Sir Malclom Sargent has featured on beulah since our early days. Many of his tracks are currently available either on compact disc or at iTunes
14PD15 Visions of Elgar
by Sir Adrian Boult, Anthony Collins, Eduard van Beinum, Sir Malclom Sargent , Richard Lewis, Majorie Thomas, Isobel Bailie, Alfredo Campoli and Anthony Pini
The four disc set contains:
- Sir Adrian Boult conducting
In the South Overture
Symphony No 2
 Violin Concerto with Alfredo Campoli
- Anthony Collins conducting
Falstaff
Introduction and Allegro for Strings
- Eduard van Beinum conducting
Cockaigne Overture
Cello Concerto with Anthony Pini
- Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting
Dream of Gerontius (extracts) with Richard Lewis and Marjorie Thomas
The Kingdom (extract) with Isobel Bailie
I Sing The Birth with the Royal Choral Society
Imperial March
Pomp and Circumstance Marches Nos 1 and 4
Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma)
- Plus Elgar's vision of:
Handel - Overtrue in D minor
Bach - Fantasia and Fugue in C minor BWV 537
Conducted by Albert Coates
Robert Matthew Walker writes in an Elgar Sesquicentenary Re-issues Round Up published in International Record Collector November 2007:
The first disc is all Sargent and is a stunning reminder of just how fine a conductor he was in this repertoire. It may seem odd initially to pick out his LSO recordings of the first and fourth Pomp and Circumstance and the Imperial Marches, but I was brought up short by his spellbinding, indeed magisterial account of No.1. Here Sargent's tempos are immensely broad and entirely without the hectic 'Last Night of the Proms' hysteria... and (he) follows this with a very good Enigma. Sargent obtains fine playing. The Decca mono recordings are staggeringly good and have been superbly transferred. This is a set of considerable musical substance and one that I urge upon all serious Elgarians. I cannot urge it upon you strongly enough.
" The list of performers in itself guarantees a high standard of performance. " John Steane in Gramophone February 2008
Visions of Elgar a boxed set, four discs for the price of three. £34.35
or phone Priory Records 01525 377566
2PD13 Sargent's Enigma
Sir Malcolm Sargent is remembered as a great choral conductor. Many of the older generation can recall him conducting vast choruses singing Handel, Mendelssohn or Coleridge Taylor in the Royal Albert Hall. His reputation as an orchestral conductor is marred by stories of his attitude towards the musicians in orchestras. However his recorded legacy, on this disc mainly with the London Symphony Orchestra, demonstrates a musical intellect at work. If he takes liberties then they are for justifiable musical reasons. The disc starts with a stately Overture to Handel's Messiah and closes with the Pastorale Symphony form the same work. Between these statements are his interpretations of Elgar's Enigma Variations ( a work he conducted often), a suite of dances from the dramatic music of Purcell arranged by Albert Coates, Holst's Perfect Fool Ballet Music and Coleridge Taylor's Othello Suite.
The Enigma Variations and music by Purcell is presented in One Sound The brilliance, clarity and presence of these recordings made by the legendary balance engineer Kenneth Wilkinson spurred the remastering team lead by Simon Heyworth at Super Audio Mastering to reproduce on compact discs a sound which when played through a single loudspeaker either directly in front of the listener or from a corner reflex cabinet will propel the listener into the Kingsway Hall with its live acoustic, and the London Symphony orchestra of the 1950s. It sounds pretty good through two speakers, but the advantage of using a single speaker is that you will hear the original balance without any phase problems or side effects.
| "Another welcome return, Sir Malclom Sargent's Enigma Variations with the London Symphony Orchestra, extrovert, well juddged and in Nimrod, noble, presented on a well transferred Beulah CD in company with Albert Coates' Purcell Suite and a menu of Handel, Holst and Coleridge-Taylor from some years earlier. Nostalgia with a good musical pedigree." -Robert Cowan in Gramophone December 2007 |
Although no longer available on compact disc you can download the tracks for only £0.79 each
or £7.99 for the whole disc
from
3PD13 Sargent's Beethoven
Sir Malcolm Sargent conducts the National Symphony Orchestra (recored in 1945/6) in Beethoven Symphonies 4 and 5, plus Grieg's Lyric Suite
"I have heard performances which critics would have raved about had some conductor from Russia been responsible for them, conducting them half as well and truthfully." Neville Cardus writing Sir Malcolm Sargent's obituary in The Guardian 4 October 1967
Bob Briggs at Muisc Web International writes:
There's much to be admired and enjoyed in this performance of Beethoven's Fourth Symphony - the excellent ensemble in the staccato chords of the slow introduction to the first movement, the high tension as the music builds to the Allegro vivace, which simply bursts out of the speakers with life; high spirits abound...The slow movement is never allowed to slip into romantic gesture and the scherzo goes off like a rocket, but is shorn of the repeat of the second part of the scherzo. The finale returns to high spirits with some wonderfully bucolic bassoon solos and the exposition is repeated!...I haven't enjoyed this symphony so much in years! Full marks for the interpretation. The Fifth Symphony isn't quite as successful a performance for one simple reason: Sargent sees the first twenty-four bars of the first movement as an introduction, before the music can really get going. And get going it does - until the exposition is repeated (bravo) - when we get the portentous application of the brakes for the first twenty four bars. Then again, for the first four bars of the development section (bars 125/128) the brakes are applied, before the music once more takes off. And so on, throughout the movement, whenever the famous four notes appear on full orchestra everything comes to a standstill. Bars 303/306 contain the usual reorchestration of the bassoon part for the horns. However, despite this rather annoying habit, this is thrilling stuff and one is quite carried away by the sheer verve of the playing and the interpretation - the wind band is especially fine. The slow movement is very well paced, with only a rather large rallentando heralding the end of the 78 side. The scherzo races along, with lots of fun in the manic trio with the fugal string entries - exciting bass and cello playing here. In general, the timpani have not recorded well, but when it really matters, as in the transition music from scherzo to finale, the drums are most telling and very well captured. Then comes the excitement and culmination of the musical journey. Sargent pushes the music along and, as you'd expect, he doesn't repeat the exposition... these are electrifying performances: alive, alert, brimming with energy and fire, but with poetry in the slow movements. There are no frills in these readings; Sargent is truly the servant of the composer. What is more, I haven't been as excited by Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in a long time. If this wasn't enough, there's a delightful performance of Grieg's Lyric Suite to complete the disc. The final March of the Dwarfs is a real rollicking affair. Barry Coward's transfers are fine, with a little surface noise remaining, thus allowing the upper frequencies to register. This is how transfers from 78 should be. I cannot welcome this disc too highly. It's great music-making which should be heard by anyone interested in the art of performance and everyone interested in music.
| Robert Matthew-Walker in February 2008 International Record Reivew writes: It is good to be reminded of this conductor at his best, as he consistenly is in No. 4, in which all four movements are played at virtually ideal tempos, a reading that is remarkably "straight", unfussy and wholly classical in feeling...this CD is a worthy memento of a much loved British musician. |
or phone Priory Records 01525 377566
4PD13 Sargent at the BBC
From 1947 until his death 20 years later Sir Malclom Sargent was cheif conductor of the Henry Wood Proms. His concerts were given with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The relationship between Sargent and the orchestra could at times be very tense, but Sargent could also manage to bring the best out of them such as the recordings made in 1958 just after he had resigned as the orchestra's cheif conductor.
- Britten- Varitaions and Fugue on a
Theme by Purcell [Listen]
- Chabrier - Fete Polonaise [Listen]
- Dvorak - Slavonic Dance No.10 [Listen]
- Elgar - Pomp and Circumstance
March No 1 [Listen]
- Litolff - Scherzo [Listen]
Shura Cherkassky (piano)
- Sullivan - Overture Di Ballo [Listen]
- Tchaikovsky - Tatiana's Letter Scene [Listen]
(from Eugnen Onegin)
Joan Hammond (Soprano)
- Tchaikovsky - Andante cantabile [Listen]
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