Brian - Symphonies 7 & 16, The Tinker’s Wedding Overture | Naxos 8573959

Brian - Symphonies 7 & 16, The Tinker’s Wedding Overture

£12.30

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Label: Naxos

Cat No: 8573959

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Orchestral

Release Date: 10th May 2019

Contents

Artists

New Russia State Symphony Orchestra

Conductor

Alexander Walker

Works

Brian, Havergal

Symphony no.7 in C major
Symphony no.16
The Tinker's Wedding: Comedy Overture

Artists

New Russia State Symphony Orchestra

Conductor

Alexander Walker

About

Havergal Brian’s late creativity is almost unparalleled in musical history – in the last two decades of his life he wrote 25 symphonies. No.7, the last of his truly large-scale symphonies, was inspired by Goethe’s autobiographical account of his time as a student in Strasbourg. Symphony no.16 is a tough single-movement work, evoking Ancient Greece and the savagery of the Persian Wars. In bright contrast The Tinker’s Wedding is a sparkling comedy overture based on the play by J.M. Synge.

The English composer Havergal Brian is known for his orchestral compositions on a grand scale, which includes 32 symphonies. This new release is the eleventh instalment in our recording series, of which the first volume – the epic Symphony No.1, ‘The Gothic’ – dates back from 1991 (Naxos 855741819). The Penguin Guide wrote: ‘The first of the Havergal Brian symphonies here receives a passionately committed performance from Slovak forces. Despite a few incidental flaws, it conveys surging excitement from first to last, helped by a rich recording, which gives a thrilling impression of massed forces.’

This is the fourth recording, in the series, from the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra and conductor Alexander Walker. The Symphonies Nos. 6, 28, 29 and 31 release (8573408) was awarded ‘Excepcional’ by Scherzo magazine, with Gramophone commenting the ‘New Russia State Symphony Orchestra do the music proud. The sound quality is very good, too, as it needs to be for Brian’s complex, multi-layered invention.’

Their recording of Symphonies Nos. 8, 21 and 26 (8573752) was an American Record Guide ‘Critic’s Choice’: ‘this Russian orchestra delivers an excellent rendition of his brawny, bristling style. Walker’s interpretations show their usual understanding of Brian’s maverick logic.’

The Symphonies Nos. 22–24 and English Suite No.1 (8572833) recording was a Gramophone ‘Holiday Critic’s Choice’: ‘Naxos’ sound is clear and precise, the playing of the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra remarkably idiomatic…’

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