Havergal Brian’s

THE GOTHIC SYMPHONY, Sympony No. 1

Four vocal soloists: Jenisova, Peckova, Dolezal, Mikulas
Seven Choirs: Slovak Philharmonic, Slovak Opera, Slovak Folk Ensamble, Lucnica, Bratislava City, Bratislava Children’s, Youth Echo
Two orchestras: CSR Symphony & Slovak Philharmonic

200 players

Because of its large forces and length is listed in the Guiness Book of Records under: Largest Symphony.

Disc 1:

Part I:
1) Allegro assai (1-4)
2) Lento espressivo e solenne (5-7)
3) Vivace (8-14)

Part II:
4) Allegro moderato (Te Deum Laudamus) (15-25)

Disc 2:
5) Adagio molto solenne e religioso (Judex) (1-6)
6) Moderato e molto sostenuto (Te ergo quaesumus) (2-21)

Years ago I turned on the radio and was instantly hypnotized. Have always been good at guessing a composer’s nationality when listening. This one is from England, this one is from France, this one is from Italy. I was totally flummoxed by this. Who the hell was the composer and where was he from? Then the chorus set in and continued to mystify me. Never heard anything like it before… and it was going on forever!

Havergal Brian was a British contemporary of Vaughan Williams and Holst. He had known success, then personal crisis, social rejection, hard times, disappointment and- for the most of his last 50 years- obscurity. He was commonly regarded as one of the generation that had had their chance, but failed to justify it.

The Gothic remains his most famous work. The booklet is included (Heaven knows, you will need it).


No longer availablel

YES! could you give me a link please?

looks good!!!

Yes, I'm interested! The seven choirs and two orchestras seems like an overkill. Well, Lucnica isn't a choir per se, it's a dance/singing group, which performs (almost exclusively) Slovak folk music.

Waiting for PM!

Bunnies!

thanks phideas for the link.

it sounded.... big. very big. very very very big. quite an experience

Ironically, Brian began big, and ended small - many of his later symphonies (he wrote 32!) are short, one-movement affairs of 15 minutes, for standard orchestra. I think the experience with the "Gothic" taught him something. His later music is rather better, too.

Thanks Phideas1 for the link. I love all the British composers e.g. Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Delius, Britten, Holst, Rubbra and am looking forward to this relatively unknown gargantuan symphony.

Yes, this is a rather daunting musical experience. After its discovery I explored his other available music, none of which I found the least bit interesting. Not my kind of British composer. The influences for the Gothic are not typical. Curiously I have never explored Rubbra, even though Gerald Finzi's biography mentions him often and the regard these two men had for one anothers work.

"Rubbra found Gerald a warm, sympathetic listener whose judgement he trusted, and whose opinion he sought, from every meeting carrying away something 'of vital importance'. He dedicated his Phantasy Op. 16 to Gerald. Edmund's frequent letters were always about his own music, ending with queries about Gerald's, but he did not keep Gerald's replies."

When Vaughan Williams heard that the University of Durham was going to confer an Honorary D.Mus on Rubbra in 1949, he wrote him a very short letter. ‘I am delighted to hear of the honour which Durham University is conferring on itself’

PM me. :)

Updated link.

does this still exist somewhere?

Thanks to Tsobanian for these links (http://forums.ffshrine.org/f92/classical-request-58159/57.html#post2195240):

ladiscotecaclasica.blogspot.gr/2012/10/havergal-brian-symphony-no1-gothic.html#more (http://ladiscotecaclasica.blogspot.gr/2012/10/havergal-brian-symphony-no1-gothic.html#more) (Hotfile)

classicallibrary.blogspot.gr/2012/01/havergal-brian-symphony-no1-gothic-bbc.html (http://classicallibrary.blogspot.gr/2012/01/havergal-brian-symphony-no1-gothic-bbc.html) (Hotfile)
or
forums.ffshrine.org/f92/havergal-brian-symphony-no-1-gothic%5Bhyperion-2011%5D%5Bflac%5D-123036/#post2202558 (http://forums.ffshrine.org/f92/havergal-brian-symphony-no-1-gothic%5Bhyperion-2011%5D%5Bflac%5D-123036/#post2202558) (ADrive)