Ernest John Moeran - Sinfonietta • Symphony in G minor • Overture for a Masque

London Philharmonic Orchestra (leader Rodney Friend)
New Philharmonia Orchestra (leader Desmond Bradley)
Sir Adrian Boult, conductor

Label: Lyrita
Copyright: 2007 Lyrita Recorded Edition, England
Catalogue number: SRCD.247
UPC/EAN: 5020926024725
Format: CD
Analogue / Digital recording: ADD
Number of discs: 1
Total playing time: 78.55
Price: £ 14.99 (+ postage & packing)

Tracks 1 - 3: Recorded at Kingsway Hall, 21 November 1967
Tracks 4 - 7: Recorded at Kingsway Hall, 13 - 15 August 1973, Producer: Michael Woolcock, Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson
Track 8: No Recording information available

The great conductor of the Hallé, Sir Hamilton Harty, requested a symphony from Ernest John Moeran in 1926: with rare modesty he declined, feeling that he was not yet prepared to tackle the symphonic manner. A decade later the composer commenced the task. The critical assessment described the new work as formally undecided – a remark levelled at Beethoven, Brahms, Tschaikowski, Dvorak, Elgar and others in their time – and complained that the material was imperfectly disciplined. Strange. lt may be argued that the Moeran Symphony is among the five or six most original compositions in this genre to appear between the two world wars ...

"Probably no other country turned out such a beautiful crop of minor masters as England in the first decades of the 20th century. E. J. Moeran was one of the best ..." David Hurwitz, www.ClassicsToday.com Click here to read the full review

"This disc of music by E. J. Moeran is valuable in its restoring to the catalogue pioneering performances that are benchmarks in their own right ..." Richard Whitehouse, www.ClassicalSource.com Click here to read the full review

"Never mind Boult’s Elgar this recording shows Boult at his most stirringly impressive. This is his finest recording ..." Rob Barnett, www.musicweb-international.com Click here to read the full review

"This disc contains two of the best works by composer E.J. Moeran, who wrote unabashedly — or unavoidably — in the shadow of Ralph Vaughan Williams ..." Paul Cook, www.musicweb-international.com Click here to read the full review