Joseph Haydn, Symphonies Geraint Jones (1917-1998) a Prize-Winning Student at the Royal Academy of Music, Jones Was a Son of the Church
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HAYDN SYMPHONIES CC 9119 HAYDN SYMPHONIES Joseph Haydn, Symphonies Geraint Jones (1917-1998) A prize-winning student at the Royal Academy of Music, Jones was a son of the Church. The Baroque, especially Bach, Handel, Mozart and Gluck, drew his creative fire to which he coupled a dedication to authenticity of style. These were his obsessions as conductor and keyboardist. It was in this latter capacity that he figured strongly Recordings from in Dame Myra Hess's National Gallery wartime concerts. His second wife was violinist Winifred Roberts and with her he gave numerous concerts. Roberts was the leader of the Geraint Jones The Itter Broadcast Collection, 1952-1960 Orchestra. Jones took Stephen Bishop under his wing and together they gave all of Mozart's piano concertos across several seasons at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. A committed yeoman of BBC broadcasts of concert and studio performances given festivals he, in the 1970s and 1980s, steered a number including Lake District, Salisbury and Manchester. Musical training and his loyalty to musical values were further imparted to by 11 orchestras and 19 conductors generations of student at the RAM where he was a Professor (1961-88). He died in London. All the recordings presented here were made ‘off-air’ using a state-of-the-art tape Harry Newstone (1921-2006) Newstone was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His name machine. Subsequently they were archived on disc acetates – the tapes themselves being is little known now. To all intents and purposes he set out as a virtuoso harmonica player but erased and reused. The performance of Symphony 103, conducted by Harry Newstone, after four years of studying with Herbert Howells and Robert Simpson (with whom he was to is the only one for which the original tape survives. work on new editions of the Beethoven symphonies and on Havergal Brian) his compass shifted towards conducting. Studies at the Guildhall School and Royal Academy of Music led The discs were stored upright in a single location, they had probably never been moved to a scholarship to the Accademia Santa Cecilia. Newstone founded the Haydn Orchestra in or played, and so have survived more than 60 years in remarkably good condition. 1949 and contributed a Haydn ‘strand’ as part of 1951’s Festival of Britain. premiere commer- cial recordings were of Haydn’s Nos 49 and 73. He took part in a project with BBC Wales to The original documentation, by both cataloguing and typed centre labels on each disc make a complete recording of the Haydn symphonies. Newstone’s Eulenberg Edition of the gives full details of the performers and transmission dates. Richard Itter was generous in Haydn Symphonies continues to attract praise. More than 100 Haydn concerts by Newstone are documented by the BBC. He died in Victoria, British Columbia. not trying to fit too much music on each side – but rather less kind when it came to the abrupt fades on last notes and applause. Rob Barnett, April 2020 Here is a rich smorgasbord of Haydn from a wide range of conductors : some reached back into the 19th century, some were the travelling maestros of their time, and some formed British Orchestras that enriched the diet of our nations musical life. Lyrita Recorded Edition Trust 2 19 HAYDN SYMPHONIES CC 9119 HAYDN SYMPHONIES Paul Sacher (1906-1999) The long-lived Sacher was a wealthy patron of the musical world, a prolific commissioner of scores and, of course, a conductor. His patronage was fuelled DISC 1 60.28 by having in 1934 married the widow of a major shareholder in Hoffmann-La Roche pharmaceu- Symphony No. 80 in D minor, Hob 1:80 ticals. Later he was to become a leading member of the board. Those who were fortunate to 1 I Allegro spiritoso 3.48 receive commissions from him included Stravinsky, Bartók, Martin, Honegger, Martin, Hin- 2 II Adagio 7.24 demith, Henze, Strauss and Carter. Basle’s Paul Sacher Foundation continues his life’s work 3 III Menuetto & Trio: Allegretto 3.22 and is the home for manuscript collections of the works and lives of Stravinsky, Lutosławski, 4 IV Finale: Presto 3.44 Ligeti and Boulez among others. Sacher’s concerts were pretty thoroughly broadcast by the BBC Symphony Orchestra BBC. Haydn symphonies enlivened his concert programmes in 1949 (53), 1953 (53)¸1954 (7), Fritz Stiedry (1883-1968) 8 October 1955 1968 (44) and 1980 (22). Jean Martinon (1910-1976) Martinon was known as a French conductor and more Symphony No. 83 in G minor 'La poule', Hob 1:83 distantly as a composer. Born in Lyon he studied with Roussel, d'Indy, Munch and Désormière. 5 I Allegro spiritoso 6.04 His long list of compositions includes symphonies (4), concertos (7), choral works and chamber 6 II Andante 7.48 music. His orchestras included those at Chicago, Düsseldorf and the Hague as well as the 7 III Menuet & Trio: Allegretto 3.43 French National, the Israel Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic and the Concerts Lam- 8 IV Finale: Vivace 3.10 oureux. He had engagements with BBC Third Programme but they were not numerous. His BBC Symphony Orchestra one Haydn symphony made a strange companion in a Royal Festival Hall concert alongside Nicolai Malko (1883-1961) 31 January 1960 Ravel L’enfant et les Sortilèges and André Navarra playing the Lalo Cello Concerto. This is the only Haydn symphony concert BBC online archive. Symphony No. 102 in B flat major, Hob 1:102 9 I Largo-Allegro vivace 7.30 Harry Blech (1910-1999) Blech, London-born, was a pupil of Arthur Catterall in 10 II Adagio 4.09 Manchester. Later he studied in Czechoslovakia with Otakar Ševík. He joined the Hallé in 1929. 11 III Menuetto & Trio: Allegro 5.19 During the 1930s he was a member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and in wartime turned his hand to form the London Wind Players from members of the RAF orchestra. In 1948 he 12 IV Finale: Presto 4.32 founded the London Mozart Players and conducted them until 1984. There was to be a BBC Symphony Orchestra diminutive clutch of Decca and EMI studio recordings by Blech and the LMP. Many of these Basil Cameron (1884-1975) 25 May 1956 have been reissued by First Hand Records. His last conducting engagement was at the Fairfield Maida Vale Studio Halls in Croydon in 1992. His BBC concert broadcasts, all dating from 1956, of Haydn symphonies comprised Nos. 43, 52, 85 and 103. 18 3 HAYDN SYMPHONIES CC 9119 HAYDN SYMPHONIES of contemporary works by Blacher, Egk, von Einem and Hartmann (Symphony No. 6). Haydn’s DISC 2 69.19 London Symphonies were recorded commercially by Jochum. Symphony No. 101 in D major 'The Clock', Hob 1:101 1 I Adagio-Presto 7.56 Walter Goehr (1903-1960) Goehr was born in Berlin and his son Alexander, also a 2 II Andante 6.21 composer, was born there. He studied with Schoenberg. Well known in British film studios, his 3 III Menuet & Trio: Allegretto 7.09 film music included Great Expectations (1946). Walter Goehr made recordings of Bach and 4 IV Finale: Vivace 4.33 later of various ‘warhorse’ concertos with Noel Mewton-Wood in. His name was in some Philharmonia Orchestra measure kept alive by his conducting of the Philharmonia in the Tippett Concerto for Double Otto Klemperer (1885-1973) 26 August 1958 String Orchestra. Goehr was Tippett’s colleague at Morley College. That was in 1952 and it was later recorded and came out on a Music for Pleasure LP. His 1940s BBC radio music Usher Hall, included The Harbour called Mulberry, Radar and a Britten project, The Dark Tower. There was Edinburgh International Festival a Walter Goehr Orchestra and Goehr immersed himself in lively repertoire including, in 1951, pioneering BBC broadcasts of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 with Morley College forces. There Symphony No. 29 in E major, Hob 1:29 were to be some 400 radio broadcast concerts on the BBC. His son’s Little Symphony was 5 I Allegro ma non troppo 4.14 written “In memoriam Walter Goehr”. 6 II Andante 6.49 7 III Menuet & Trio: Allegretto 4.35 Boyd Neel (1905-1981) Boyd Neel was a general medical practitioner who kept his 8 IV Finale: Presto 3.53 career going fully in tandem with that of a successful conductor and musical entrepreneur; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra eventually, he emigrated to Canada. Among other things his orchestra played British repertoire for strings and Lyrita have issued a 1961 example on REAM1117. His eponymous orchestra Hermann Scherchen (1891-1966) 22 September 1952 was recruited in 1932 from the RCM and RAM and debuted in June 1933. In 1936 the orchestra and conductor made the first recording of Vaughan Williams’ Tallis Fantasia. There Symphony No. 91 in E flat major, Hob 1:91 was an invitation to the 1937 Salzburg Festival and for this event Britten composed for them 9 I Largo-Allegro assai 8.57 his Bridge Variations. From 1947 onwards there were world tours. 1952 saw Neel appointed 10 II Andante 5.38 as Dean of the Royal Conservatory of Music at Toronto, Ontario where he remained for 18 11 III Menuet & Trio: Un poco Allegretto 4.25 years. He founded the Hart House Orchestra in Toronto. There were other English music 12 IV Finale: Vivace 4.51 recordings including Finzi’s Dies Natalis with Joan Cross. The BBC’s records reveal many radio London Chamber Orchestra broadcasts but few in which he directed Haydn symphonies; there were a handful in the 1950s. Anthony Bernard (1891-1998) 19 November 1956 4 17 HAYDN SYMPHONIES CC 9119 HAYDN SYMPHONIES that exist are on Philips: Schumann symphony No 4 in the original version and some of Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance marches.