01. - 04. Symphony No.1 [54'20]
05. - 06. Points and Dances from 'Taverner'* [17'44]
Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle; The Fires of London conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies*
Decca 4788354 [recorded August 1978 & December 1971*; issued 1979 and 1973* on LP, first issued on CD in 2003, this digital edition 2015]
[digital download; flacs, booklet and cover scans]
Recording venues: Kingsway Hall and St John the Evangelist Islington*, LondonRecording engineers: Stanley Goodall and Tryggvi Tryggvason*;
Producers: James Mallinson and Michael Bremner*
This was one of Simon Rattle's first major recordings, made after he gave the symphony's first performance at the age of 23, pre-dating the fine Sibelius Fifth Symphony, also with the Philharmonia, and Mahler (Cooke) Tenth Symphony with the Bournemouth Symphony. It was highly celebrated at the time of first issue (when it was just Maxwell Davies'Symphony) and had to wait until 2003 for first issue on CD. It remains the finest of Maxwell Davies' eventual total of 10 symphonies.
I have never been much attracted to atonal and dissonant music but Maxwell Davies and his music is an exception. I was fascinated when seeing a BBC TV Monitor documentary made at the time he was director of music at Cirencester Grammar School back in the early1960s and found his music compelling, if challenging.
At the time, Rattle was relatively less well-known and was delighted to be invited to champion Maxwell Davies' music. It is a shame that no further recordings of his music have been added to Rattle's recorded legacy nor has he gone on to perform his works very often. In this performance, Rattle brings out all of the extraordinary palette of sounds and colours employed and the recorded sound from Kingsway Hall is stunning - superior to the later composer-led recording with the BBC Philharmonic for Collins Classics, now on Naxos.
The Fires of London deliver equally stunning performances of the coupling - not surprising when members include Elgar Howarth, Alan Hacker and Jennifer Ward Clarke. The music comes from Maxwell Davies' first opera Taverner written in his early parodic style.
For anybody attracted by these early works, I strongly recommend another two disc set, Portrait of Maxwell Davies, which can be found on the Susasto blog and contains many more fine recordings from Decca group labels.
PS: I noticed, after having set up this post, that Josef last Thursday posted a download of an alternative issue of this recording in the c-box - the 2003 first issue on CD.
