SYMPHONIES NOS.1 & 2

ROSE LAKE VISION ST. AUGUSTIN

I had the pleasure of reviewing the Guildhall String Ensemble's first record of British music last year ( RD87761, 9/88). This second record seems to me every bit as good as the first, and includes one very desirable rarity in the Sellinger's Round Variations. In 1953 Britten devised the idea of asking five colleagues to write a variation on an old English dance tune for that year's Aldeburgh Festival. Though the audience knew the composers' names they were given in alphabetical order only, and listeners were asked to guess the correct running order in a very superior kind of raffle for Festival funds. Decca issued Britten's own live 1953 performance a little later but that LP is now almost impossible to find, and it's good to have such a fine modern version available. I suspect that knowledgeable listeners would guess most of the composers now, though they might hesitate a little over the variations by Searle and Britten's pupil Arthur Oldham.

Britten's Simple Symphony is a good deal more familiar, perhaps too familiar when one considers its juvenile origins and banal invention, but the Guildhall Ensemble play it quite brilliantly. Walton's Sonata for strings, a 1972 re-working of his 1947 String Quartet, receives a thoughtful, very well-judged performance, with particularly well-sustained and concentrated playing in the longish Lento movement. Tippett's Little Music is very well served too by some highly sensitive but dearly drawn playing. There is sometimes a hint of an over-cavernous acoustic in the high-quality recordings, but in every other respect this is another very fine offering from the Guildhall Ensemble.'

-- Gramophone [5/1989]

This selection is available for a limited time as a special import.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Recorded in: Wessex Hall, Poole Arts Centre Recorded in: Winter Gardens, Bournemouth Recorded 1992 -1994 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Richard Smoker (Assistant: Piano Concerto; Praeludium) Ben Connellan (Assistant: Fantasia on a Theme of Handel) Richard Lee (Assistant: other works)

To celebrate the centenary of the birth of Sir Michael Tippett, Chandos is releasing Richard Hickox's acclaimed recordings of his symphonies and the Suite from the opera New Year, packaged in a handsome box - and at a special price: 3 discs for the price of 2.

Classical Music

TIPPETT: Symphony No. 2 / New Year Suite

TIPPETT: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1-3