilogue – Ave atque Vale, music of astonishing vigour and energy for a 92-year-old, and the second-last work that he wrote before he died.

Reviews

August 2011

committed performances, caught in excellent sound, too

Offer,Havergal Brian: Orchestral Music Volume 1

CD

Downloads

Contents

Download queue