Richard Hickox Haydn London Vol. 1

This is a scintillating comedy adroitly characterised and full of memorable tunes. Its finesse comes from Mozart, and the libretto works hand-in-glove with the music and admirably demonstrated by this superb recording.

30 years after his death, DG commemorates the quintessential Kapellmeister with a 42-CD set of Complete DG Orchestral Recordings presented in original jackets. In addition to the complete symphonic cycles of Bruckner (the first ever complete recorded cycle), Beethoven and Brahms, this set offers the entire Jochum orchestral recordings for DG for the first time. Several recordings appear on CD for the first time including recordings of Weber, Mozart and Beethoven.

In the 19th Century, music stood at a crossroads: Liszt and Wagner representing an aesthetic revolution while stalwarts such as Brahms and Max Bruch stood by the classic form. Bruch's style was fully developed by 1860, and though he lived and worked for another 60 years, the composer's work stands as a unified whole. This recording of Bruch's Symphony No. 1 and Violin Concerto No. 3 testifies to the consistency of the composer's vision. Though separated by over 20 years, they speak to Bruch's unfailing ear. Vividly performed by Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra, the works are vibrant and physical without sacrificing harmony or tonal structures.

Edmund Rubbra - Complete Symphonies - Richard Hickox (2001) {5CD Set, Chandos CHAN 9944(5) rec 1993-1998}
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© 1993-98, 2001 Chandos Records | CHAN 9944(5)
Classical / Orchestral / Symphony / Contemporary / Modern

If you haven't yet encountered the music of Edmund Rubbra, this superbly played and recorded set of his complete symphonies would be an appropriate place to start. Rubbra may hardly be a household word on these shores, but his reputation has been rising steadily in Britain–largely due to recording projects such as the one under review here. It is a mystery to me why these brilliantly crafted, inexhaustibly inventive, and eminently likeable symphonies have not won a wider following, though perhaps in our fast-paced culture music that requires the listener's total concentration (as does Rubbra's) is not destined to win instantaneous approval.

Mock Morris, Molly on the Shore and Shepherd’s Hey are edgily chipper. When Grainger is in this vein he looks in the direction of Frank Bridge’s Sir Roger de Coverley – a Britten favourite - and in this case there is a hint of Capriol too. Died for Love is out of the same green meadow as Moeran’s two pieces for small orchestra. Delightful. The Love Verses and the slightly chilly Early One Morning bring home parallels with Balfour Gardiner’s April and Philomela (long overdue for revival). Youthful Rapture (Tim Hugh, cello) has also been recorded by Julian Lloyd Webber who takes more time than Hugh and this piece can bear the slower tempo.

The macabre irony of The Widow’s Party is ghoulishly cheery – the first of six Kipling tracks. They’re not all vocal either. Try the soulful The Running of Shindand and Tiger-Tiger each for five cellos. The sequence concludes with the caramel orient sunset of The Love Song of Har Dyal. Country Gardens plays touchball with Schoenberg in the delightfully grating and ringing Barry Peter Ould-realised version. Scotch Strathspey and Reel is one of Grainger’s most treasurable pieces – about as far away as one could get from the fatuities of tartan culture and pretty sea-shanties. It makes connections far more often with the idiom of The Warriors and of whirlingly possessed dances from the Caledonian highlands.

30 years after his death, DG commemorates the quintessential “Kapellmeister” with a 42-CD set of Complete Deutsche Grammophon Orchestral Recordings by Eugen Jochum (1902-1987), presented in original jackets.
In addition to the complete symphonic cycles of Bruckner (the first ever complete recorded cycle), Beethoven and Brahms, this set offers the entire Jochum orchestral recordings for DG for the first time. Several recordings appear on CD for the first time, including recordings of Weber, Mozart and Beethoven.