Charles Williams: Seaford Head.

Charles Williams has written a delightful miniature tone-poem describing one of the most romantic places in the South of England. Seaford Head is located between Brighton and Eastbourne. From the Head there is a great view of the South Downs, the famous Seven Sisters and unsurpassed vistas of the English Channel. Tennyson stayed here and revised his ‘Ode to Wellington’. The house has gone, but the garden is (I believe) still there, with cedar trees...

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Great European Organs No.85: Daniel Cook plays the T.C. Lewis Organ of St. George's Church, Cullercoats

Alan GRAY (1855-1935) Fantasia in D minor William MCKIE (1901-1984) Romance in B flat Charles H. LLOYD (1849-1919) Sonata in D minor John STAINER (1840-1901) Andante PathetiqueGordon PHILLIPS (1908-1991) Postlude for a Festival Alec ROWLEY (1892-1958) Soliloquy Walter ALCOCK (1861-1947) Introduction and Fughetta (from The Organ)) Alec ROWLEY Second Benedictus York BOWEN (1884-1961) Melody in G minorArthur MILNER (1894-1972)Introduction...

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Hamilton Harty: An Irish Symphony – The Fair Day

I am not usually an enthusiast of excerpting movements from symphonies, however when the composer himself did this on a regular basis I have to turn a blind eye. In fact ‘The Fair Day’ was the only movement of his symphony that Harty ever recorded. Hamilton Harty’s ‘Irish’ Symphony was composed in 1904 in response to a call from the Feis Ceoil in Dublin. The festival organisers required a symphony based on traditional Irish airs. This was largely...

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Kenneth Leighton: Orchestral Works Volume 3 on Chandos

Kenneth LEIGHTON (1929-1988)Orchestral Works Volume 3Symphony No.1, Op.42 (1963-64) Concerto No.3, Op.57 ‘Concerto estivo’ (1969) Howard Shelley (piano) (Concerto)BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Martyn BrabbinsCHANDOS CHAN10608For me, this is one of the most important CD releases for many years. On 2ndFebruary 1974 I heard Kenneth Leighton’s First Symphony at the City Hall in Glasgow. I attended the pre-concert talk given by the composer where he...

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Malcolm Sargent, The Brains Trust and Percy Scholes.

The Brains Trust was a programme first scheduled by the BBC on the Forces Programme during January 1941. The format of the programme was straight-forward. Listeners submitted questions on any topic that were then answered by a panel of distinguished scientists, writers, philosophers and musicians. Panellists included the film actor Will Hay, the biologist Julian Huxley, the philosopher C.E.M Joad and Malcolm Sargent the conductor. The 'referee' was...

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The Golden Age of Light Music: Non-Stop to Nowhere

Guild Records could have easily sold me this latest CD on the strength of the cover alone. The former London, Midland & Scottish Railway poster entitled ‘Scot passes Scot’ by the artist Bryan De Grineau is a definite bonus. For many years the named train ‘The Royal Scot' departed simultaneously from Glasgow Central and London Euston stations at 10am. The journey would have taken some seven hours. Just quite where the two trains passed I leave...

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Richard Addinsell: Listings of Music recorded on the Guild Light Music Series.

There are currently some 44 CDs featuring the music of Richard Addinsell listed in the on-line Arkiv Music Catalogue. However, this is not quite as impressive as it seems. At least 30 of these discs feature the ubiquitous Warsaw Concerto, the work by which Addinsell in known to millions of listeners. The two major explorations of his music are the Chandos CD of film music and a retrospective on the Marco Polo label. Two further important releases from the ASV label appear to be deleted, although they are available from a number of on-line sources....

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‘Record Society’ Classical ‘Wish List’ from 1947

In the April 1947 edition of the Gramophone Magazine Mr. F.G. Youens presented the results of a survey of members of the National Federation of Gramophone Societies who had been asked to submit lists of works that they ‘wished to be recorded of re-recorded’. The top twenty works were as follows:-      Bach: Mass in B minorBax: The Garden of Fand (Beecham and the RPO or Barbirolli and the Hallé) Elgar: Symphony No. 1 in A flat (Boult and the BBC Symphony Orchestra)Mozart: RequiemMoeran: Violin Concerto (Sammons)Holst: Egon HeathStrauss:...

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Charles Williams: Tone Poem –‘Lizard Point’

It is many years since I sat above Lizard Point looking far out to sea. After enjoying the view, of the cliffs, the rocky islets, the lighthouse and the Lifeboat Station, I made my way back to a hostelry in Helston where I enjoyed a pint or two if St Austell Brewery’s best bitter. According to Wikipedia, with the exception of some parts of the Scilly Isles this is the southernmost part of England.  Historians will know that Marconi carried out...

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Sergei Rachmaninoff’s First Appearance in London, 1899

This ‘blog’ is always prepared to look beyond music by British composers. It is fascinating to look at conductors, soloists and institutions. One of the most venerable of these latter is the Philharmonic Society which was founded in 1813. A major highlight of their history was the welcoming of Sergei Rachmaninoff on 19th April 1899. From a British music point of view, it is interesting to note that the great Scottish composer and academic Sir Alexander Mackenzie was the conductor of the Society at this time. He was noted for introducing many new...

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