Perhaps Thomas Beecham wasn’t a “great” conductor in the cosmic scheme of things, but he could bring certain composers’ music to life in a way that few have equalled, and in Delius at least, his performances seldom have been eclipsed. That’s why you should hear this disc: the regular Delius favorites are all here, and the recordings have an aura of mastery that makes you feel that little could go wrong with Beecham on the podium. The rhapsody Brigg Fair, the most substantial piece here, unfolds so expressively and ardently that you’re immediately captivated by the mellifluous playing Beecham draws from his orchestra. That’s not to suggest that his mid-1950s Royal Philharmonic was the equal of the BBC Symphony under Andrew Davis on its 1992 Teldec recording–rather that in this work, as in most by Delius, Beecham usually could conjure something from the ether that others only glimpse dimly in their own recordings.
The rest of the program, including the exultant daybreak scene from the Florida Suite (in Beecham’s revision) comprises smaller pieces, such as the atmospheric First Cuckoo and Summer Night on the River, and the bewitching Irmelin prelude. Every performance has identical qualities of natural, unforced expressivity, reflecting Beecham’s symbiotic understanding of this composer. EMI’s transfers invest these mid-’50s masters with adequate clarity and depth, and even if you’d normally side-step English romanticism, you shouldn’t miss this reissue.
