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- Original Release Date: 16 Feb 2011
- Format - Music: MP3
- Compatible with MP3 Players (including with iPod®), iTunes, Windows Media Player
- Also available in CD Format
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| Song Title | Artist | Time | Price | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Play | 1. Le corsaire, Op. 21 | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra | 8:06 | Album Only | ||
| Play | 2. Le roi Lear Overture, Op. 4 | BBC Symphony Orchestra | 15:01 | Album Only | ||
| Play | 3. Harold en Italie, Op. 16: I. Adagio (Harold in the Mountains. Scenes of Melancholy, Happiness and Joy) | Frederick Riddle | 15:48 | Album Only | ||
| Play | 4. Harold en Italie, Op. 16: II. Allegretto (March of the Pilgrims Singing the Evening Prayer) | Frederick Riddle | 9:12 | Album Only | ||
| Play | 5. Harold en Italie, Op. 16: III. Allegro Assai (Serenade of an Abruzzi Mountain-Dweller to his Mistress) | Frederick Riddle | 6:14 | £0.59 | ||
| Play | 6. Harold en Italie, Op. 16: IV. Allegro Frenetico (Orgy of Brigands. Memories of Scenes Past) | Frederick Riddle | 12:14 | Album Only | ||
| Play | 7. Les Troyens: Act I: Marche Troyenne (Trojan March) | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra | 4:30 | £0.59 |
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Anyone who has clicked onto this item will already be familiar with the career and reputation of the great English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham. Complementing an extremely busy performing schedule, he clocked up a discography that possibly “created a record” amongst conductors. Those who experienced his “live” as distinct from his “recorded” work always claimed that there was even more magic, more fire, and a suppler moulding of phrasing in the latter. This claim can now be widely tested as more and more broadcasts of “live” performances are exhumed from the BBC archives.
This splendid issue allows you to hear him conducting Berlioz at concerts given between 1951 and 1956. Like the writer of the excellent booklet, Graham Meville-Mason, I was present at one of these concerts. As a very young man, I was fascinated to see how the trombone players coped with the slides on their instruments at the sizzling pace with which Beecham directed the final section of the overture “Le Corsair”.
“So what is the sound quality like, and how do these performances compare with Beecham’s studio recordings of these works?” I hear you ask. I can report that the sound quality ranges from good to outstanding. All credit to the original radio engineers, and those responsible for the remastering! The timpani might be a little too obtrusive in “Le Corsair” and the overall sound a little “dry” in the “Marche troyenne”, but there are no other defects. Indeed, the sound quality of the string playing (always reputed to be unique in a Beecham orchestra) is beautifully realized. Yes, there are audience coughs to be heard here and there. Somehow, they too sound so realistic and well recorded that a sense of an actual performance is enhanced.
“Harold en Italie” poses problems in recording a live performance. There are long passages requiring the solo viola player to provide soft broken chords to accompany wind soloists from the orchestra, and microphoning tends to give undue prominence to the viola. This problem has been better solved here than it was in a studio recording Beecham directed in 1951, five years before the broadcast performance found here.
I have compared all these performances with studio recordings Beecham directed, and all but the “Marche troyenne” are much to be preferred. All of which adds up to a very strong recommendation for this five star issue.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I can really do little more than agree with everything in Mr Austin's review: these are stupendous performances in recorded sound that is rarely less than good. The main course - Harold in Italy - is everything a performance of this work should be. I've heard and more or less enjoyed a large number of performances of Harold while, even with the best, feeling a little secret regret that the work does not quite deliver what I have always felt it should deliver! Well, here is my vindication: this is Harold as I always suspected it should sound! Beecham and Riddle play it very straight - you almost feel like they are explaining the work to an audience that may not know it - but the straightness is deceptive for the performance is enormously effective and a truly powerful experience. The recorded sound for Harold is very good for a live performance of its age - it was recorded in 1956 at the Edinburgh Festival - and in no way impedes our enjoyment. The other pieces are also very welcome and impressive. Highly recommended.
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