This is one of the finest releases thus far in Dutton’s ongoing series devoted to Thomas Beecham’s Royal Philharmonic legacy. In a nutshell, it contains everything that made this conductor so special: there are two stylishly performed Haydn symphonies (Nos. 40 and 102); some classic Delius (Summer Evening); characteristically charismatic performances of colorful tone poems both familiar and (at the time) little known (Liszt’s Orpheus, Dvorák’s The Golden Spinning Wheel, Saint-Saëns’ Le Rouet d’Omphale, and Berlioz’s King Lear); some delicious excerpts from The Great Elopement (a.k.a. Love in Bath), one of Beecham’s own ballets based on unfamiliar Handel; and finally some thoroughly Beechamesque rarities so typical of his questing musical spirit (Paisiello’s overture to Nina, o la pazza d’amore, and Méhul’s overture to Les deux aveugles de Tolède). Toss in a couple of Mendelssohn bonbons (the orchestral version of the scherzo from the Octet Op. 20 and the The Fair Melusina overture) along with a vintage Massenet chestnut, The Last Sleep of the Virgin, and this package practically shouts “Buy me!” with the same gusto that imbues Beecham’s conducting.
The recordings, which date from 1947 to 1951, have all come up wonderfully well in Michael Dutton’s loving hands. Beecham was one of those conductors who really cared what his recordings sounded like (Stokowski and Dorati were two others who felt similarly), and the infinite pains that he took over matters of instrumental balance as well as his love of bright orchestral colors shine through even the most technically limited of original sources. The Royal Philharmonic plays the Classical items with real elegance and the Romantic numbers with uninhibited enthusiasm. I can’t recommend this splendid set highly enough to both Beecham fans and music lovers interested in a remarkable chapter in recorded history. What fun!
