HALLE BRUCH VIOLIN CONCERTO NO.l RECORDED 1925
MENDELSSOHN SYMPHONY N0.4, ‘ITALIAN’ RECORDED 1931
HEBRIDES OVERTURE RECORDED 1941
WORLD PREMIERE RELEASES ON CD
SIR HAMILTON HARTY SIR MALCOLM SARGENT ALBERT SAMMONS
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MAX BRUCH (1838-1920) VIOLIN CONCERTO NO.l IN G MINOR, 0P.26
1: I Allegro moderate .8.01
2: II Adagio .7.36 3: III Allegro energico .6.39
SIR HAMILTON HARTY CONDUCTOR ALBERT SAMMONS VIOLIN
FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) SYMPHONY N0.4 IN A, 0P.90, ‘ITALIAN’
4: I Allegro vivace .7.16
5: II Andante con mote .5.36
6: III Con mote moderate.4.24
7: IV Saltarello:presto.5.20 SIR HAMILTON HARTY CONDUCTOR
8: HEBRIDES OVERTURE, 0P.26.9.03
SIR MALCOM SARGENT CONDUCTOR
TOTAL TIMING .54.13
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SIR HAMILTON HARTY PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR 1920-1933
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CD HLT 8002
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BRUCH VIOLIN CONCERTO Recorded 9 April 1925 in the old Free Trade Hall,
Manchester. First released in December 1925 by
Columbia (L1680-2)
MENDELSSOHN SYMPHONY N0.4
Recorded 10 April 1931 in Central Hall,
Westminster, London. First released in May 1932
by Columbia (DX342-4)
MENDELSSOHN HEBRIDES OVERTURE
Recorded 29 July 1941 in Houldsworth Hall,
Manchester. First released in December 1941 by
Columbia (DX1053)
ORIGINAL RECORDINGS DIGITALLY REMASTERED BY
SIMON HARAM AT SILENT AGE SOUND
Tracks 1-3 pub. Stanley Lucas, Weber & Co.
Tracks 4-8 pub. Breitkopf & Hartel
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MAX BRUCH (1838-1920) VIOLIN CONCERTO NO.l IN G MINOR, 0P.26
1: I Allegro moderate .8.01
2: II Adagio .7.36 3: III Allegro energico .6.39
SIR HAMILTON HARTY CONDUCTOR ALBERT SAMMONS VIOLIN
FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) SYMPHONY N0.4 IN A, 0P.90, ‘ITALIAN’
4: I Allegro vivace .7.16
5: II Andante con mote.5.36
6: III Con mote moderate.4.24
7: IV Saltarello:presto.5.20 SIR HAMILTON HARTY CONDUCTOR
8: HEBRIDES OVERTURE, 0P.26.9.03
SIR MALCOM SARGENT CONDUCTOR
TOTALTIMING .54.13
CD HLT 8002
All rights reserved. Unauthorized copying, reproduction, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting prohibited. In the United Kingdom, licences for public performance or broadcasting may be obtained from Phonographic Performance Ltd, 1 Upper James Street, London W1F 9DE. Manufactured and printed in Great Britain.
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HALLE TRADITION These recordings offer a fascinating insight into the playing of the Halle before and during the
Second World War, primarily with its Principal Conductor, Hamilton Harty. Harty’s recorded
legacy with the Halle stretches from early acoustic recordings made in 1920 through until he
left Manchester in 1933. The Orchestra did not record again until 1941
It is important to remember the circumstances under which these recordings were made.
Works needed to be divided up into four- to five-minute sections, and tempos often reflect this
fact. There were no ‘second chances’, no edits and no opportunity to hear a finished ‘take’
without destroying it! As with all orchestral concerts at this time, rehearsal time was minimal
and it is probably worth bearing in mind that it was the growth of recording itself which led,
in the 1940s and ’50s, to a greater emphasis
on perfection - the players and public of the
1920s and ’30s were more concerned with The Halle under Harty was other qualities. almost certainly the best The period that is covered by these British orchestra of its day recordings saw profound changes in
orchestral sound. The younger string players
were turning their back on portamento or sliding (the new wave of teachers viewed it as
‘vulgar’), and it disappeared almost altogether after the Second World War. There is a very
particular English guality to the wind playing which has not survived into the modern era, for
example a much thinner oboe sound with less vibrato. The orchestral seating of the Halle in
those days was almost identical to that used by the Orchestra under Mark Elder today, with
divided 1st and 2nd violins on each side of the stage; however this practice almost disappeared
during the second half of the 20th century. Recording itself (probably along with vast
improvements in transport) was a major reason for orchestral sound across the world
becoming increasingly uniform. One reason alone to be grateful for these recordings is that we
can hear what an outstanding English orchestra sounded like before this started to occur. The
Halle under Harty was almost certainly the best British orchestra of its day; reviewing a
concert given in London by Harty and the Halle in January 1928, the critic of The Observer
wrote ‘Friday’s concert has made it possible to revaluate [sic] English orchestral playing, and to
realise, rather startlingly, that it is not necessary to leave the country to hear first-class
performances, for all that London shows up badly in that respect The Halle Orchestra can do all
those things with which the Berlin Philharmonic astonished us... the concert renewed one’s hope
for music in England and increased one’s envy of music in Manchester’.
Our very grateful thanks go to David Jones for his astonishing labour of love in cataloguing all
of the Halle’s recordings, and also to him and Derick Davenport for supplying original 78rpm
records from their collections.
John Summers 2004
THE HALLE WITH HAMILTON HARTY (1931)
MAX BRUCH VIOLIN CONCERTO NO.l IN G MINOR, OP.26 FELIX MENDELSSOHN SYMPHONY N0.4 IN A, 0P.90, ‘ITALIAN’ HEBRIDES OVERTURE, 0P.26
Herbert Hamilton Harty (b. Hillsborough, Co. Down 1879; d. Brighton 1941) was something of
a prodigy. A church organist by the age of 12, he was taught viola, piano and the elements of
composition by his father, and on his arrival in London, at the age of 20, he wasted no time in
establishing himself as a composer and brilliant accompanist. With such talent he was not
lacking in confidence or self-belief, so it is not surprising that he was found conducting his own
works and rapidly making his mark as an interpreter of others in London orchestral concerts
before the First World War. Another conductor making a name for himself at this time was
Harty’s exact contemporary and life-long friend Thomas Beecham, who was probably
responsible for introducing him to the Halle. Certainly Beecham (who became something of a
hero to Manchester audiences during the war when he gave many concerts without a fee to
bolster the precarious finances of the Orchestra) recommended Harty as a replacement when
he himself was not available, ultimately suggesting him as a candidate for Permanent
Conductor when the war was over and the future of the orchestra was uncertain. So it was
that the talented and volatile Irishman took over the Halle when it was at a low ebb and
turned it into the remarkable ensemble that can be heard here on his recordings.
Albert Sammons (b. London 1886; d. Southdean 1957), like Harty, showed musical promise
very early. At the age of seven he learnt the rudiments of violin-playing from his shoemaker
father and quickly displayed a natural aptitude for the instrument. His working-class
background, however, precluded any chance of higher education and at the age of 12 he was
expected to leave school and start earning a living. This he duly did but instead of following
his father’s trade he took the remarkable decision to work as a professional violinist!
In 1898 this meant playing in hotels and theatres and soon the young Sammons was earning
a regular living during the winter season in London and then travelling up to the Grand Hotel,
Harrogate for the summer season there. He took lessons when he could but relied mostly on
his own innate ability and natural instinct. By the time Thomas Beecham heard him in 1908
he was already playing concertos and had formed the New String Quartet (later the London
String Quartet). Beecham immediately offered him a position on the front desk of his new
orchestra, soon appointing him leader.
At the age of 22 he was already a leading orchestral player and was making a name for
himself as a soloist, but the occasion which marked him out as a violinist of the first rank was
a concert at the Queen’s Hall in London on 23 November 1914 when he performed the Elgar
Violin Concerto (then just four years old) with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by
Ivan Saffanof. Press reviews were ecstatic and he was to perform the concerto many times
thereafter, often with the composer himself conducting. His 1929 recording with Henry Wood
would no doubt have remained the classic
interpretation had it not been for the now
legendary recording made just three years
later by Yehudi Menhuin and Elgar.
Sammons continued to champion the works
of Elgar and other English composers
throughout his career. He took part in the
first performances of Elgar’s String Quartet
and Piano Quintet and recorded the Violin Sonata. Delius wrote his Violin Concerto for
Sammons and later he was a great advocate of the concertos by Dyson and Moeran.
Between the wars his activities as a recitalist and quartet player increased and the list of
works he promoted is too long to be detailed here, but included works by Goossens, McEwen,
Bantock, Bax, Delius, Howells and Rubbra as well as the core Romantic and Classical
repertoire. Not content with this achievement Sammons also taught himself to compose,
winning the Cobbett Prize with his ‘Phantasy Quartet’ in 1915 but confining himself later to
the production of delightful miniatures a la Kreisler (there is now an excellent modern
recording of many of them by Paul Barritt, the Halle’s Permanent Guest Leader, and Catherine
Edwards). The onset of Parkinson’s disease forced him to retire from the concert platform in
1948 but his fame as a teacher almost equalled that of his playing — perhaps his best-known
pupils were Alan Loveday and Hugh Bean — and he carried on teaching until shortly before
his death in 1957.
Press reviews were ecstatic and he was to perform the
concerto many times thereafter, often with the composer
himself conducting.
That this remarkable man, with his vast repertoire of concertos, chamber music and solo
works, was so little known outside his own country is partly a result of his own dislike of
foreign travel, but it may also be due to the fact that he left a comparatively small recorded
legacy. Apart from the Elgar and Delius concertos and the Mozart Sinfonia concertante with
Tertis, opportunities to hear his flawless technique and beautifully open-hearted playing in the
standard repertoire are relatively few. We should be grateful then for the chance to hear him
play one of the most popular of all violin
concertos but there is a caveat: acoustic
recordings of this era, however expertly
remastered, can be a shock to the unprepared
ear. The orchestra players, often drastically
reduced in the string department, were
crowded together so that their sound could be
picked up by the recording ‘horn’ and the bass
line had to be artificially boosted by a tuba or
similar brass instrument (the timpanist is even
subjected to this ignominy in the very first bar
of the concerto!) while the soloist, sharing the
same cramped conditions as his colleagues, had
to hope for the best. And yet after a few minutes’ listening the obvious audible shortcomings
matter less and the artistic achievements begin to shine through. The wonderful elasticity of
Sammons’ playing, particularly in the slow movement, is one of the beauties of the recording,
and the listener is always aware, thanks to delicately turned wind solos, of the sensitive
orchestral accompaniment in the background. The pyrotechnics of the last movement are
despatched with a zest which recalls Hugh Bean’s description of his teacher’s ‘honesty,
integrity, directness and generally fresh-air approach’. All these characteristics can be plainly
heard throughout this recording.
The advent of electrical recording and reproduction made a huge difference to sound quality
as well as balance, and Harty’s performance of Mendelssohn’s ‘Italian’ Symphony is an
eloquent demonstration of this. This is still the composer’s most popular symphony and it is
amazing to find that the most recent performance of it in the Halle Subscription Concerts
before this recording was in 1908! Certainly there is not a bar of routine playing to be heard
and conductor and producer obviously thought that the odd imperfection in the first
movement was more than made up for by the never-flagging energy of the performance as a
whole. The second movement may or may not have been inspired by a religious procession but
Harty avoids fake sanctity here, preferring to let the strong inner pulse of the music speak for
itself. Equally in the minuet all traces of Victorian gentility are banished by the full-blooded
playing of the strings, while the horns and bassoons in the ‘elfin’ trio section are perfectly
balanced tonally — not always achievable in modern performances. The listener may be
disappointed by the lack of repeats (and, more seriously, by a cut made at the return of the
minuet) but any regrets will be quickly dispelled by the performance of the Saltarello finale.
Here virtuoso playing, inspired conducting
and superb engineering are combined to
produce what for 1931 must have been a
‘demonstration quality’ recording.
Ten years after the ‘Italian’ Symphony
recording many things had changed. Harty
had departed under acrimonious
circumstances and though Beecham’s
relationship with the Halle continued he had many other irons in the fire. Finally, in 1939, an
agreement was reached that Malcolm Sargent (1895-1967) should be appointed ‘conductor-
in-chief’ and, although the outbreak of war was eventually to lead the Halle in an entirely
different direction, he continued to conduct the Orchestra and make recordings. Sargent was
never as popular with orchestral players as he was with choirs or audiences but this
performance of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture (also known as Fingal’s Cave) shows he could
instil discipline without rigidity and inspire eloquent playing without sentimentality.
© Alan Fearon 2004
The second movement may or may not have been inspired by a religious procession but Harty
avoids fake sanctity here...
ALLE TRADITION
gOo§gb
CD HLT 8002
This compilation ® 2004
Halle Concerts Society under exclusive licence to Sanctuary. Classics © 2004 Halle Concerts Socir
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BRUCH VIOLIN CONCERTO N0.1 MENDELSSOHN SYMPHONY N0.4, ‘ITALIAN’ HEBRIDES OVERTURE
HAMILTON HARTY/MALCOLM SARGENT r