Havergal Brian - Gothic Symphony (Symphony No. 1) (1/10)

[GojuBob]

What an astonishing achievement this is!!!!

[ImperatorMortis]

Fantastic music! BTW does anyone know what the painting's called in the vid?

[MatthiasAletharch]

I was there at the Royal Albert Hall performance on 17.7.2011. Absolutely shattering - one of the greatest concert-going experiences of my life. Amazing musicianship and stamina from all involved. The choirs sounded (quite understandably) a little hesitant at times but Martyn Brabbins held it together amazingly and the ovation at the end was well-earned indeed. Thanks to the BBC for pulling off such an awesome event.

[farrtube]

The world premiere of this work was given by Bryan Fairfax - a great champion of neglected music, with his semi-professional Polyphonia Orchestra in 1961. The first fully professional performance had to wait until 1964, under Sir Adrian Boult, which Brian attended. Although brian didn't attend Fairfax's performance, he expressed his gratitude by dedicating to him his Symphony 18, which he wrote especially for the Polyphonia to play. Fairfax later conducted a BBC studio performance in 1966

[Jezetha]

@farrtube Hi there! Just to correct your facts: 1st performance of 'The Gothic' under Bryan Fairfax on 24 June 1961; 1st performance of Symphony No. 18 (1961) on 26 February 1962; 1st professional performance of 'The Gothic' under Sir Adrian Boult on 30 October 1966; 1st radio performance of Symphony No. 18 under Bryan Fairfax on 20 October 1974.

[scabycat]

After listening to classical music for 50 yrs and being a ( modest ) musician myself , I must confess to never hearing of Brian or this monumental work until just a few days ago!! Imagine my delight when I heard its first performance was given by my all time favourite conductor Sir Adrian Boult. It takes a great deal of musicianship to master a score as complex as this, just like when Boult gave the first performance of the planets- what a genious!!

[lilplinky]

I will be singing in it.. hope the stage doesnt collapse

[IzzyJiagu]

@lilplinky It was an awesome moment when all 800 members of the choir stood up to sing, gives me goose bumps just thinking of it!

[afuadonki]

@IzzyJiagu Yep me too

[padredemishijos12]

I hope that someday Gustavo Dudamel will conduct this symphony.

[TheStockwell]

@padredemishijos12 Dear Lord, I hope he DOESN'T! Something like this is completely over his head.

[luisalbertovirgo]

please, send me the full score's link, i'm from Chile and here isn't human way to get the score ...

[1bateleur]

I'm not sure if this orchestra is the biggest one ever used in a symphony. Actually, Berlioz' Symphonie funèbre et triomphale asks 9 flutes, 5 oboes, 33 clarinets, 9 bassoons, 12 horns, 8 trumpets, 4 cornets, 10 trombones, 6 tubas, 8 side drums, tam-tam, timpani, cymbals, Gran cassa, a 200 hundred-people chorus, and 80 strings.

[MasterSquishy1]

@1bateleur Pretty sure the 600 piece choir in this beats out Berlioz this time :D but it's in the guinness book of records as the largest symphony composed so

[sstuddert]

I found a score.

[1bateleur]

@sstuddert Where?

[1bateleur]

@sstuddert Where? I searched in amazon, and ebay, no way!

[sstuddert]

@1bateleur it's a PDF, I'll send you the link.

[JonnyUnion]

@sstuddert And me too :D 

[JonnyUnion]

@sstuddert And me too :D please :)

[MRDRWWILLIAMS]

@sstuddert

Could you please send me the link too?

[wigs666]

17 July - Royal Albert Hall. Be there.

[lauwaxxx]

@wigs666 YESS.

[IzzyJiagu]

@wigs666 I was there, amazing it was too!

[hugomak3]

This is identical tho the preview clip of this! Thanks sooo much w*3(dot)amazon(dot)com Havergal-Brian-Symphony-No-Got­hic/dp/B0001Z65F8/ref=sr_1_1?i­e=UTF8&s=music&qid=1295072956&­sr=8-1

[jgesselberty]

Well, it's about time this neglected masterpiece gets a full outing on youtube. Thanks.

[sstuddert]

look, I need to get a score of this, can anyone help?

[kezza140884]

@sstuddert Contact the Havergal Brian foundation is your only option mate. It's being performed in Brisbane, Aust on December 22 and the scores were produced specifically for that purpose, not sure how you will go, but give it a shot.

PS - it's huge, some pages are 60+ ledger lines and it's 2 hours of music, so be prepared for a lot of paper. There are also some scoring errors, which may be corrected after our performance as we're doing 'on the go' editing. Maybe hold out 'til next year?

[sstuddert]

@kezza140884 yes, I'm going to that concert in Brisbane, what's this about next year?

[Jezetha]

@sstuddert It seems 'The Gothic' will be performed at the Proms, on 17 July (look at the site of Musicweb International, under Notices).

[kezza140884]

@sstuddert Now that the performance has been done, I would expect that score notes (as the score is, in some parts, inconsistant) will be sent back to the HB foundation for further amendment. Perhaps they will now wait until after the performance in July.

[sstuddert]

YESSS!

[Clivejvaughan]

Delighted to find this posted; almost needs its own playlist ! Thank you.

[walteredstates]

Oh you timely devil of an uploader! I have only just f***n heard of this monster - and there you are, freshly put up, the whole thing, a mere 13hrs ago. Brilliant . Me hugely grateful!

[musicanth]

@walteredstates I'm glad you like this monster :)

[LeoSupimpa]

@musicanth  Me very grateful too!

[LeoSupimpa]

@musicanth did you make a playlist of them all?

[LeoSupimpa]

@musicanth did one myself... (it seems youtube wont let me publish links on comments, so i sent it as a personal message to you)

if you've done one too, maybe you could paste it on the video info

thanks agains! :D