GHCD 2320 Secure E-shop Broadcast & Review

Sir JOHN BARBIROLLI (1899-1970) Sir JOHN BARBIROLLI AT THE PROMS – Music by Haydn and Brahms  Haydn: Overture and aria from ‘The Creation’ Joseph Galliver (tenor) Brahms: Symphony No 1 in C minor Opus 68 Halle Orchestra Live at the ‘Proms’ Royal Albert Hall London August 1954 Brahms:  Symphony No 1 in C minor Opus 68 I. Un poco sostenuto Brahms:  Symphony No 1 in C minor Opus 68 III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso

Contents:

The recordings on this disc are all derived from BBC Transcription Service discs of a BBC Promenade Concert given in the Royal Albert Hall, London, on  24 August 1954. The concert was devoted to works by Haydn and Brahms. Barbirolli had a special affinity for the works of both composers. In addition to the items on this disc, the concert also included Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 “London” in D and Brahms Double Concerto in which the soloists were Endre Wolf (violin) and André Navarra (‘cello).

John Barbirolli’s association with the London Promenade Concerts dated back to the seasons in 1916 and 1917 when, as a recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, he had played as a young cellist in the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under the baton of Henry Wood. This included the Promenade Concerts.

He first conducted the Hallé Orchestra at the BBC Promenade Concerts in August 1953, when they gave a series of six nightly Promenade Concerts between Monday 24 and Saturday 29 August 1953. It marked the beginning of a long and fruitful association between Barbirolli, the Hallé Orchestra and the BBC Promenade Concerts, which lasted until 1969 when, on 8 & 9 August 1969, Barbirolli conducted his last pair of BBC Proms, culminating on the Saturday evening with a ‘Viennese Evening’ – an ever-popular and eagerly-awaited event which, over the years, had become a firm favourite with the Promenade Concert audiences. Seven items from Sir John Barbirolli’s final BBC Promenade Concert, including a splendid performance of Haydn’s Symphony No. 83 “The Hen” in G minor, were issued on BBC Legends CD, BBCL 4038-2, in 2000. Barbirolli was due to conduct at the Proms again in August 1970 but his untimely death, on 29 July 1970, brought to an end an association with the London Promenade Concerts which had lasted for well over fifty years.

Barbirolli had a great affinity for the works of Haydn (whom he habitually referred to as “Papa Haydn”) and was widely recognised as one of the great Haydn conductors. Early in his career he conducted and recorded Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 “London” in D. He recorded this in November 1927, at the Vocalion Studios in London, for the National Gramophonic Society and re-recorded for HMV with the John Barbirolli Chamber Orchestra, at the Queen’s Hall, London, during March and April 1928. With the same orchestra, he recorded Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D, with Guilhemina Suggia as soloist, in July 1928. During his time as conductor of the Scottish Orchestra in the 1930’s he conducted seven of the Haydn Symphonies at concerts in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and he also introduced excerpts from Haydn’s “Hen” and “Toy” Symphonies to thousands of Scottish school children in his annual series of schools’ concerts in Glasgow and elsewhere. During his twenty-seven years with the Hallé Orchestra, he conducted at least twenty of the Haydn Symphonies which were heard by appreciative audiences throughout Britain. Haydn also featured in his international career with many of the world’s orchestras and members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, in particular, had a very high regard for him as a conductor of  Haydn.

However, the two Haydn items included on this disc were rarely conducted by Barbirolli and I have not been able to trace any other instances of him conducting either of these works. He certainly did not ever conduct Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation” in its entirety, though on occasion he did accompany soloists in excerpts from it. The recit and aria – And God created man in his own image …. In native worth - are sung in this live recording by tenor, David Galliver, who was born in Bristol, educated at Shrewsbury School, studied languages (French and German) at New College Oxford, and then turned to a career in music. He was the tenor soloist when Barbirolli conducted Part One of Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius” for Pope Pius X11, at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo in 1958. Galliver was the tenor soloist in Britten’s War Requiem when it was performed for the first time in Australia at the 1964 Adelaide Festival. Two years later, he was appointed Elder Professor of Music at Adelaide University, a post which he held until 1984. He died in Port Elliot, South Australia, in July 2001.

Haydn’s L’Isola Disabitata  “The Uninhabited Island” is an opera from which this overture is taken.

It was premiered in 1779. There are only four characters in the opera and no chorus. The setting for the plot is an uninhabited island in the Atlantic Ocean. The island is visited by Constanza and her husband, Gernando, on their honeymoon. Whilst momentarily parted, and unknown to Constanza, he is captured and enslaved and she subsequently lives on the island for several years with her younger sister, Silvia. Eventually, Gernando is freed from slavery and along with his fellow slave, Enrico, they visit the island to look for Constanza. Enrico meets Silvia and learns that Constanza is alive and well, and eventually, of course, Constanza is reunited with Gernando. Enrico falls in love with Silvia and they are also united in marriage, so there is a harmonious ending to the opera! The overture captures the essence of the plot.

Barbirolli also had a great affinity for the works of Brahms and conducted very many memorable performances of Brahms’ works throughout a long and distinguished conducting career. His early HMV recordings included an excerpt, Ye that now are sorrowful,  from Brahms’ German Requiem with Florence Austral and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Orchestra, in August 1928, and the highly acclaimed, historic recording of Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D, with Fritz Kreisler and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, in June 1936. At the outset of John Barbirolli’s conducting career, his concert work was mainly confined to performances of works with his own string and chamber orchestras, and from 1926 onwards his career was centred on his work with the British National Opera Company, its successor, the Covent Garden (Touring) Opera Company, and his appearances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Opportunities to conduct Brahms during this period were few and far between but he was invited to conduct several concerts for the Royal Philharmonic Society and with the London Symphony Orchestra during this time, and Brahms’ Second Symphony became one of the very early works in his developing symphonic repertoire. His appointment to the post of permanent conductor of the Scottish Orchestra in 1933 gave him the opportunity to rapidly expand his developing symphonic repertoire and Brahms featured prominently in this: The remaining three symphonies, the Violin Concerto (Heifetz and Hubermann), First Piano Concerto (Horowitz), Second Piano Concerto (Rubinstein), Four Serious Songs (Maria Olczewska), the Academic Festival Overture, the Haydn Variations and two (Nos. 5 & 6) of the Hungarian Dances were added to his repertoire during the next two years. He also conducted the Brahms Double Concerto with the Leeds Symphony Orchestra during this period. Brahms featured prominently in his concerts with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra between 1936 and 1943, and he made commercial recordings of Brahms’ Second Symphony and the Academic Festival Overture with the PSONY for the American Columbia Company.

During his twenty-seven years with the Hallé Orchestra, Barbirolli conducted countless performances of the majority of Brahms’ major works to audiences throughout the length and breadth of Britain and also on his tours abroad with the Hallé. Brahms featured prominently also in Barbirolli’s international conducting career with many of the world’s major orchestras. He made commercial recordings of Brahms’ Third and Fourth Symphonies with the Hallé, but not the First or Second Symphonies, and so, despite the excellent Brahms symphony cycle (and other items) which he recorded commercially with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for EMI during 1966-67, this live 1954 recording of Brahms’ First Symphony with the Hallé Orchestra is a very welcome addition to Barbirolli’s legacy of recordings.                                © David Ll. Jones, 2006                                                        

Page created Tuesday  January 16 2007