Brian: Doctor Merryheart; For Valor

On this CD:

1. For Valor for organ
Composed by Havergal Brian
Performed by National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland

2. Doctor Merryheart
Composed by Havergal Brian
Performed by National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland
Conducted by Adrian Leaper

3. Symphony No. 11
Composed by Havergal Brian
Performed by National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland
Conducted by Adrian Leaper

4. Symphony No. 15 in A major
Composed by Havergal Brian
Performed by National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This seventh volume of Marco Polo's survey of Havergal Brian's symphonic works contains two concert overtures from early in his career and two of the symphonies from his productive old age. For Valour, from 1906, wears its Elgarian influences lightly; Brian was already finding his own prickly voice. Doctor Merryheart, of 1912, is a set of heavily programmatic variations, along the lines of Strauss's Don Quixote, which vividly evoke the dreams and misadventures of an absent-minded astronomer. The two later symphonies, from 1954 and 1960, are typically terse Brian utterances--the expressive opening adagio of Symphony No. 11 unveils a world of sorrow in six minutes. Leaper, in particular, has made something of a specialty of Brian and understands his inventive and idiosyncratic sound world well. These are performances that set out to make a case for an original musical thinker and are clear in their sense of his eccentrically ordered structures. --Roz Kaveney

Customer Reviews:

How much of a Brian fan are you?.......2005-07-07

I doubt that anyone reading this review just blundered into a listing for a Havergal Brian collection, so its likely that the reader has at least some knowledge of this remarkable composer. These works, most from when he was relatively young (he died in 1972, a month short of his 97th birthday), lack the intensity and concision of most of his later symphonies, but neither do they sprawl like the earlier ones. They're somewhat like the lighter works of Elgar, Vaughan Williams, and Holst, but much quirkier. And while Brian may be reminiscent of other composers on occasion, ultimately he's always his own man. That said, most of these works, given capable performances, should be relatively easy to get to like, even if they'll never be mistaken for Great Music.

The real problem lies in the performances. I'm sure the orchestra plays its heart out, but the players are mostly secondary school students, and this music is too tough for them. I bought this music originally on three LPs (all of it has been squeezed onto this two-CD set), and when I first listened to one of them I thought I was hearing some sort of weird audio distortion. It was, in fact, the string section, just enough off-key to hurt the ears. How close they come to Brian's intent varies with how hard the piece is to play, but none of this stuff is easy, and overall the orchestra just can't handle it.

But with the exception of a couple of items that have shown up on Marco Polo, this is the only game in town. Do you really love Havergal Brian? If so, get the set, grit your teeth, and listen to some music that you'll never otherwise get to hear. I find it entertaining enough that I've listened to most of the pieces several times each. Okay, so I'm a Brian nut. If you're a Brian nut too, join me.

Average customer rating:

significant composer, still underrated
significant composer, still under-rated
significant composer, still under-rated
Unimpressive music by an obscure composer

Brian: Doctor Merryheart; For Valor

Manufacturer: Marco Polo
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Espressivo - Con Passione - National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland
Andante Tranquillo - National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland
Marcato E Pomposo, Sempre Pesante - National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland
Allegro Vivace - Tranquillo - National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland
Piu Allegro - National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland
Theme - Adrian Leaper
Var 1 - Whimsies And Sunshadows (Religioso) - Adrian Leaper
Var 2 - Smiles And Storms (Scherzo) - Adrian Leaper
Var 3 - Dreams: Asleep In The Arms Of Venus (Andante) - Adrian Leaper
Var 4 - Merryheart As A Chivalrous Knight Chases Bluebeard (Molto... - Adrian Leaper
Var 5 - Merryheart Fights A Dragon - Adrian Leaper
Var 6 - Merryheart Leads A Procession of Heroes - Adrian Leaper
Var 7 - Merryheart Awakes - Adrian Leaper
Var 8 - The Dance Of Merryheart - Adrian Leaper
Adagio - Adrian Leaper
Allegro Giocoso - Adrian Leaper
Allegro Giocoso - Adrian Leaper
Allegro Giocoso - Adrian Leaper
Allegro Giocoso - Adrian Leaper
Allegro Marcia - Adrian Leaper
Allegro Marcia - Adrian Leaper
Allegro Marcia - Adrian Leaper
Maestoso E Marcato - National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland
Ostinato - National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland
Tutti - National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland
Cantabile E Espressivo Molto - National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland
Cantabile - National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland
L'Allegro Con Brio - National Symphony Orchestra Of Ireland

Amazon.com

This seventh volume of Marco Polo's survey of Havergal Brian's symphonic works contains two concert overtures from early in his career and two of the symphonies from his productive old age. For Valour, from 1906, wears its Elgarian influences lightly; Brian was already finding his own prickly voice. Doctor Merryheart, of 1912, is a set of heavily programmatic variations, along the lines of Strauss's Don Quixote, which vividly evoke the dreams and misadventures of an absent-minded astronomer. The two later symphonies, from 1954 and 1960, are typically terse Brian utterances--the expressive opening adagio of Symphony No. 11 unveils a world of sorrow in six minutes. Leaper, in particular, has made something of a specialty of Brian and understands his inventive and idiosyncratic sound world well. These are performances that set out to make a case for an original musical thinker and are clear in their sense of his eccentrically ordered structures. --Roz Kaveney

Customer Reviews:

significant composer, still underrated.......2002-08-04

Brian's symphonies are in the same league as any other composers' in the 20th century, in my opinion. To be fair to Brian detractors, his music has flaws (or more commonly can be poorly interpreted); however, Brian makes up for that with the mass of musical ideas he usually puts in his music. He was something of a nostalgic romantic and was fully dedicated to (a very adept at) tonality, but he also had an extreme bent towards the experimental and the modern. On this CD you get 77 minutes of works spanning a 60-year period of Brian's life. "For Valor" (1906) does sound a lot like movie music, but if you like Korngold or Williams, you'll probably like this. Elgar is probably the closest comparison. The second early work (1912) is an interesting (Rickard) Straussian satire (perhaps more homage than satire). More modern are the Symphony no. 11 and Symphony no. 15, written 50 years later. Parts of the 11th remind me of Mahler (at least in the first 2 movements), and the opening Adagio really does rank as some of the best slow music Brian wrote, although you will not necessarily appreciate this in the first few listens. Symphony no. 15 reminds me of Mozart in sensibility (i.e. classical structure and very felicitous themes) but with plenty of modern idiom. It is also a youthful and rambunctious work (written at a spry young age of 84). So why is Brian so hard to get? Some blame it on his "ellipsis" which suggests Brian only partially presented a musical idea and expected the listener to fill in the rest. However, I would tend to blame it on his self-imposed terseness, a necessity given the number of musical ideas this composer typically likes in his symphonies. A lot of ideas means you can't spend much time developing any one of them, and once they are expressed, Brian moves on. This doesn't characterize all of Brian's music (or symphonic movements), but I think it may explain why initial listens to some of his more "compressed" work sound chaotic and poorly structured. However, subsequent listens have always repaired that (at least for me). This is an excellent introduction to previously unfamiliar and important Brian. I'd also like to encourage the re-release of Brian recordings: Symphonies 8 and 9 (Sir Charles Groves), Symphonies 6 and 16 (Myer Fredman), and Symphony no. 7 (McKerras). Just this sampling alone reflects a very broad range of both symphonic development and creativity that is rare among the "average" great composer.

significant composer, still under-rated.......2002-08-04

Brian's symphonies are in the same league as any other composers' in the 20th century, in my opinion. To be fair to Brian detractors, his music has flaws (or more commonly can be poorly interpreted); however, Brian makes up for that with the share mass of musical ideas he usually puts in his music. He was something of a nostalgic romantic and was fully dedicated to (a very adept at) tonality, but he also had an extreme bent towards the experimental and the modern. On this CD you get 77 minutes of works spanning a 60-year period of Brian's life. "For Valor" (1906) does sound a lot like movie music, but if you like Korngold or Williams, you'll probably like this. Elgar is probably the closest comparison. The second early work (1912) is an interesting (Rickard) Straussian satire (perhaps more homage than satire). More modern are the Symphony no. 11 and Symphony no. 15, written 50 years later. Parts of the 11th remind me of Mahler (at least in the first 2 movements), and the opening Adagio really does rank as some of the best slow music Brian wrote, although you will not necessarily appreciate this in the first few listens. Symphony no. 15 reminds me of Mozart in sensibility (i.e. classical structure and very felicitous themes) but with plenty of modern idiom. It is also a youthful and rambunctious work (written at a spry young age of 84). So why is Brian so hard to get? Some blame it on his "ellipsis" which suggests Brian only partially presented a musical idea and expected the listener to fill in the rest. However, I would tend to blame it on his self-imposed terseness, a necessity given the number of musical ideas this composer typically likes in his symphonies. A lot of ideas means you can't spend much time developing any one of them, and once they are expressed, Brian moves on. This doesn't characterize all of Brian's music (or symphonic movements), but I think it may explain why initial listens to some of his more "compressed" work sound chaotic and poorly structured. However, subsequent listens have always repaired that (at least for me). This is an excellent introduction to previously unfamiliar and important Brian. I'd also like to encourage the re-release of Brian recordings: Symphonies 8 and 9 (Sir Charles Groves), Symphonies 6 and 16 (Myer Fredman), and Symphony no. 7 (McKerras). Just this sampling alone reflects a very broad range of both symphonic development and creativity that is rare in the "average" great composer.

Unimpressive music by an obscure composer.......2002-02-24

Havergal Brian's life story, as told by those who promote his music, is an admirable one. Brian was mostly unknown, and his music was rarely performed. In spite of this neglect, his output was huge. His most famous piece, the Symphony No. 1 titled the "Gothic," is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the longest symphony ever composed. He wrote 32 symphonies, 21 of them after age eighty, along with a violin concerto, a cello concerto, three operas and numerous other works. He completed his thirty-second and last symphony when he was 92 years old. Although he received some recognition toward the end of his life, he died without hearing most of his music. The Havergal Brian Society was established to make music lovers aware of this unrecognized master and promote the performance of his music. This CD was produced under the auspices of the Society.

Sadly, after hearing this CD, I feel that the Society's efforts would be better directed elsewhere. The concert overture "For Valour" reminds me of the type of music you would hear in a coronation scene in a two-color technicolor Warner Brothers film from the 1930's. The two symphonies (11 & 15) are best described as "clunky." The music is derivative, and sounds very much like the orchestral writing of other twentieth century British composers, such as Elgar, Vaughan-Williams, Holst and Walton, though of much lower quality. The pieces on this CD are not neglected masterpieces by a neglected master. Rather, the quality of the music demonstrates why it is neglected: it just isn't good enough to justify performances. This CD will satisfy the curiosity of those who want to hear what Brian's music sounds like, but they are unlikely to lead the music-loving public to recognize him as a great composer.

Music Track:

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