Havergal Brian (1876-1972)
Symphony No 1 ‘The Gothic’ (1919-27)Jane Manning (soprano), Shirley Minty (alto), John Mitchinson (tenor), David Thomas (bass), London Symphony Chorus, London Philharmonic Choir, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Singers, BBC Club Choir, Hampstead Choral Society, Bach Choir, English Chamber Choir, Royal Choral Society, Highgate Choral Society, Goldsmith’s Choral Union, Orpheus Girls’ Choir, Colfe’s School Choir
London Symphony Orchestra/Ole Schmidt
rec. live 20^th May 1980 Royal Albert Hall
Latin text with English translation
Heritage HTGCD 124 [2 CDs: 113]

Listening to these CDs brought back fond memories of 25^th May 1980 when I sat in the arena of the Royal Albert Hall for this performance. It was, truly, one of the great musical experiences of my life. Listening to the CD did make me think on the visual aspect of music, clearly missing here. The stage was full and the additional bands, although slightly reduced from what Brian wanted, spilled out to the sides and balcony. Likewise, the enormous choral forces filled all of the choir seats and beyond. The singers, silent in part one, rose for the opening of part two as though some great winged creature had filled the auditorium.

I was at Martyn Brabbins’ 2011 PBBC Proms performance, and I do not have any memories of a similar dramatic spectacle from that event. Any performance of the work is indeed an event. The gigantic forces involved mean that performances are going to be rare. Add to that the musical challenges and the problems are immense. There is on YouTube a fascinating documentary called ‘The Curse of the Gothic Symphony” which looks at the tortuous process of staging the first Australian performance of the work which finally took place in 2010.

To imagine his vision of the majesty and splendour of Gothic cathedrals in sound, Brian called on a range of styles, from plainsong to Renaissance polyphony, operatic declamation and 20^th century note clusters. The juxtapositions are often alarming, but what is so remarkable about this version is Schmidt’s ability to get his forces to change direction suddenly and seamlessly. 

To realise the sounds that he imagined, Brian scored the music for the largest orchestra of any traditional composition. Part 1 is large Mahlerian, but for Part 2 he calls for an orchestra of almost two hundred and choruses of about six hundred or more, including four operatically trained soloists. Brian is meticulous in his notation of the score, and I love that he writes for the percussion, “thunder machine, not thunder sheet”.

Brian authorised that Part 1 at about 35/40 minutes could be played on its own, which is what Sir Charles Groves did in 1976, but it works best as a giant introduction to the choral Part 2. Schmidt and his players work wonders here. Gigantic climaxes give way to delicate, almost chamber-like sections. Indeed, what is surprising about the work is not the enormousness of the forces but the delicacy of much of the scoring. From the pounding opening, the music quickly dissolves into a pianissimo section with a solo violin and harps prominent; leader Irvine Arditti is wonderful in this and indeed throughout. Here, Brian also demonstrates his unorthodox approach to harmony, and we get in a short space of time modulation from D minor to Bb minor to the Db major of the violin melody. The work is full of these unusual twists and turns and is what makes it so fascinating over its 105 minutes, especially when they are shaped so appositely as here.

The symphony as a whole calls for brilliant brass players and here the expanded LSO are superb. The sixteen horns are generally superb apart from just a few fluffed notes. The tubas led by the great John Fletcher are poetic in the Wagnerian funeral duets and brilliant in the virtuoso passages. Just listen to them at circa nine minutes into the third movement, where in a few bars they move from tender lyricism to where they have to match in speed and dexterity the piccolos and flutes. It is quite extraordinary. At the same point in the score, the xylophone player has some of the maddest writing ever put down for that instrument. 

If Part 1 has its challenges Part 2 has even more. This is mainly due to the enormous chorus that is required. Of necessity, most of these singers will be amateurs who have to cope with some extremely complex contrapuntal writing. This is particularly so in the a cappella sections where, say at the beginning of the Judex, there are 37 separate vocal lines. In Boult’s version, they lose their way for quite some bars before Boult’s expertise gets them back on track. Here, the choruses are fearless, and Schmidt keeps the massive, dense writing moving forward. In this he was no doubt aided by the excellent preparation of the different choruses by some very distinguished figures who do not get a mention in the CD credits. My programme for the event tells me they included Richard Hickox, Brian Wright and Ronald Corp. The four soloists are likewise tremendous, and it was good fortune that Shirly Minty, who had sung the contralto part for Boult, brought her experience to the venture. I have never been a fan of the timbre of Jane Manning’s voice but here her unerring sense of pitch is well suited to the high vocal writing. John Mitchinson and David Thomas sing their hearts out, though some of the writing for them is too close to Victorian oratorio for my taste.

Disc 2 ends with two minutes of applause, though my memory tells me it certainly went on for longer. The final track is a sadly brief interview with Ole Schmidt, who in impeccable English and a dry sense of humour, outlines his involvement in the project.

There are excellent liner notes on the music by composer John Pickard and notes on the events leading to the performance, and why it almost did not happen, by the Havergal Brian Society.

The broadcast has been re-mastered for this release, and the engineers have done a magnificent job. The Brabbins version from 2011 (review) may have slightly better sound and more players in the additional bands, but there is something about this version that sounds absolutely right for the music. This is all the more remarkable since Schmidt, who in the interview admits he had never heard of Havergal Brian before receiving Roberts Simpson’s request to conduct the work, so totally understands the composer’s idiosyncratic idiom and so brilliantly realises Brian’s vision. If you have long put off buying a version of this flight of fantastical genius, put it off no longer. Heritage and the Havergal Brian Society deserve the highest praise for realising this disc to mark the 150th anniversary of Brian’s birth.

Paul RW Jackson 

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