- Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
- Conductor: Sir Thomas Beecham
- Composer: Felix Mendelssohn, Camille Saint-Saëns, Frederick Delius, Antonín Dvorák
- Audio CD (17 April 2000)
- SPARS Code: ADD
- Number of Discs: 2
- Label: Essential Archive
- ASIN: B00004S7QS
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 155,651 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Older collectors will be drawn to this splendid Dutton release because it contains many Beecham recordings appearing for the first time on CD. Younger collectors need not hesitate. Familiar and unfamiliar works can be enjoyed here in astonishingly good sound.
Beecham was never far from insisting that music, first and foremost, had to sound good. He took enormous pains, when recording it, to ensure that the listener heard everything it contained to best advantage. The result sometimes seemed "over spiced", according to his contemporary Sir Adrian Boult. You will certainly savour everything done at the harp in Liszt's "Orpheus", and relish everything done in the percussion department at the beginning of "The Golden Spinning Wheel".
Beecham had loved and lavished care on many of these works for more than forty years when these recordings were made. He was a champion of Haydn symphonies, presenting them in the right spirit rather than the right letter. Listening to the 3rd movement of No 40, with Dennis Brain leading the horn players, you forget that Beecham prepared and conducted Haydn symphonies from old corrupted editions.
A curiosity is the Paisiello overture. You might think that a harmonic structure based almost entirely on only three chords would hold no interest for the listener. Beecham makes it seem enchanting - for six and a half minutes.
Lyndon Jenkins, with access to records of Beecham's concert and recording schedules, provides lively and informative program notes...
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This is a collection of some of Beecham's most characteristic and strongly conceived recordings in excellent transfers and currently at a thoroughly ridiculous bargain price. Five of the thirteen items on the two discs he did not record again, and of these the Haydn Symphony No 40 is a classic, with unequalled horn playing by Dennis Brain and a perfectly paced and phrased cat-like slow movement. The Dvorak "Golden Spinning Wheel", full of flourish and energy, is cut, as was usual at the time, though Beecham's cuts are his own, and don't correspond with, for example, Talich's. The Mehul overture ("The two Blind Men of Toledo") has a perfectly judged and played throwaway coda with the winds and strings exactly in time and tune, and the Mendelssohn Octet Scherzo- originally a fill-up for the Melusine overture which begins the set, and which did not sound well on 78s - is, with its companion, perfectly restored. Of the rest, the Haydn Symphony No 102 isn't outshone by its later stereo remake, and the second selection from "The Great Elopement" (later known as "Love in Bath") has the famous hornpipe and another choice collection of Handel operatic snippets no-one else even knew existed at the time. Buy the set at the price and salt it away, if you can stop playing it.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Beecham Favorites in Astonishingly Good Sound.
27 Jan 2001
Older collectors will be drawn to this splendid Dutton release because it contains many Beecham recordings appearing for the first time on CD. Younger collectors need not hesitate. Familiar and unfamiliar works can be enjoyed here in astonishingly good sound.
Beecham was never far from insisting that music, first and foremost, had to sound good. He took enormous pains, when recording it, to ensure that the listener heard everything it contained to best advantage. The result sometimes seemed "over spiced", according to his contemporary Sir Adrian Boult. You will certainly savour everything done at the harp in Liszt's "Orpheus", and relish everything done in the percussion department at the beginning of "The Golden Spinning Wheel".
Beecham had loved and lavished care on many of these works for more than forty years when these recordings were made. He was a champion of Haydn symphonies, presenting them in the right spirit rather than the right letter. Listening to the 3rd movement of No 40, with Dennis Brain leading the horn players, you forget that Beecham prepared and conducted Haydn symphonies from old corrupted editions.
A curiosity is the Paisiello overture. You might think that a harmonic structure based almost entirely on only three chords would hold no interest for the listener. Beecham makes it seem enchanting - for six and a half minutes.
Lyndon Jenkins, with access to records of Beecham's concert and recording schedules, provides lively and informative program notes. I was delighted to order and receive this CD recently. [....]
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
The 'Inimitable Sir Thomas'- in great transfers!
9 Sep 2000
When he was captivated by the music he performed, he conveyed that passion with astonishing clarity and elegance-and the music was frequently light or incidental!
The main works on the discs, Haydn Syms, 40 & 102, and the Dvorak Golden Spinning Wheel receive incomparably vibrant performances- The Dvorak ( in spite of a few cuts) is as sensitive as either the Talich or Kubelik performances, and also conveys tremendous enthusiasm from the orchestra. The sound on this piece is really spectacular for its time. The Haydn 102 is 'stately' and elegant, but what crispness of texture & articulation!
The Saint Saens was re-recorded with the RPO in 1957. The later performance is also sparkling and sounds much better. But the earlier one- almost one minute faster- exquisitely conveys the perpetual spinning wheel depicted in the work. It is this thread of sound, articulation, and texture that stays in mind after hearing these discs, and which made Beecham an especially successful recording conductor.
Highly recommended-along with his wonderful Magic Flute (get the one on Dutton Labs, the best transfer so far), His collection of Delius' orchestral works, and his wilful but inspired Messiah.
Beecham in best sound from 1947-49
16 Mar 2006
Although the last item on CD 2 of this two-fer dates from 1951, the rest is from a very brief span (1947-49), and as the other reviewers say, it's all in amazingly good sound. Masters from the 78 era have surprising dynamic range and depth; bringing out their full potential requires good surviving sources and expert digital remastering. Dutton is fortunate to supply both here; in fact, these recordings consistently sound as good as Fifties mono.
I am not very sympathetic to Beecham's favored repertoire of light classics doled out in five-minute snippets. There are only a smattering of those here, and these generously filled CDs (75 min. and 76 min. respectively) have room for longer major works. For me the highlights begin with a sparkling Mendelssohn Fair Melusina Over., one of Beecham's favorites, and a forceful, dramatic Golden Spinning Wheel, one of Dvorak's great late tone poems. This Berlioz King Lear Over. surpasses Beecham's live version on BBC Legends both in sound and performance.
Then therre is his Haydn, one of this conductor's best composers. Although he recorded Haydn symphonies throughout his four-decade career, these readings bring together good sound and best performance. Sym. #40 was a rarity in the 78 era, not that it is common today, and Beecham's reading couldn't be more vivacious and alert. No fear of ponderous slow movements and plodding minuets here. Sym. #102 is much more familiar, of course, but Beecham doesn't seem as excited by it (he frequently appears bored in overly familiar music), so I'd call this second-best, good as it is.
Everything is played by the Royal Phil., newly founded by Beecham in 1947, which was to be his chief vehicle until his death. He recorded with them for little more than a decade, and it's astonishing to think that those years began with 78s and ended with stereo LPs. To be frank, Beecham recorded too many pieces and was over-praised for them, but Dutton has put together a collection that frequently shows Beecham off at his very best or close to it.
I am not very sympathetic to Beecham's favored repertoire of light classics doled out in five-minute snippets. There are only a smattering of those here, and these generously filled CDs (75 min. and 76 min. respectively) have room for longer major works. For me the highlights begin with a sparkling Mendelssohn Fair Melusina Over., one of Beecham's favorites, and a forceful, dramatic Golden Spinning Wheel, one of Dvorak's great late tone poems. This Berlioz King Lear Over. surpasses Beecham's live version on BBC Legends both in sound and performance.
Then therre is his Haydn, one of this conductor's best composers. Although he recorded Haydn symphonies throughout his four-decade career, these readings bring together good sound and best performance. Sym. #40 was a rarity in the 78 era, not that it is common today, and Beecham's reading couldn't be more vivacious and alert. No fear of ponderous slow movements and plodding minuets here. Sym. #102 is much more familiar, of course, but Beecham doesn't seem as excited by it (he frequently appears bored in overly familiar music), so I'd call this second-best, good as it is.
Everything is played by the Royal Phil., newly founded by Beecham in 1947, which was to be his chief vehicle until his death. He recorded with them for little more than a decade, and it's astonishing to think that those years began with 78s and ended with stereo LPs. To be frank, Beecham recorded too many pieces and was over-praised for them, but Dutton has put together a collection that frequently shows Beecham off at his very best or close to it.
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