Search - Johannes Brahms, Franz Joseph Haydn, John Barbirolli :: Barbirolli At the Proms: Brahms Symphony No. 1 / Haydn Aria from The Creation; Uninhabited Island overture

A sweeping, masterful Brahms First in good-enough historical

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/01/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Guild label, in cooperation with the private Barbirolli Society, has unearthed a broadcast (or air check) of a Proms concert from the summer of 1954. By this time Sir John had the Halle in good shape -- not that they would ever excel so far as execution goes -- and so we get to hear his thoughts on the Brahms First in a live setting. I found Barbirolli's late Brahms cycle on EMI a disappointment, even though he had the Vienna Phil. to lead. Out of admiration for him I turned to this CD, and it holds many rewards. The approach is romantic and vital, in the vein of Furtwangler, and at times Barbirolli reaches for the same depth and passionate urgency as we hear from Furtwangler in this work, one of his great specialties. By comparison, Bruno Walter's commercial set from the same era with the NY Phil. seems a bit stiff and brusque (strange as it sounds to say that of Walter). The recorded sound is good AM-radio mono, the only imbalance being a too-loud timpani in a few climaxes. Expect some grittiness and a relentless cougher near the microphone, alas. The prominent oboe solos in the first and second movement showcase Evelyn Rothwell, the conductor's wife, whose piping, piercing tone is characteristic of English oboe playing. In all, this is a reading with grandeur and sweep. It reminds me very much of a similar account on Profil with Giulini; we are unlikely to hear such performances again.



The fillers are by Haydn, a tenor aria from The Creation and the overture to his opera The Unihabited Isalnd (or as Haydn actually titled it, "L'Isola Disabitata." The dark opening and turbulent themes could be rightly called Sturm und Drang; mood predominates over some ordinary melodic material. The snippet from The Creation, sung in English with powerful deliver by David Galliver, is done in traditional oratorio style, miles away from period revisionism. Barbirolli throws himself into both works, but it's the inspiring Brahms symphony that is the main attraction."