The only serious competition for this new recording of Havergal Brian’s visionary, sometimes magnificent, sometimes loony “Gothic” Symphony comes from the Naxos/Marco Polo recording featuring a good chunk of the population of Bratislava. There’s no question that this is the finer performance, both sonically and technically. Martyn Brabbins has the two orchestras playing the often virtuoso writing (especially the brass parts) amazingly well for a single live performance. The horns in the scherzo observe all of their dynamic nuances correctly, and the xylophone player tackles Brian’s patently insane part with stunning brilliance.
Most importantly, the choirs actually make music out of Brian’s densely woven counterpoint. Yes, the words are generally unintelligible, and tenor Peter Auty is nothing special, but for the most part the singing is amazingly confident and purposeful. There are moments, especially in the fifth movement, with its soprano vocalise and trumpet fanfares, that truly are magical. The Albert Hall acoustic and the presence of an audience suck up some of the bass frequencies, but the live recording, before a very quiet audience, is otherwise very good. The disc includes more than eight minutes of applause at the end, and though you’d be crazy to listen to it even once, it was certainly well-earned. Kudos especially to Brabbins for steering this potential Titantic of symphonies safely into port.
