Search - Carl Maria von Weber, Johannes Brahms, Richard [Classical] Wagner :: Sir Adrian Boult conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Vol. 2

Glorious, vintage performances

Mr. Ian A. Macfarlane | Fife, Scotland | 09/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Boult and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the 1930s offered the British public, and of course BBC listeners abroad, the best of a very wide range of music and helped inform the musical taste of a nation which had been only patchily served in the earlier years of the 20th. century. It's great to have this fine CD, along with its Vol. 1 companion (Dutton CDBP 9763), as a reminder of the work they did. Boult could conduct anything with distinction, but the programme here is a little more along the lines of what he eventually became particularly identified with (apart, of course, from English music) - the 19th. century German Romantics. The Weber, Brahms and Wagner are wonderful. I am very fond, too, of the Sibelius (as was the composer, who expressed his approval of Boult's work), and there is also one of the best performances I have ever heard of 'Carnival Romain'. The transfers are clean and faithful. It's an excellent CD and I commend it highly."