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The Tigers on CD

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jimfin
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« on: November 25, 2012, 12:42:50 pm »

I hear from the Havergal Brian Society that the BBC broadcast of 'The Tigers' is to be released on CD in mid-2013. Despite having had the opportunity to hear it on this site, I am very excited about this. Apparently the booklet will include the full libretto. It will be the first time a full Brian opera (or, I think, anything vocal from the operas) has been released on CD.
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cilgwyn
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« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2012, 12:48:15 pm »

Thank you for telling us,jimfin. I must admit I WAS told about this about a year ago! My informer also asked me to keep the information to myself,as negotiations were still on going,at the time! ;D

It IS exciting news,isn't it?!! :)
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David Carter
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« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2012, 12:48:56 pm »

I hear from the Havergal Brian Society that the BBC broadcast of 'The Tigers' is to be released on CD in mid-2013. Despite having had the opportunity to hear it on this site, I am very excited about this. Apparently the booklet will include the full libretto. It will be the first time a full Brian opera (or, I think, anything vocal from the operas) has been released on CD.

That's assuming the membership can raise the necessary £15K. Two very generous members have agreed to each match the amount raised by the rest of the members so if the other members can raise £5,000 the project will be covered. I'm optimistic.

However, what an excellent opportunity for anyone not yet a member to join and donate. As I recall anything over £50 gets a mention in the booklet.  :)
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cilgwyn
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« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2012, 12:52:42 pm »

And that would be one of the reasons why I was told to keep mum!! ::) ;D
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jimfin
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« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2012, 02:17:44 pm »

I will certainly be donating something, though it won't be on the scale of those anonymous donors, I'm afraid. Enough to get a mention in the booklet, though!
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Albion
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« Reply #5 on: November 25, 2012, 04:05:19 pm »

It's excellent news to have this rumour confirmed: the recording is due to appear on the Testament label (the same company which issued Boult's 1966 Gothic Symphony) and will be a mandatory purchase for anybody interested in Brian or in British opera. The 1983 broadcast is a superb performance which can only benefit from professional transfer of the original source to disc and the provision of a full libretto with background notes (presumably from the pen of Malcolm MacDonald) - a great prospect.

 :)
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"A piece is worth your attention, and is itself for you praiseworthy, if it makes you feel you have not wasted your time over it." (Sydney Grew, 1922)
cilgwyn
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« Reply #6 on: November 25, 2012, 04:28:37 pm »

Marvellous! It's one of those kind of performances that are so good,you really DO wonder whether it could ever be done any better;although a new performance would be welcome,of course! :) The CBS recording of Schwanda is another example. In German,but the casting is absolutely superb & this is SO important with a first recording (or performance,in the case of 'The Tigers) where first impressions can be so important,to the adventurous,but sometimes unwitting listener! Just imagine hearing 'Der Schatzgraber' for the first time ever,with the scything screech of Gabriele Schnaut in your ear'oles?!! :o :( Ouch!!! :o :(
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kyjo
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« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2012, 04:37:14 pm »

Thanks, jimfin, for the heads-up! Once again, I am not an opera buff, but I'm intrigued to hear Havergal's take on this art form :).
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J.Z. Herrenberg
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« Reply #8 on: November 25, 2012, 10:06:48 pm »

I share the general enthusiasm (of course). The work got the best first performance imaginable: first-rate singing and first-rate orchestral playing. As for the opera itself, it's a very curious beast. Don't expect realism, don't expect myth. The Tigers lives in its own strange world, with characters that are more dream-like than life-like. And there isn't a story as such, either. The libretto is Brian's own, and he was no Da Ponte, Wagner or Hofmannsthal. So dramatically The Tigers isn't wholly satisfactory (to me, that goes without saying), but musically it is perhaps the most inventive thing Brian ever did.
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cilgwyn
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« Reply #9 on: November 25, 2012, 10:59:04 pm »

Yes,it's amazing that it works as well as it does really. Characters & scenes come and go as if in some kind of strange dream. A bit like Lewis Carroll's Alice books,where a scene seems to dissolve and another strange character seems to appear out of nowhere! Also,like those books (which I must admit,I haven't read for quite a long time! ;D) there is a strange kind of logic in amongst all the surreal goings on. Somehow,it all seems to fit together in a crazy kind of way & unlike Martinu's underrated Julietta,Brian's libretto is humorous. Despite gothic interludes with marching Gargoyles & some of Brian's most darkly,glittering orchestration,it's never claustrophobic,opressive or sinister. You don't get the feeling that something unpleasant or frightening is lurking just around the corner.
This is a joyously gothic dream! :)
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