Sir Adrian Boult (conductor)
Complete Warner Recordings: The Stereo Recordings 1956-1978
London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish National Orchestra
Warner Classics 2173258504 [79 CDs]

The more I listened, in the company of “a learned musical friend”, to the music in this box set, the more our appreciation for Boult’s achievement was enhanced and I realised that although I had always esteemed him as a conductor, I had also long under-estimated his sensitivity and versatility. The collection here features the expected panoply of works by British composers – Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Walton, Holst and Parry – but also reminders of Boult’s prowess in rather more unexpected repertoire such as Berlioz – two CDs devoted to first-rate performances of his overtures – Wagner – likewise, some splendid orchestral excerpts – and various Russians – Khachaturian, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky. Many of the recordings here have previously been reviewed here on MusicWeb some time ago – for example, my colleague CH’s detailed review of Schubert’s Great C Major Symphony –  too many for me to provide the links, so please search for specific reviews as required while I provide more of a random overview, as it would be impracticable and indeed undesirable that I try to evaluate the whole content in detail, especially as so many have already reviewed items so comprehensively. My colleague JW has taken a similar approach in his typically perceptive review of the complete set of mono recordings and as per there, all the recordings here have been newly remastered in HD by Art & Son Studio to sound excellent such that they emerge with new clarity and detail. They have been transferred at a high level which I welcome but as a result you may need to reduce the volume when listening. Boult was certainly as attached to the recording process as some of his contemporaries were averse to it; he recorded prolifically with the LPO, first in Walthamstow Assembly Hall in the 50s, then later at the EMI Abbey Road studio and in the Kingsway Hall. The sound is often startlingly good; I cite as random example the engaging RPO recording of Dohnányi’s Variations on a Nursery Song and Piano Concerto No. 2 (CD 9), which has real presence and minimised hiss – and the composer displaying great versatility at the piano in his own works.

I was struck as I progressively sampled the recordings here by Boult’s ability to confer unity and coherence upon works. I am not quite sure how he does it – I imagine it is about consistency of manner and phrasing – but nothing ever sounds fragmentary or fussily pointed under his baton. If he has a besetting “fault” – or perhaps just a characteristic – it is tendency to push on; hence, for example, his comparative haste in the first and third movements of Vaughan Williams’ Fifth Symphony, might surprise some; he is a minute and a half faster than Previn in both so the result is less meditative and more driven. Phrasing is beautiful, dynamics are subtle but there is much greater tension and little rubato; the cor anglais is much more angular and Boult fuses the whole into a coherent entity. Nonetheless, Boult’s second survey of the symphonies is still regarded by many as a benchmark even if others prefer a more emotive, engaged approach such as that adopted by Previn to his somewhat more detached, objective and reserved manner – but there are still numerous incidents of Boult generating great dynamism, such as the start of the A London Symphony. There are many gems here and not just the symphonies: CD 39*, for example gives us a lovely “Greensleeves”, a sparky, rollicking English Folk Song Suite and a serene Job – a favourite of mine among RVW’s works – alongside a flowing, dignified Enigma Variations. In addition to the symphonies, the Serenade to Music is noteworthy, but flawed by a horribly throaty bass.

The same predilection for pressing ahead is true of Boult’s muscular Brahms First Symphony; the third movement “poco allegretto”” is swift and driven but still flowing. Boult was a renowned Brahms conductor and having recorded the symphonies for Pye in mono, he returned to the studio to make a stereo set as per here. I greatly enjoy them but concede JW’s observation that “Clearly the stereo cycle of the Brahms he made in the 1970-72 period will prove sonically more attractive to listeners but [the] earlier cycle has a dynamism that Boult sometimes only generated in the heat of a live concert” – which is confirmed by comparison. His Brandenburg Concertos are as swift and perky as any modern, “period” ensemble – just the sonorities are rounder, but the playing is virtuosic, especially from the horns, played by Jeffrey Bryant and Colin Horton – and also playing is David Munrow. Boult positively rips through the concertos and they simply exude the joy of music-making. On the other hand, the undue haste of the opening of Schumann’s Third Symphony is to my ears almost comically bad and the finale is no better. The start of the Fourth is likewise rushed and lacking gravitas. No; Boult’s Schumann is decidedly not for me. Not everything here strikes gold; typical is Josef Suk’s account of Beethoven’s violin concerto, its straightforward, unshowy honesty and directness verging on the dull. Nor am I much of a Menuhin fan and he appears in several items here; rather like the Beethoven, the Tchaikovsky violin concerto is a tad underpowered and correct, lacking Romantic élan from both soloist and conductor. Boult’s Siegfried Idyll is unusually brisk and crisp at 16:23, lending it freshness perhaps appropriate to a morning serenade celebrating new life – and its momentum is typical of Boult’s output.

On the other hand, some recordings are in no way controversial and indisputably “catalogue royalty”: the Dvořák Cello Concerto with Rostropovich, the Brahms piano concerto with Louis Kentner and the Mozart piano concertos with Annie Fischer and André Previn, the Cherkassky Grieg, Schumann and Tchaikovsky piano concertos, and Hugh Bean’s warm and technically flawless The Lark Ascending. There are also several enjoyable discs of “bon-bons” – overtures, marches, “favourites” and the like.

Of course, Elgar features prominently here alongside Vaughan Williams; between them these two composers are allotted many more works than any others. There is no gainsaying Boult’s pre-eminent identification with Elgar’s music, especially when he was conducting his favourite orchestra, the LPO. In the South is notably thrilling but some of the supposedly lesser works, too, emerge as “unjustly neglected”. His recording with Tortelier of the cello concerto provides a worthy alternative to the Du Pré/Barbirolli recording.

As something of a “voice man”, I was interested to hear Boult in vocal music outside the Elgar oratorios and his justly famous recordings of vocal works with “Miss Baker” (as he always termed her) such as Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody and Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder. I had no previous acquaintance with his collaborations with Victoria de los Ángeles and Christa Ludwig but find that both are lovely. The former’s slightly accented English is no barrier to enjoyment in the spritely Handel and Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate has the special, slightly plaintive charm peculiar to de los Ángeles’ voice – and displays both her agility and her good trill. Did Christa Ludwig ever make a bad recording? I don’t know one and the Mahler songs are typically penetrating, her lower register in particular being especially trenchant. Wagner’s Im Treibhaus shows why she was often the only mezzo of that era really to rival Baker in the Lieder repertoire. Boult’s accompaniment is impeccably soulful.

Boult’s championing of Elgar’s choral works beyond The Dream of Gerontius is well known; here we have first-class recordings of both The Kingdom, The Apostles and The Music Makers which have never been surpassed; highlights are Margaret Price’s “The sun goeth down” in the first and Janet Baker’s contribution to the last. Gedda will never be my favourite tenor soloist in Gerontius but it is indispensable for Helen Watts, Robert Lloyd and Boult’s sense of pacing and structure.

I confess to never having listened properly to The Pilgrim’s Progress, the “morality opera” over which RVW laboured for nearly half a century. The cast of twenty-five, some doubling roles, is studded with the names of famous British singers of the era and is given as fine a performance as could be required; there are moments of great beauty and even drama but its neglect isn’t hard to fathom, given its static nature. However, this is one of only two commercial recordings available – the other being by Richard Hickox in 1998 – so the curious like me will be glad to have it. Likewise, I was not familiar with the cantata Dona Nobis Pacem – and how beautifully Sheila Armstrong sings in it.

Given that over his long career Boult made at least five studio recordings of Holst’s The Planets, the one here from 1966 in excellent studio sound has some claim to being considered the best, being tight, driven and yet highly lyrical. The later recording from 1978, however, is just as authoritative and surprisingly, after a slightly more measured “Mars”, even more urgent. They make an interesting comparison and both are desirable.

As a bonus, alongside the stereo recording, the mono version of Britten’s Young Person’s Guide is included as it has Boult’s own clipped narrative; similarly, you may hear him introducing the “Instruments of the Orchestra” on CD 27.

The booklet provides an extensive biographical note by Tully Potter and a useful index of works by composer in alphabetical order linked to CD numbers. The contents of the CDs are otherwise listed in numerical order on the box lid. The cardboard sleeves have the original LP issue artwork, some retro- nostalgic, some elegant, some bizarre and some plain ugly (cf. Walton’s symphony and the hideous covers to the Elgar Enigma Variations and the Russian medley disc no.21). Inevitably, not everything is to my taste nor will it be to yours, but if Boult’s direct, unsentimental and yes, very British manner suits you, there is good reason to invest in this collection, not just for reasons of convenience and improved sound but because it will also permit older or completist collectors of Boult’s oeuvre to have a good clear out of their shelves. My personal reservation regarding Boult’s Schumann symphonies notwithstanding, nothing here is less than highly professional and much is incomparable. Newcomers will find in it a cornucopia of patrician music-making that has rarely been rivalled.

Ralph Moore

Other review: Jonathan Woolf

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Notes
1. CD 39 has a running time of 88:01 and as such will not play on some CD players; I was able to listen to it by plugging a little portable player into the USB on my laptop but not on my regular equipment. Warner have been informed of the anomaly and if you buy the set yours may not cooperate.
2. There are a couple of minor production errors: the Theme, track 6, in Britten’s Young Person’s Guide is timed on the cover at an improbable 7:46 and should be 0:28; Rienzi is misspelled “Rienze”.

Contents
THE STEREO RECORDINGS 1956-1978 on HMV, World Record Club, Columbia, Pye Nixa, EMI Classics, Warner Classics, Waverley
CD 1 ELGAR Symphony No. 2
CD 2 ELGAR Falstaff · Cockaigne
CD 3 WALTON Symphony No. 1
CD 4 SCHUMANN Symphonies Nos. 1 ‘Spring’ & 2
CD 5 SCHUMANN Symphonies Nos. 3 ‘Rhenish’ & 4
CD 6 BERLIOZ Overtures: Le Corsaire · Les Francs-juges · Benvenuto Cellini · Waverley
CD7 BERLIOZ Overtures: Le Carnaval romain · Rob Roy · Béatrice et Bénédict · Le Roi Lear
CD8 BRITTEN Four Sea Interludes · Passacaglia · The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra · Matinées musicales · Soirées musicales
CD 9 DOHNÁNYI Variations on a Nursery Song · Piano Concerto No. 2 (Dohnányi)
CD 10 DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto (Rostropovich) | BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2 (Kentner)
CD 11 KHACHATURIAN Piano Concerto | PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 1 (Katz)
CD 12 MOZART Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 23 (A. Fischer)
CD 13 TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto · Sérénade mélancolique | BEETHOVEN Romances Nos. 1 & 2 (Menuhin)
CD 14 HANDEL Arias from Judas Maccabaeus & Acis and Galatea | MOZART Exsultate, jubilate · Ch’io mi scordi di te? (los Ángeles) || MAHLER Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen | WAGNER Im Treibhaus (Ludwig)
CD 15 ELGAR Enigma Variations (1961) · Introduction and Allegro (1961)
CD 16 ELGAR Symphony No. 2
CD 17 GRIEG & SCHUMANN Piano Concertos (Cherkassky)
CD 18 ELGAR Violin Concerto (Menuhin) | BARSUKOV Piano Concerto No. 2 (Barsukov)
CD 19 HOLST The Planets (1966)
CD 20 MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto (M. Smith) · Symphony No. 4 “Italian”
CD 21 GLINKA Ruslan and Lyudmila: Overture | SMETANA Die Moldau · The Bartered Bride (excerpts) | RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Dance of the Tumblers | TCHAIKOVSKY 1812 Overture · Slavonic March · Romeo and Juliet
CD 22 ELGAR The Music Makers (Baker) | PARRY Blest Pair of Sirens
CD 23 TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 | LITOLFF Concerto Symphonique: Scherzo (Cherkassky) || TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto | SARASATE Zigeunerweisen (Bress)
CD 24 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 6 · The Lark Ascending (Bean)
CD 25 Popular Orchestral Favourites: MOZART Die Zauberflöte: Overture | BEETHOVEN Romance for violin No. 2 (Bress) | BRAHMS Academic Festival Overture | SUPPÉ Dichter und Bauer: Overture | PONCHIELLI Dance of the Hours | J. STRAUSS I Radetzky-Marsch
CD 26 ELGAR The Wand of Youth, Suites 1 & 2 · Chanson de nuit · Chanson de matin · Three Bavarian Dances
CD 27 Sir Adrian Boult introduces the instruments of the orchestra
CD 28 Bravo! WALTON Portsmouth Point Overture | BRUCH Kol Nidrei | CLARKE Trumpet Voluntary | SAINT-SAËNS Danse macabre · Wedding Cake | GERSHWIN Cuban Overture | STRAVINSKY Circus Polka for a Young Elephant | WOLF-FERRARI Intermezzo | FALLA Ritual Fire Dance
CD 29 Marches for Orchestra
CD 30 TCHAIKOVSKY Nutcracker Suite · The Sleeping Beauty Suite
CD 31 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 4 · Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 | R. STRAUSS Don Quixote (du Pré, Downes, Bradley)
CD 32 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 3 “A Pastoral Symphony” · In the Fen Country
CD 32-33 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS “The Wasps” · Symphony No. 1 “A Sea Symphony” (Armstrong, Case)
CD 34-35 ELGAR The Kingdom (Price, Minton, Young, Shirley-Quirk)
CD 35 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 8 · Concerto for two pianos (Vronsky, Babin)
CD 36 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 5 · Serenade to Music
CD 37 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 7 “Sinfonia antartica” (Burrowes)
CD 38 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 9 · Fantasia on the “Old 104th” Psalm Tune (Katin)
CD 39 ELGAR Enigma Variations (1970) · VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Fantasia on “Greensleeves” · English Folk Song Suite · Job – A Masque for Dancing
CD 40 BRAHMS Tragic Overture · Symphony No. 3
CD 41 BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto (Suk) · Coriolan
CD 42 ELGAR Overtures: Cockaigne · Froissart · ‘Handel in D minor’ · In the South
CD 43 BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 · Alto Rhapsody (Baker)
CD 44 WILLIAMSON & BERKELEY Violin Concertos (Menuhin)
CD 45-46 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS The Pilgrim’s Progress (Noble, Herincx, Case) · In rehearsal
CD 47 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 2 “A London Symphony”
CD 48 BRUCH Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (Menuhin)
CD 49 Sir Adrian conducts WAGNER: Excerpts from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Tristan und Isolde, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin
CD 50 BRAHMS Symphony No. 1
CD 51 BRAHMS Academic Festival Overture · Symphony No. 4
CD 52 SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9 ‘Great’
CD 53-54 BACH The Brandenburg Concertos
CD 55 ELGAR Cello Concerto (Tortelier) · Introduction and Allegro (1972) · Serenade
CD 56 Sir Adrian conducts WAGNER, vol. 2: Excerpts from Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde
CD 57 Sir Adrian conducts WAGNER, vol. 3: Siegfried Idyll · Excerpts from Parsifal
CD 58 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Dona nobis pacem · Toward the Unknown Region (Armstrong, Case)
CD 59 ELGAR Falstaff · Fantasia and Fugue in C minor (transc. from Bach) · The Sanguine Fan
CD 60 MOZART Piano Concertos Nos. 17 & 24 (Previn)
CD 61 BLISS Music for strings | HOWELLS Concerto for string orchestra
CD 62-63 ELGAR The Apostles (Armstrong, Watts, Tear, Luxon)
CD 64 Sir Adrian conducts WAGNER, vol. 4: Excerpts from Der fliegende Holländer, Das Rheingold, Tannhäuser, Rienzi · A Faust Overture | TCHAIKOVSKY Suite No. 3 in G major
CD 65 ELGAR Triumphal March · Carillon · Funeral March · Dream Children · Elegy · Grania and Diarmid · Polonia · Meditation
CD 66 HOLST First Choral Symphony
CD 67 TCHAIKOVSKY Capriccio italien · Gopak · Slavonic March
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Capriccio espagnol · Mlada: Procession of the Nobles
CD 68 MOZART Symphonies Nos. 41 “Jupiter” & 35 “Haffner”
CD 69 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis · Concerto Grosso · Partita for double string orchestra
CD 70 WAGNER Wesendonck-Lieder | R. STRAUSS 4 Lieder (Baker)
CD 70-71 ELGAR The Dream of Gerontius (Watts, Gedda, Lloyd)
CD 72 ELGAR Symphony No. 2
CD 73 ELGAR Symphony No. 1
CD 74 ELGAR Pomp and Circumstance · 2 Marches | WALTON Crown Imperial · Orb and Sceptre
CD 75 BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral”
CD 76 ELGAR Violin Concerto (Haendel)
CD 77 BRAHMS Serenades Nos. 1 & 2 · Variations on a Theme by Haydn
CD 78 HOLST The Planets (1978)
CD 79 PARRY Symphony No. 5 “Symphonic Fantasia” · Symphonic Variations · Elegy for Brahms

Recording dates & locations on the reverse of the cardboard sleeves