What's New for October

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Brian Wilson's Re-issue of the Month at Music Web International. He writes: "Beulah have already given us some older recordings of the music of Eric Coates, conducted by Sir Henry Wood on a 2-CD set, 3PD13, with music by Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Purcell. The recorded sound there is little more than tolerable, whereas in the present case it still sounds agreeably fresh. The Stanford Robinson items come from a Pye recording of about the same vintage, later reissued on Golden Guinea. The music and the performances are just as enjoyable as the more familiar Mackerras items, with none of the surface noise that I remember from Golden Guinea. Though briefly available on CD from PRT ... their reissue by Beulah is very welcome".

New at Beulah Extra

Reviews are by Brian Wilson at Music Web International

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"This was Karl Richter’s first recorded take on the Goldbergs, for Telefunken (Teldec); he recorded it again in 1970 for DG. It’s evident from the timings that repeats are ignored – a playing time of half that of the recent Matthew Halls recording on Linn – but that was par for the course then. The instrument is light in tone by comparison with that employed for the later version, and all the better for it as far as I’m concerned. The performance is very good – unless you want the repeats or a piano version, you won’t do much better – and the recording has been made to sound well in this transfer. Even fans of either of Glenn Gould’s recordings might well find themselves drawn to this reissue. With neither of Richter’s recordings of the Goldbergs in the current UK catalogue, this Beulah release is very welcome, especially as it comes at an attractive price."

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"The King’s recording of the motet Jesu, meine Freude, from Argo ZRG5234, was generally held to be the best available when it was released in 1960, albeit that it was sung in English. The performance was rated as masterly, which remains true; for all that I agree with Organ Morgan in Under Milk Wood about JSB’s superiority, even over Palestrina, his second choice, I’m not a great lover of the Bach motets, but David Willcocks comes as close as anyone to convincing me. The other feature that placed this recording above its rivals was held to be the recording balance; again, that remains true insofar as all the parts are given equal weight, but the sound overall is somewhat muddy by comparison with more recent recordings. Nevertheless, with a good transfer, this is a very worthwhile memento of a golden age at King’s."

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1st movement 2nd movement 3rd movement 4th movement

"It’s no longer believed that Grand Duo sonata of 1824/5 was a reduction of a lost Gastein symphony, though Joachim’s arrangement of it is still well worth playing and hearing in this performance, with the VSOO sounding more accomplished than usual. The transfer is thin but more than acceptable."

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"The 5-part English Te Deum, also known as Te Deum for meanes, perhaps composed even before the first English Prayer Book of 1549, is a fine example of Tallis’s ability to blend the best of the old style with the post-reformation demand for less elaboration, essentially one note per syllable, and this reissue does the music full justice in a good transfer of a recording which sounds a trifle dim by comparison with what we have come to expect but is much more than acceptable. The short organ pieces make very good appetisers for the main course."