BBC Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli – Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1, 3 & 8 [2 SACDs] (1958-1969/2020)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 02:22:05 minutes | 5,74 GB
Genre: Classical | Publisher (label): EMI / EMI / Tower Records Japan – TDSA-160/61
没後50年企画。バルビローリが残したステレオ録音のベートーヴェンの交響曲3曲他と、小品2曲を2枚組に集成。世界初SACD化。本国のオリジナル・アナログ・マスターテープから最新復刻。藤野俊介氏による新規解説付
バルビローリが残したステレオ録音のベートーヴェンの交響曲3曲と「レオノーレ序曲第3番」他を2枚に集成。ベートーヴェンの録音自体は少ないものの、生涯最後の演奏会(1970/7/25)で指揮したのが「交響曲第7番」であるなど、バルビローリにとっては重要な作曲家の一人でした。稀少なBBC交響楽団との晩年の「英雄」は繰り返し聴き継がれきた名演。今回、現況での最高音質を目指し、本国のオリジナル・アナログ・マスターテープから192kHz/24bitでデジタル化したマスターを用いてSACD層、CD層別々にマスタリングを行っています。新規解説付。永久保存盤です。
2020年はベートーヴェンの生誕250年という記念の年ということもあり、バルビローリが残した重要な録音である「英雄」を外す訳には行きません。英国ではレーベル側の方針もあって、通常のコンサートレパートリーでありながらも、元来ドイツものを英国の指揮者が収録する機会はそれほど多くはありませんでした。バルビローリも例に漏れず、ベートーヴェンの交響曲はモノラル音源を入れて5曲のみです。今回はステレオで収録された第1番、第3番、第8番の3曲と、「レオノーレ序曲第3番」を2枚に集成しました(他にステレオでは「皇帝」もあり)。尚、BBC交響楽団との録音は少ないので「英雄」は貴重です。この音源はバルビローリの数ある録音の中でも隠れた人気があり、CD時代では復刻が遅れましたが再発された際は大いに話題になりました。曲本来の持つ重厚さを引き立てた稀に見る充実した「英雄」です。今回の復刻では加えて、最晩年の1969年の録音であるハレ管弦楽団とのパーセルとバッハの小品2曲も収録しています。特にパーセルの「組曲」は、ニューヨーク・フィル時代に元々の弦楽合奏の編曲から、木管とホルンを入れた編曲を自ら行っている版でのもので、モノラル時代の1956年にも同じくバルビローリの編曲でPYEに録音していました。バルビローリが気にいっていた作品です。
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Hallé Orchestra & Sir Mark Elder – Elgar: Symphonies No. 1 & No. 2 (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:58:55 minutes | 1,02 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Hallé Concerts Society
Among the first releases on the Hallé recording label, established in 2003, were Elgar’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 2. This recording revisits those works nearly 20 years later, and mark the culmination of Sir Mark Elder’s tenure as Music Director The First Symphony was premiered in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, in 1908 by the Hallé and its Music Director, Hans Richter to whom the symphony is dedicated. It is a work of astonishing musical and structural mastery which was greeted with worldwide acclaim, receiving one hundred performances in its first year. The musical material demonstrates Elgar’s skill at melody and transformation and presents a wide emotional range. By contrast the Second Symphony, with its deeply personal ‘pilgrimage of a soul’, initially received a more muted reception. However, it came into its own after the end of the first world war when the tone of remembrance and tribute possibly reflected the national mood, in what is now considered to be one of Elgar’s finest works. The digital release of the symphonies is accompanied by a bonus track featuring Colin Matthews’ arrangement of Elgar’s partsong The Prince of Sleep (1925). Matthews presented the arrangement to Mark Elder as a gift to mark the conductor’s 70th birthday in 2017, and as a tribute to Elder’s ‘many splendid Elgar performances’. It also reflects what Matthews has described as ‘ a remarkable privilege to have been an observer of the Hallé’s development over more than twenty years, watching it become, under Mark, one of the finest orchestras not just in the UK but in the world.’
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Mark Elder, Hallé Orchestra – Gustav Holst: The Planets, Colin Matthews: Pluto (2002)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 / 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 1:57:06 minutes | Full Scans included | 1,98 GB
Genre: Classical | Publisher (label): Hyperion SACDA67270
When Gustav Holst composed his celebrated suite ‘The Planets’ during the First World War, the solar system was bounded by the orbit of Neptune (‘The Mystic’ in Holst’s astrological subtitle)—which Holst naturally placed at the end of his masterpiece. It was not until fifteen years later that American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, trying to find the reason for peculiarities in Neptune’s orbit, realised that there was another planet further out whose gravitational pull was influencing it. And so was discovered the dark, remote and mysterious world of Pluto, named after the king of the Underworld. The discovery was made but three years before Holst’s death, but he never expressed any intention of adding it to his by then famous work. Sixty years later, invited to do so by The Hallé Orchestra, the challenge was taken up by Colin Matthews whose ‘Pluto—The Renewer’ emerges eerily from the disappearing final bars of ‘Neptune’. This is the first recording of Holst’s ‘Planets’ with the additional planet, sumptuously recorded by Tony Faulkner in Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.
The recording also includes Holst’s late Lyric Movement for viola and chamber orchestra, written in 1933, the year before Holst died.
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Hallé Orchestra, Delyana Lazarova, Guy Johnston & Maxim Rysanov – Dobrinka Tabakova (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:19:56 minutes | 700 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Halle Concerts Society
This album marks the culmination of two special Hallé collaborations and includes four major pieces from one of the most distinctive of current British compositional voices.
Delyana Lazarova (Hallé Assistant Conductor 2020-23) and composer Dobrinka Tabakova (Hallé Artist in Residence 2022-23) were both born in the historic city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Working together for the first time during their time with the orchestra they formed a strong musical connection in which the Hallé musicians displayed a close understanding of the intricacies and dialect of Tabakova’s musical language.
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Hallé Orchestra & Sir John Barbirolli – Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 & Pohjola’s Daughter (1959/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 46:43 minutes | 1,81 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
29 July 2020 marks the 50th anniversary Sir John Barbirolli’s passing. He died at the age of 70, having been born in 1899 in London to parents of Italian and French origin.
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Evelyn Rothwell, Hallé Orchestra & Sir John Barbirolli – Haydn, Corelli & Pergolesi: Oboe Concerti (1958/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 41:54 minutes | 1,29 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Born in London of Italian-French parents, Sir John Barbirolli (1899–1970) trained as a cellist and played in theatre and café orchestras before joining the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under Sir Henry Wood in 1916. His conducting career began with the formation of his own orchestra in 1924, and between 1926 and 1933 he was active as an opera conductor at Covent Garden and elsewhere. Orchestral appointments followed: the Scottish Orchestra (1933–36), the New York Philharmonic (1936–42), the Hallé Orchestra (1943–70) and the Houston Symphony (1961–67). Barbirolli guest conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras and was especially admired as an interpreter of the music of Mahler, Sibelius, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Delius, Puccini and Verdi. He made many outstanding recordings, including the complete Brahms and Sibelius symphonies, as well as operas by Verdi and Puccini and much English repertoire.
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Marina de Gabaráin, Hallé Orchestra & Sir John Barbirolli – Falla: 7 Popular Spanish Folksongs (Orch. Halffter) (Remastered) (1958/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 13:08 minutes | 259 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Born in London of Italian-French parents, Sir John Barbirolli (1899–1970) trained as a cellist and played in theatre and café orchestras before joining the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under Sir Henry Wood in 1916. His conducting career began with the formation of his own orchestra in 1924, and between 1926 and 1933 he was active as an opera conductor at Covent Garden and elsewhere. Orchestral appointments followed: the Scottish Orchestra (1933–36), the New York Philharmonic (1936–42), the Hallé Orchestra (1943–70) and the Houston Symphony (1961–67). Barbirolli guest conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras and was especially admired as an interpreter of the music of Mahler, Sibelius, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Delius, Puccini and Verdi. He made many outstanding recordings, including the complete Brahms and Sibelius symphonies, as well as operas by Verdi and Puccini and much English repertoire.
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Hallé Orchestra, Mark Elder – Debussy – Images & Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:00:42 minutes | 508 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Halle Concerts Society
The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder follow their previous highly acclaimed Debussy albums, with a stunning orchestral collection including a world premiere recording. Album includes the hugely popular Prélude a L’après-midi d’un faune, alongside the orchestral tour de force Images, a work which fully displays the composer’s mastery, and the world premiere recording of Colin Matthew’s orchestration of Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut, from the 2nd Book of Images for piano.
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Hallé Orchestra & Sir John Barbirolli – Wagner, Mendelssohn & Verdi: Favourite Overtures (Remastered) (1958/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 58:31 minutes | 2,23 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Born in London of Italian-French parents, Sir John Barbirolli (1899–1970) trained as a cellist and played in theatre and café orchestras before joining the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under Sir Henry Wood in 1916. His conducting career began with the formation of his own orchestra in 1924, and between 1926 and 1933 he was active as an opera conductor at Covent Garden and elsewhere. Orchestral appointments followed: the Scottish Orchestra (1933–36), the New York Philharmonic (1936–42), the Hallé Orchestra (1943–70) and the Houston Symphony (1961–67). Barbirolli guest conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras and was especially admired as an interpreter of the music of Mahler, Sibelius, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Delius, Puccini and Verdi. He made many outstanding recordings, including the complete Brahms and Sibelius symphonies, as well as operas by Verdi and Puccini and much English repertoire.
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Hallé Orchestra & Sir John Barbirolli – Sibelius: Symphony No. 1, Op. 39 & Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 46 (Remastered) (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 58:45 minutes | 2,25 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Born in London of Italian-French parents, Sir John Barbirolli (1899–1970) trained as a cellist and played in theatre and café orchestras before joining the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under Sir Henry Wood in 1916. His conducting career began with the formation of his own orchestra in 1924, and between 1926 and 1933 he was active as an opera conductor at Covent Garden and elsewhere. Orchestral appointments followed: the Scottish Orchestra (1933–36), the New York Philharmonic (1936–42), the Hallé Orchestra (1943–70) and the Houston Symphony (1961–67). Barbirolli guest conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras and was especially admired as an interpreter of the music of Mahler, Sibelius, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Delius, Puccini and Verdi. He made many outstanding recordings, including the complete Brahms and Sibelius symphonies, as well as operas by Verdi and Puccini and much English repertoire.
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Hallé Orchestra & Sir John Barbirolli – Schön Sir John. The Strauss Family (Remastered) (1957/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:02:02 minutes | 1,97 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Born in London of Italian-French parents, Sir John Barbirolli (1899–1970) trained as a cellist and played in theatre and café orchestras before joining the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under Sir Henry Wood in 1916. His conducting career began with the formation of his own orchestra in 1924, and between 1926 and 1933 he was active as an opera conductor at Covent Garden and elsewhere. Orchestral appointments followed: the Scottish Orchestra (1933–36), the New York Philharmonic (1936–42), the Hallé Orchestra (1943–70) and the Houston Symphony (1961–67). Barbirolli guest conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras and was especially admired as an interpreter of the music of Mahler, Sibelius, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Delius, Puccini and Verdi. He made many outstanding recordings, including the complete Brahms and Sibelius symphonies, as well as operas by Verdi and Puccini and much English repertoire.
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Hallé Orchestra & Sir John Barbirolli – Rubbra: Symphony No. 5, Op. 63 (Remastered) (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 33:22 minutes | 642 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Edmund Rubbra established his reputation with his first four Symphonies. But in many ways, Rubbra’s Fifth Symphony may be considered his most immediately attractive. It was premiered on 26 January, 1949 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Adrian Boult at the Royal Albert Hall, but it was Sir John Barbirolli and the Hallé Orchestra’s recording of the work under the auspices of the British Council – the first recording of any Symphony by Rubbra – which had a notable impact and substantially reinforced the composer’s name internationally.
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Hallé Orchestra & Sir John Barbirolli – Nielsen: Symphony No. 4, Op. 29 “The Inextinguishable” (1963/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 35:14 minutes | 1,30 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Sir John Barbirolli was a champion of both Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen. He recorded all the Sibelius Symphonies and many of the orchestral works, but this 1959 recording of the Symphony No.4 ‘The Inextinguishable’ is Barbirolli’s only commercial recording of the music of Nielsen.
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Hallé Orchestra & Sir John Barbirolli – Grieg: Lyric Suite, Op. 54 & Norwegian Dances, Op. 35 (Remastered) (1971/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 45:54 minutes | 1,64 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Born in London of Italian-French parents, Sir John Barbirolli (1899–1970) trained as a cellist and played in theatre and café orchestras before joining the Queen’s Hall Orchestra under Sir Henry Wood in 1916. His conducting career began with the formation of his own orchestra in 1924, and between 1926 and 1933 he was active as an opera conductor at Covent Garden and elsewhere. Orchestral appointments followed: the Scottish Orchestra (1933–36), the New York Philharmonic (1936–42), the Hallé Orchestra (1943–70) and the Houston Symphony (1961–67). Barbirolli guest conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras and was especially admired as an interpreter of the music of Mahler, Sibelius, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Delius, Puccini and Verdi. He made many outstanding recordings, including the complete Brahms and Sibelius symphonies, as well as operas by Verdi and Puccini and much English repertoire.
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Hallé Orchestra & Sir John Barbirolli – Delius: Orchestral Works (Remastered) (1957/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 47:51 minutes | 1,81 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Sir John Barbirolli was nearly as fine an interpreter of Delius as Beecham. But where Sir Thomas liked to bring out the sun, Sir John was at his best shading in the darker tones of the Delian palette. There is a starkness to the “Nordic” moments in these pieces which serves to remind us that Barbirolli, again like Beecham, was an outstanding interpreter of Sibelius’s music. What is unique to Barbirolli is the searing emotion he finds in the music, especially in Delius’s writing for the strings. His accounts have a high expressive profile, and an intensity of expression bordering on the incandescent. Although there is a slight amount of grain to the sound, the recordings, which date from the mid-’60s, are well balanced and have an appealing “live” ambience to them. – Ted Libbey, author of The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection.
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