This performance of Hubert Parry’s First Symphony is a touch more expansive than Matthias Bamert’s on Chandos, but otherwise there’s little to choose between them. Indeed, the extra time in the opening movement only highlights its Elgarian luxuriousness of texture. Whether or not that’s a plus will be a matter of personal taste, but there’s no question that if Richard Strauss claimed to be a first-rate second-rate composer, then Parry was a first-rate third-rate composer. In its latter three movements especially, the symphony has got some good tunes, and like most Parry, it positively drips sincerity. This may turn off those who like music that doesn’t take itself so seriously, but it’s an estimable effort all the same, and remarkable for its early-1880s date of composition (that is, just before Dvorák took England by storm and taught the native brood of composers how to imitate someone better at orchestration than Schumann or Brahms).
It almost goes without saying that the pretentiously titled late tone poem From Death to Life hardly lives up to the promise of its name, but it’s also full of attractive ideas that William Boughton and the English String Orchestra realize with a dignity and seriousness worthy of Parry’s evident intent. It was premiered on a program that included Vaughan Williams’ The Wasps Overture and Elgar’s Second Symphony. Pity poor old Parry! The sonics here are rich and warm, not ideally flattering to the violins in their upper register, but not excessively swimmy either, which is sometimes the case with this label. A worthy reissue, then, and you just may find the music growing on you even though initially you’d never have thought that it could.
