What Have You Been Listening To Lately? - #3

[VWNUT]

Originally Posted by VWNUT

IMO you're stretching things a little bit to assess Havago Brian as one of the best British tunesmiths: i have all of his symphonies that are available on cd plus 2 of his English Suites, the Violin Concerto the Jolly wotsit Overture and his short opera Agamemnon on cassette, recorded from the radio by me 40 years ago but i still find it difficult to sit through any of his works from beginning to end. As for good tunes, i recall one in the opening mvt of the Gothic Sym[ no 1] and a brief passage in the Violin Conc which made me sit up but apart from those, i've still got Brian earmarked for serious concentrated listening when i get one of those round tuits! My trouble is i'm too weak to embark on that odyssey so i find myself gazing at the shelves and selecting something that i know will give me that[ toquote Shelley via Elgar i think it was-- 2nd Symphony] spirit of delight. Talking of delight, i cannot recommend too highly Herbert Kegel's recordings of Mahler 1 and 4 from the 70s with the Dresden Phil and Leipzig RSO respectively. They arrived from Amazon this weekend for the price of a beer in London and they've both gone straight to the top of my preferred versions of both symphonies. Kegel committed suicide in 1990 by throwing himself off his 6th floor balcony having been battling cancer for 6 years. His Bruckner 8 with Leipzig RSO is my fave version of that as well, which you can get on Amazon for the price of half a beer! Happy listening everyone. VWnut.