- Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor: Thomas Beecham
- Composer: Alexander Porfir'yevich Borodin, Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev, Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov
- Audio CD (1 Nov 2001)
- SPARS Code: DDD
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: BBC Legends
- ASIN: B00005R1JT
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 342,926 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Track Listings
| 1. Symphony No.1 In C Major: I. Largo - Allegro Vivo - Mili Balakirev |
| 2. Symphony No.1 In C Major: II. Scherzo. Vivo - Poco Meno Mosso - Tempo I - Mili Balakirev |
| 3. Symphony No.1 In C Major: III. Andante - Attacca: - Mili Balakirev |
| 4. Symphony No.1 In C Major: IV. Finale. Allegro Moderato - Tempo Di Polacca - Mili Balakirev |
| 5. The Golden Cockerel - Suite: I. Introduction Et Sommeil De Dodon - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov |
| 6. The Golden Cockerel: II. Le Roi Dodon En Campagne - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov |
| 7. The Golden Cockerel: III. Danse De La Reine De Chemakha - Danse Du Roi Dodon - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov |
| 8. The Golden Cockerel: IV. La Noce - Mort Du Roi Dodon - Finale - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov |
| 9. Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances - London Philharmonic Choir |
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
Beecham recorded the Balakirev Symphony in 1955 with his own Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, but by the time of the BBC Symphony Orchestra performance from December 1956 issued here, it had still not been released. He had given a number of performances of the work since the recording. I heard one of them in Oxford a couple of months before this one, and was a little disappointed, as I was also by the LP when I finally heard it. Both were very refined, but episodic. This one, though in mono and without the range of the commercial recording, gets it right. There is a real sense of organic growth. Beecham holds the somewhat unorthodox first movement together much more firmly, and throughout there is the unmistakable boisterous enthusiasm of a live Beecham performance. It turned out to be the last he gave of a work he had first conducted in the 1930s. The other two items reflect Beecham's early involvement with Russian music. There had been two recordings of Rimsky-Korsakov's Golden Cockerel suite - one begun in New York and rejected, and the other, with the RPO, also for American Columbia, which is mesmerising and one of his finest recordings. This performance, with the RPO, made for the BBC two days after the Balakirev, is not quite as good as the second, but far better than the New York attempt, and the Borodin, from 1954, doesn't quite match the famous Leeds Festival performance of twenty years earlier. Buy it for the Balakirev.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
In presence of a genius of the baton!
16 Oct 2006
Tomas Beecham' s status is due his impressive ability to convey the spirit of the score to the audience.
So despite of the fact the Russian music was not precisely a matter of priority for most of British conductors, Beecham assumed the big challenge this meant with prodigious results. That generation of notable conductors as Ernest Ansermet, Ferenc Fricsay or Hermann Sherchen had that affinity and special rapport with Borodin and Balakirev.
These performances with one of my favorite British orchestras ever, as the BBC was, are pure gold. Beecham made a notable incision, plenty of vivacious assertiveness and warmth oriental mood to give us one of the most notable achievements around this well known repertoire so many times listened but few times absolutely solvent.
For all those hard collectors and still more for all of us who knew about the kaleidoscopic gaze of this talented director, the recommendation is more than obvious. So don't think it over and go for this reference album.
So despite of the fact the Russian music was not precisely a matter of priority for most of British conductors, Beecham assumed the big challenge this meant with prodigious results. That generation of notable conductors as Ernest Ansermet, Ferenc Fricsay or Hermann Sherchen had that affinity and special rapport with Borodin and Balakirev.
These performances with one of my favorite British orchestras ever, as the BBC was, are pure gold. Beecham made a notable incision, plenty of vivacious assertiveness and warmth oriental mood to give us one of the most notable achievements around this well known repertoire so many times listened but few times absolutely solvent.
For all those hard collectors and still more for all of us who knew about the kaleidoscopic gaze of this talented director, the recommendation is more than obvious. So don't think it over and go for this reference album.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Buyer beware
2 Nov 2011
Amazon Verified Purchase
Sir Thomas may have been a great hand as a conductor, and the BBC may be a great orchestra, but they needed a better sound engineer. Recorded in the 1950s, this is MONO and is of historic interest and lacks sound definition in a world where people expect clear sound on a recording. That is, there is a muddy quality to much of it. Bravo, composer! Boo, sound engineer.
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