What's New for August
London The Modern Babylon
Benjamin Disraeli's description of London is the title
of a film by Julien Temple that goes on general release in
cinemas thoughout the UK on Friday August 3rd. We have supplied
background music for this film in the form of A London Symphony by Vaughan
Williams in a performance conducted by
Sir Henry Wood,
founder of the proms Listen.
We have also created a page featuring music
associated with the city.
The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts held
over eight weeks from July to September is London's biggest
annual music festival. Visit our Proms page where
we list music being perfomed this year that is availbale from us.
New at Beulah Extra
Reviews quoted below are by Brian Wilson at Music Web
International
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"I didn’t catch up with these two cantatas until Emma
Kirkby and Christopher Hogwood recorded them for Decca Oiseau-Lyre ,
but I knew Karl Forster as one of the conductors who broke the mould of
po-faced Bach. The great asset of this reissue is Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau, even more convincing as Herr Schlendrian than David
Thomas on the O-L recording of the Coffee Cantata. I’d hate to
have to score these two wonderful versions against each other; I
greatly enjoyed both, so I’ll merely note that my preference for
Fischer-Dieskau is slightly offset by one for Kirkby as against Lisa
Otto. With considerable justification the cover of the Beulah release
names the accomplished flute, cello and keyboard soloists.
The Peasant Cantata is less immediately appealing and without
libretto and translation the rustic dialect is pretty hard to follow
but it also receives a lively and appealing performance. Even in 1962
Jeremy Noble was asking for a smaller ensemble and that would be more
the way to perform these works now, but I wasn’t troubled by the size
of the BPO.
With recording quality that’s still much more than acceptable and with
the two cantatas available separately for those who want only the
better-known No.211, these reissues may well be more appealing than the
Oiseau-Lyre, especially as they can be yours for just £1.75 each, as
opposed to £7.49 for the O-L."
"One obvious rival is Solomon’s mono recording with
the Philharmonia and Herbert Menges and I’ve used that as my benchmark
here. The recording is dry but tolerable, despite the very low bit-rate
which emusic.com habitually employ for these vintage recordings. The
Beulah transfer is more stable and considerably more rounded than the
emusic.com of Solomon.
Solomon and Menges polish off the first movement with expedition
without ever sounding too hasty. There isn’t as much difference between
the two as EG’s review had led me to expect, but Richter-Haaser sounds
just a shade less adventurous and free-wheeling; in many ways, this is
a safer bet, though slightly more staid and you’re less likely to
deduce from it how the nickname came into being.
Both slow movements are delectable; here and in the finale there’s
little to choose, though the better recording from Beulah tilts the
balance decidedly in its favour."
"Despite the intense competition now in the
Pathétique Sonata, this performance remains recommendable and the piano
tone betrays its age only by a slight hint of harshness and lack of
ambience.
I’m pleased to see Firkušný’s recordings returning to the catalogue."
"These performances are not as special as those
of the late quartets but at the same time they are less controversial –
there’s none of the wiry string tone here, for example. If you’re
looking for sound performances of these two quartets in recording
quality which is still much more than acceptable, these downloads could
well fit the bill."
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"They offer a useful reminder of the delicate
sweetness and purity of della Casa’s voice but, to be honest, there are
other recordings from which I prefer to hear those qualities ... My
pick of the bunch is Wie Melodien and the great advantage of
this Beulah release is that the tracks can be purchased separately."
"I enjoyed these performances; the Beulah release is
especially welcome since the Philips Duo and European Eloquence
reissues seem to have disappeared. Has Nuages, especially the
opening, ever been performed with greater delicacy? The flip side of
van Beinum’s gentler approach is that Fêtes sounds just a
little tame until things get going, while Sirènes is
evocatively performed, with the ladies’ voices of the Amstel choir
doing their stuff. The recorded sound is not exciting, but it’s clean
and clear and it’s come up well in Beulah’s transfer."
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"I remember these recordings sounding very fragile
on their Ace of Clubs LP reissue, so I’m delighted that Beulah have
been able to restore them so very effectively, with very little of the
shrillness that I recall. The performance of Cockaigne is
jaunty and lively and those of the Wand of Youth Suites
delightfully idiomatic. In spite of the availability of more recent
recommendable recordings these are gems from the past which remind us
of van Beinum at his impressive best. At the price these are
irresistible."
"This
is one of those good second-rate works that Tommy knew how to make
sound great, a feat which others have emulated but without quite the
same success in the case of this tuneful symphony. The recording, from
May 1952, is not exactly new-minted, but the transfer is much better
than I recall from its last LP appearance, on the Philips Classical
Favourites label – so good that the ear soon adjust to any slight
thinness. There’s a Past Classics transfer from amazon.co.uk, which
doesn’t sound too bad, but the Beulah transfer is preferable and works
out slightly less expensive."
Coming soon
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