Edmund Rubbra - Symphony No.6 • Symphony No.8 • Soliloquy for cello and orchestra*

Rohan De Saram, cello
Philharmonia Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra*
Norman Del Mar, conductor
Vernon Handley, conductor*

Label: Lyrita
Copyright: 1992 Lyrita Recorded Edition, England
Catalogue number: SRCD.234
UPC/EAN: 5020926023421
Format: CD
Analogue / Digital recording: ADD
Number of discs: 1
Total playing time: 72.38
Price: £ 14.99 (+ postage & packing)

Tracks 1 - 4: Recorded at Kingsway Hall, 1 April 1980, Producer: Andrew Cornall, Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Tracks 5 - 7: Recorded at Kingsway Hall, 8 September 1980, Producer: Andrew Cornall, Engineer: Stanley Goodall
Track 8: Recorded at Watford, 4 September 1978, Producer: Tom Mowrey, Engineer: John Dunkerley

"The Sixth Symphony comes from the early 1950s, when Rubbra enjoyed something of a vogue ... the emotional and spiritual centre of gravity is the Canto, a wonderfully serene movement and to my mind one of the most beautiful he ever wrote. The Eighth Symphony pays homage to the Catholic theorist and philosopher Teilhard de Chardin. At the time Rubbra wrote of the “intensity generated by the progressive contraction of intervals as comparable to the energy engendered by the astronomical phenomenon of star contraction”. Certainly the atmosphere it generates has an other-worldly Holstian feel to it. An important issue and strongly recommended" Robert Layton, Gramophone

"Norman Del Mar’s accounts of two of Rubbra’s greatest symphonies make this disc self-recommending to all admirers of this under-rated composer. Del Mar seems to have a natural understanding of Rubbra’s intense forms of expression – and he inspires the Philharmonia to reveal these scores in the best possible light ..." Colin Clarke, www.musicweb-international.com Click here to read the full review

"... but there's no denying the general superiority of the orchestral playing under Norman Del Mar, or Lyrita's richer sonics (Handley and the LSO only appear in the Soliloquy, very well played by Rohan de Saram) ... if you just want to sample this elusive (but very serious and ultimately worthwhile) composer, then this is the place to start ..." David Hurwitz, www.classicstoday.com Click here to read the full review