01. Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis [15'33]
02. Norfolk Rhapsody No.1 [10.43]
03. *The Lark Ascending. Romance for Violin and Orchestra [14'06]
04. Fantasia on Greensleeves (arr. Greeves) [4'08]
05. Five Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus' [13'04]
06. In the Fen Country. Symphonic Impression [13'56]
*Hagai Shaham- violin; New Queen's Hall Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth
Argo (Decca) 440116-2 (recorded October 1992, CD issued 1994)
(flac and scans)
Recorded at Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London
Recording engineer: Simon Eadon; Producer: Chris Hazell
Having become tired of hearing orchestral strings having to compete with large-bore brass instruments which had steadily taken over British symphony orchestras since the early 1950s, the well-known record producer John Boyden re-formed the New Queen's Hall Orchestra in 1992 to revive the orchestral timbres and playing style of the earlier part of the 20th Century. The orchestra was made up of like-minded principal musicians drawn from the major London orchestras who readily adopted gut strings, wooden flutes and narrow-bore brass. The orchestra continued to perform through to 2014 when it seems to have disbanded.
During this 22 year period, as far as I know they only made three commercial recordings - this first recording in 1992 for Argo, Holst's The Planets in 1996 conducted by Roy Goodman for Carlton/IMP Classics (posted here on MIMIC at meetinginmusic.blogspot.com/2017/04/five-views-of-holsts-planets.html) and some rare Vaughan Williams including A Cambridge Mass, conducted by Alan Tongue, for the Vaughan Williams Society's Albion label in 2013.
The orchestra's performances are ear opening but Barry Wordsworth may not have been the best choice of conductor for this repertoire. Despite the orchestra's beautiful string tone in the Tallis Fantasia, the performance is surprisingly eath-bound and certainly no match for Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Gloucester Cathedral or Vernon Handley with the London Philharmonic in Fairfield Halls (home of the New Queen's Hall Orchestra).
Things brighten up for the Greensleeves Fantasia and especially for the Five Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus' (I particularly like the measured opening) and In the Fen Country (with gorgeous brass) which are my personal favourite recordings of these two latter works. The Lark Ascending also goes well and I enjoyed Hagai Shaham's performance but I wonder what Hugh Bean, who was co-leader of the orchestra at the time, thought about this performance having made one of the finest ever recording of the work as soloist with Adrian Boult conducting the New Philharmonia.
For more information about the orchestra and its ideals, there is an interesting article A World Away by John Boyden (originally written for Musical Opinion and published in the September-October 2011 issue) at www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_features.php?id=9514.