The Beecham Collection, Volume 36 - Œuvres orchestrales

Description

SOMM Recordings is pleased to release the next CD in its ongoing and well-received Beecham collection. The label's initiative in publishing this collection is widely regarded by critics and music historians as a remarkable and invaluable endeavor. Focused on live performances, radio broadcasts, and rare recordings — often with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra — the series has been described as a "revolutionary" undertaking that uncovers "buried treasures" for enthusiasts of Sir Thomas Beecham. This 36th installment includes live performances from two of Beecham's last concerts in 1959 and 1960, as well as one from 1954. Once again, producer and audio restorer Lani Spahr "has worked wonders with the restoration," to quote John Quinn from Music Web International. This release opens with two of Beecham's iconic musical lollipops, which he collectively referred to as "little delicious pieces." By the River comes from Frederick Delius's Florida Suite. Although written in Leipzig, the suite was inspired by Delius's stay at an orange plantation in Florida, where his father had sent him in a vain attempt to dissuade him from pursuing music. Beecham championed the suite, and this piece, recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall on April 24, 1960, is a particularly poignant document, as it was recorded during what turned out to be Beecham's last concert in London. The second of Edvard Grieg's four Symphonic Dances is the first performance on this CD, recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall on October 26, 1954. Grieg noted on the title page of the autograph manuscript that the dances were "inspired by Norwegian motifs," and this second dance, marked Allegretto grazioso, was one of Beecham's favorites. The works of Leonard Salzedo, an English composer of Spanish descent, include seventeen ballets, the most successful of which was The Witch Boy from 1956, based on the "Ballad of Barbara Allan." Beecham's exciting and clearly committed performance, three years after the premiere, was described in the program as "Scenes and Dances from the Ballet, The Witch Boy," and this recording faithfully reproduces the titles of the sections as they were printed in the original program at the Royal Festival Hall on November 14, 1959. This interpretation also included Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 — his only symphony completed in a major key, and the only one to feature five movements instead of the traditional four. Nicknamed "The Polish" after the marking Tempo di Polacca of the fifth and final movement, it is a lighter work than his other symphonies and considered by some to be less masterful. Beecham never saw it that way, and he always championed the symphony with conviction. By the time of this performance, he had been conducting the "Polish" symphony for decades, and his direction reveals a deep commitment to the work.