Marat Bisengaliev, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Lionel Friend - Brian: Symphony No. 18 / Violin Concerto / The Jolly Miller (1993)

Tracklist

01. The Jolly Miller: Section 1
02. The Jolly Miller: Section 2
03. Violin Concerto in C Major: I. Allegro moderato: Section 1
04. Violin Concerto in C Major: I. Allegro moderato: Section 2
05. Violin Concerto in C Major: I. Allegro moderato: Section 3
06. Violin Concerto in C Major: I. Allegro moderato: Section 4
07. Violin Concerto in C Major: I. Allegro moderato: Section 5
08. Violin Concerto in C Major: I. Allegro moderato: Section 6
09. Violin Concerto in C Major: II. Lento: Section 1
10. Violin Concerto in C Major: II. Lento: Section 2
11. Violin Concerto in C Major: II. Lento: Section 3
12. Violin Concerto in C Major: II. Lento: Section 4
13. Violin Concerto in C Major: III. Allegro fuoco: Section 1
14. Violin Concerto in C Major: III. Allegro fuoco: Section 2
15. Violin Concerto in C Major: III. Allegro fuoco: Section 3
16. Violin Concerto in C Major: III. Allegro fuoco: Section 4
17. Violin Concerto in C Major: III. Allegro fuoco: Section 5
18. Symphony No. 18: I. Allegro moderato
19. Symphony No. 18: II. Adagio
20. Symphony No. 18: III. Allegro e marcato sempre: Section 1
21. Symphony No. 18: III. Allegro e marcato sempre: Section 2

Due to legends surrounding Havergal Brian's prolific output and the extraordinary demands he places on performers and listeners, his music is much discussed but seldom played or heard; indeed, few labels have committed the necessary resources to promote his work, so much of his daunting oeuvre remains a subject of idle speculation. But in the 1990s Marco Polo launched a series devoted to Brian's music, and these fine recordings are once more available on the Naxos label. The 1993 recordings of the overture, The Jolly Miller (1962), the Violin Concerto in C major (1934-1935), and the Symphony No. 18 (1961) are a good introduction to Brian's eccentricities, and provide a better place to start than the Symphony No. 1, Gothic, which often exasperates newcomers through its sheer massiveness, density, and length. The Violin Concerto is ingratiatingly played by violinist Marat Bisengaliev and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, under Lionel Friend, and is the most attractive work on the disc for its exuberance and unstoppable energy. The Symphony No. 18 is a harder piece to like, chiefly because Brian's tone throughout is combative, but the developmental argument seems to go nowhere in the work's scant 14 minutes. The recordings, apparently not remastered for this reissue, are superb.

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