Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and other Romantic Favourites (Vernon Handley et al)

Romantic Favourites:
01. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet. Fantasy Overture [20'11]
02. Antonin Dvorak - Carnival Overture, op.92 [9'47]
03. - 06. Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt. Suite No. 1, op.46 [14'28]
07. - 16. Johannes Brahms - Variations on a Theme by Haydn, op.56a [17'54]

The Ulster Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley

Chandos CHAN8767  [recorded February 1989, August 1985, August 1986 and March 1988; CD issued 1989, digital download released 2004]

[digital download; flacs, booklet, cover and inlay scans]

[Also included in this post are some rare Handley recordings of works by Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens and Rachmaninov.]

Recording venue: Ulster Hall, Belfast
Recording engineer: Ralph Couzens; Producer: Brian Couzens

Three of the recordings gathered here first saw the light of day in other single-composer Chandos releases but the Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet seems to have had its first release in this collection. It may also seem unusual to encounter a whole disc conducted by 'Tod' Handley with the presence of only non-British composers, but this isn't actually all that uncommon. 

Handley was very much at home with Russian composers and his recording of the Rachmaninov Second Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic is one of the finest. That recording, and an excellent Prokofiev Fifth Symphony, are here on MIMIC in Davide's mega posts. ABC Classics have issued just the second movement of a recording of the Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances with Handley conducting the Melbourne Symphony which makes me really wish that he'd been given the opportunity to record more Rachmaninov. 

Here the Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet is dramatic and sparkling as required by the music. The Brahms, Dvorak and Grieg are also idiomatic and given equally fine performances by the Ulster orchestra and conductor with the usual excellent Chandos sound recording.

A Symphonyshare friend, Ludovicus, has kindly allowed me to add another Vernon Handley recording to this post. It's an excellent rip from stereo LP of two other Tchaikovsky symphonic poems; this time made for EMI's Classics for Pleasure label with the London Philharmonic. The Hamlet has never appeared on CD and they are both fine performances.

01. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Hamlet. Fantasy Overture, op.67 [17'45]
02. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky -Francesca da Rimini. Symphonic Fantasy, op.32 [24'00]

London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley

EMI Classics for Pleasure CFP40223  [recorded in November 1974 in Barking Town Hall, London. Recording engineer and Producer: John Boyden]
[stereo LP-rip; flacs, cover and sleeve scans]

I am also indebted to MIMIC friend Contrarian for his agreement to me posting the two Vernon Handley tracks from his rip from CD of the four-disc Reader's Digest set 'A Treasure Chest of Classical Music', issued in 1996. The set mainly consists of excellent recordings of shorter popular classics and excerpts but included this full The Carnival of the Animals rather than just The Swan (here played by the full cello section) as usual in such collections.

01. Camille Saint-Saens -  The Carnival of the Animals* [22'10]
02. Felix Mendelssohn - War March of the Priests from 'Athalie' [5'45]

David Nettle and Richard Markham- pianos*, National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley.

[stereo CD rip; flacs, cover scan]

Here, Handley conducts Sidney Sax's splendid pick-up orchestra, drawn from the cream of London's orchestral musicians, in a sparkling performance of The Carnival of the Animals with Nettle and Markham also on top form. Unfortunately, it comes all on one track and Mendelssohn is far from his most inspired with the War March of the Priests. I could find no indication anywhere of recording venues or recording dates but it is quite likely that the recording engineer was Kenneth Wilkinson and the producer was Charles Gerhardt.

As an addition, I have included in the download folder a collection of Rachmaninov works recorded between 1993 and 2017 by ABC Classics and mainly taken from a large set of excerpts with the usual naff title - 50 Best Rachmaninoff. This collection includes the aforementioned second movement of the Symphonic Dances with Melbourne Symphony conducted by Vernon Handley. I can't believe that ABC didn't record the complete work.

There is also Vladimir Verbitsky (Australian. of Russian heritage) conducting the Queensland Symphony in the Caprice bohemien and Markus Stenz conducting the Melbourne Symphony in a very fine The Isle of the Dead.  

The collection begins with a fine, if non-interventionist, performance of the Piano Concerto No.2 played by the excellent young Australian pianist Jayson Gillham with the Melbourne Symphony under the rather uninspired direction of Benjamin Northey. These are all digital downloads which came with virtually no documentation.

Download from Mega.