Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox - Michael Tippett: Complete Symphonies (2005) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

CD101. Symphony No. 1: I. Allegro vigoroso
02. Symphony No. 1: II. Adagio
03. Symphony No. 1: III. Presto
04. Symphony No. 1: IV. Allegro moderato ma con brio e più tarde con delicatezza
05. Symphony No. 2: I. Allegro vigoroso
06. Symphony No. 2: II. Adagio molto e tranquillo
07. Symphony No. 2: III. Presto veloce
08. Symphony No. 2: IV. Allegro moderato

CD2
01. Symphony No. 3, Part I: I. Allegro non troppo e pesante
02. Symphony No. 3, Part I: II. Lento
03. Symphony No. 3, Part II: I. Allegro molto
04. Symphony No. 3, Part II: II. Slow Blues. Andante. As I drew nurture from my mother's breast
05. Symphony No. 3, Part II: III. Fast Blues. Allegro. O' I'll go walking
06. Symphony No. 3, Part II: IV. Slow Blues. Largo. I found the man grown to a dwarf
07. Symphony No. 3, Part II: V. Pochiss. Meno mosso. They sang that when she waved her wings

CD3
01. Symphony No. 4: I. Introduction and Exposition. Tempo 1
02. Symphony No. 4: II. Development 1. Tempo 3
03. Symphony No. 4: III. Slow Movement. Tempo 1
04. Symphony No. 4: IV. Development 2. Tempo 2
05. Symphony No. 4: V. Scherzo and Trios. Tempo 3
06. Symphony No. 4: VI. Tempo 1 - Development 3
07. Symphony No. 4: VII. Recapitulation
08. Suite from 'New Year': I. The Space Ship Lands
09. Suite from 'New Year': II. Prelude
10. Suite from 'New Year': III. The Shaman Dance
11. Suite from 'New Year': IV. The Hunt for the Scapegoat
12. Suite from 'New Year': V. Donny's Skarade
13. Suite from 'New Year': VI. Donny's Dream
14. Suite from 'New Year': VII. Dream Interlude
15. Suite from 'New Year': VIII. Jo Ann's Dreamsong
16. Suite from 'New Year': IX. Love Scene for Jo Ann and Pelegrin
17. Suite from 'New Year': X. Paradise Dance
18. Suite from 'New Year': XI. The Beating-Out of the Scapegoat (the Bad Old Year)
19. Suite from 'New Year': XII. Ringing in the New Year
20. Suite from 'New Year': XIII. The Space Ship Takes Off Again


The riot of proliferating counterpoint that is Tippett's Symphony No 1 presents enough problems of orchestral balance to give recording teams nightmares. Chandos has managed creditable degrees of containment and clarity, without loss of realism, and the impact, when the last movement finally settles on to its long-prepared harmonic goal, is powerful and convincing. Doubts as to whether initial impetus is sufficient to keep the complex structures on course prove groundless.
This is a fine account, well balanced between lively rhythmic articulation and broad melodic sweep.
The balance Hickox achieves between attention to detail and large-scale symphonic sweep is exemplary, and especially impressive in the tricky finale of Symphony No 2, where he conveys the essential ambiguity of an ending which strives to recapture the optimistic élan of the work's opening without ever quite managing it.
The recording, too, gives us much more of the symphony's contrapuntal detail. The first recording of music from Tippett's opera NewYear, premiered in 1989, is thoroughly welcome.
The music of this suite may seem over-emphatic to anyone who hasn't experienced the opera in the theatre, and the recording relishes the booming electric guitars and wailing saxophones, as well as the taped spaceship effects.
The Third Symphony (1972) is one of Tippett's most complex and highly charged attempts to create a convincing structure from the collision between strongly contrasted musical characteristics.
The first two movements (Part 1, as Tippett calls it) remain a considerable technical challenge, especially to the strings, but this performance manages to sustain an appropriate level of tension without sounding merely effortful, and without skimping on the opportunities for eloquence of phrasing. It could well be that Tippett has over-indulged the percussion in the slow movement, but this vivid and well-balanced Chandos recording lets us hear ample detail without exaggerating the bright colours and hyper-resonant textures. The later stages have the advantage of a superbly characterful singer in Faye Robinson who has the power, the edge, and also the radiance, to make Tippett's progression from idiosyncratic blues to Beethovenquoting peroration utterly convincing.
It is good to find Richard Hickox and the Bournemouth SO taking on some imposing competition and holding their own so well.
Hickox's Fourth Symphony is more broadly conceived than Solti's for Decca, and it's a considerable success, for despite giving even more weight to the work's strong contrasts, as is evident especially in the final stages, Hickox avoids any impression that the work is merely a succession of separate episodes. This well-integrated reading receives a well-rounded recording, and playing which needn't fear comparison with the best Chicago has to offer. (The individual works are also available as downloads.)

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