Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Naxos Brian Cycle Strides On..., 29 Jul 2007
Quite a number of fascinating and often brilliant English composers of the Twentieth Century were passed over by broadcasters, performers and the public, without good reason. I'm thinking of such excellent individuals as Alwyn, Bax, Bantock and Rubbra, to name four. None of these are anywhere near as prolific, as obscure, or as peculiar, as Havergal Brian.
All credit to Naxos for offering the strongest selection of his recorded music currently available (much gleaned from their older cousin Marco Polo). Nothing really compares with the Gothic Symphony for sheer impact, but this, Brian's Symphony No.2, is a powerful, sombre, weighty work. Were it to be performed, with the requested 16 horns, etc, it would be stunning in a live setting. Admirers of the Gothic will note the same sense of gloomy foreboding (or is it murky excitement?), the restrained lyricism and violent eruptions that are a part of the composer's sound world in this period.
I had been disappointed in the last disc, the Fourth Symphony, but this one puts the series back on track. If they have the means to produce a complete cycle, it will be one of their greatest triumphs, and at budget price.
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Gruesome stuff, 30 Mar 2008
I disagree with the other reviewer here: the 4th Symphony, also on Naxos, is far more interesting and visceral and is much better recorded (and adequately played). The 2nd Symphony, on the other hand, is a gloomy, episodic work that just doesn't hold together. The ostinato third movt is striking but the long adagio that follows is quite frankly ghastly: shapeless, melodically vacuous and tedious in the extreme. Completists will want it of course (will we ever have all the symphonies recorded?)but avoid it if you are not sure with this composer - he is certainly an acquired taste. It is well played, however, and the Fanfare for brass that is the 'filler' (though hardly that at less than two minutes) is arresting.
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