Sir Colin Davis

London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis – Sibelius: Symphony No 2 & Pohjola’s Daughter (2007)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 58:38  minutes | 2,33 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: nativeDSDmusic | Booklet, Front Cover |  © LSO Live

Sibelius’s Pohjola’s Daughter is usually classified as a ’tone poem’– in other words, not a ’pure’ symphonic work, but one in which a literary or pictorial idea is represented in music. But Sibelius’s description was ’Symphonic Fantasy’ – which is exactly how the onemovement Seventh Symphony was entitled when it first appeared in 1924. It is quite possible to appreciate Pohjola’s Daughter simply as a colourful and highly compact one-movement symphony. All the same, unlike the Seventh Symphony, Pohjola’s Daughter does come with a story, printed in verse form in the score. It tells how V.in.m.inen – the wizard-hero of the Finnish folk-epic, the Kalevala – sees the daughter of the moon-god Pohjola sitting at her spinning wheel atop a rainbow. Instantly he falls in love with her, and begs her to join him. She agrees to come down when V.in.m.inen has conjured a boat from her spindle – in other words: ’Thanks, but no thanks’. V.in.m.inen tries heroically, but fails. Furious, humiliated, he springs onto his sleigh and vanishes.

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Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra – Walton: Symphony No 1 (2006)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 45:53 minutes | Scans NOT included | 2,57 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Front, Scans NOT included | 953 MB
Features Stereo and Multichannel Surround Sound | LSO Live # LSO0576

By the time he began working on his First Symphony, William Walton had already established himself as the most exciting young British composer of the day. The work proved to be one of the twentieth century’s greatest symphonies. Volcanic sentiments simmer beneath its surface and the music conveys the tensions of the 1930s whilst always remaining consistently timeless in its appeal. For fans of the English symphony, of the twentieth century symphony, and of the just plain great symphony, this 2005 recording of Walton’s First by Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra will irrefutably prove that God is in his heaven and all is right in the world.

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Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra – Smetana: Ma vlast (2005)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 75:00 minutes | Scans NOT included | 4,17 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans NOT included | 1,35 GB

Name the best-loved performances of Smetana’s Má Vlast? Vaclav Talich’s passionate 1929 recording, his affectionate 1941 recording, or his magisterial 1954 recording? Rafael Kubelik’s ardent 1952 recording, his lyrical 1971 recording, or his emotional 1990 recording? Right every time. Now name the most forgotten performances of Smetana’s Má Vlast. Paavo Berglund’s uncomprehending 1978 recording, Zubin Mehta’s exaggerated 1991 recording, or Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s excessive 2001 recording? Right again.

While this impromptu musical quiz doesn’t conclusively prove anything, a trend does become obvious – Czechs conduct Má Vlast better than non-Czechs in some ineffable but undeniable way. For a Czech conductor, the six tone poems in Smetana’s symphonic cycle are the musical incarnation of his/her country and every melody, harmony, and rhythm is redolent of his/her homeland. For a non-Czech conductor, Má Vlast is inevitably an acquired taste and so far only the Czech-by-training Charles Mackerras has captured something of the work’s sense of ardent patriotism. Even so sympathetic a conductor as Colin Davis leading so fine an orchestra as the London Symphony cannot quite catch the strong nationalist flavor of Má Vlast. Although Davis’ Dvorák’s recordings are rightly prized for their strength and sensitivity, Davis’ Má Vlast, while superbly conducted and colorfully executed, fails to get beneath the skin of the music. Listeners whose hearts swell at the majestic harp chords of Vysehrad, whose pulse quickens at rolling woodwinds of Vltava, or whose eyes tear up at the heroic brass of Blaník may be left impressed but unmoved by Davis and the LSO’s performance. LSO Live’s sound is a bit dry, a little cramped, and slightly recessed.

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Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra – Dvorak: Symphony No 6 (2005)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 46:05 minutes | Scans NOT included | 1,96 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Front, Scans NOT included | 930 MB
Features Stereo and Multichannel Surround Sound | LSO Live # LSO0526

Dvořák’s Sixth Symphony secured him international fame following its premiere 1881. The influence of his native Bohemia, its sounds and its culture are abundant and give the work a refreshing flavour reminiscent of his Slavonic Dances. Sir Colin Davis’s recordings of Dvořák’s Symphonies Nos 8 and 9 were the first titles released on LSO Live, immediately establishing the label’s international reputation. Since then the Symphony No 7 has also been released to great acclaim.

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Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus – James MacMillan: St John Passion (2008)
PS3 Rip | 2x SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 90:07 minutes | Scans included | 5,24 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,48 GB
Features 2.0 Stereo & 5.1 multichannel Surround sound

James MacMillan’s St. John Passion, completed and premiered in 2008, was commissioned by a consortium that included the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Berlin Radio Choir. Scored for large orchestra, chorus, chamber choir, and baritone, it’s one of MacMillan’s biggest works and the weight of its significance must have felt like a burden on the composer, a devout Roman Catholic, a constraint on the characteristic freedom of his imagination in the expectation of creating an appropriately magisterial work. The melodic contour of much of the choral writing, particularly for the small Narrator Chorus, is derived from plainchant and has the character of a meandering choral recitative. Jesus’ vocal lines are so floridly melismatic that they come across as precious and mannered rather than plainly communicative. The work has moments of effectiveness, though; by the end of the third movement, MacMillan generates real excitement in the choral writing, and the fourth movement ends in a stunning chorale. He’s at his strongest in the expansively lyrical and powerful final movement, which is for orchestra alone. Overall, though, the Passion falls short of conveying the depth and eloquence for which the composer was clearly aiming. It receives an intense and dedicated performance by the London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, led with conviction by Colin Davis, to whom it is dedicated. Christopher Maltman has a secure and resonant baritone and makes the most of the thankless solo role. The SACD recording is taken from a live performance and is clean and well balanced, although stray vocal sounds, perhaps coming from Davis, are occasionally distracting.

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Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra – Carl Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 1-6 (2014)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,8 MHz | Time – 201:22 minutes | 7,94 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 201:22 minutes | 4,03 GB
Source: Pure Audio Blu-Ray (Stereo Track) | Artwork: Digital Booklet

These recordings, made during Sir Colin Davis’ “Indian summer” with the orchestra, are acknowledged to be amongst the finest recordings ever made of this repertoire, receiving numerous awards. The symphonies were originally released between 2011 & 2013 & will now be made available together for the 1st time as a beautifully packaged box set, including 1 Pure Audio Blu-ray disc. Despite giving titles to the majority of his symphonies, Danish composer Carl Nielsen was often vague about what influenced each work. Nevertheless he was a master symphonist & his music is mesmerising, combining propulsive energy with lyrical invention.

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Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra – Haydn: Symphonies 92 & 93, 97-99 (2014)
PS3 Rip | 2x SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 132:55 minutes | Scans included | 7,38 GB
Features 2.0 Stereo & 5.0 multichannel Surround sound | FLAC available from another post

Sir Colin Davis was long recognized as a pre-eminent Haydn interpreter. During his Indian summer with the orchestra he recorded both Die Schöpfung (The Creation) and Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons) for LSO Live. These symphonies presented here were recorded in 2011 during this same period, and make for revelatory listening.

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Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven: Mass in C (2008)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 53:57 minutes | Scans included | 3,6 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 967 MB
Features 2.0 Stereo & 5.1 multichannel Surround sound

It’s not clear exactly what the “live” component is in this disc from the London Symphony Orchestra’s LSO Live series. The Beethoven Mass in C major, Op. 86, & the “Prisoners’ Chorus” from Fidelio are specified as having been recorded live on 2 different occasions at London’s Barbican concert hall, but if there was an audience any traces of its existence have been very carefully edited out. The performance, however, has the positive tension associated with a successful live performance, as well as the occasional flaws. Colin Davis, nearly 80 when the recording was made, turns in a fine interpretation of the work that was called “unbearably ridiculous & detestable” by Prince Nikolaus Esterhбzy II, patron of the aged Haydn & the commissioner, as well as of his 6 late masses. A good performance of the mass will get at why the prince didn’t like it: it fits the model of the late Haydn masses, but, at every point where Haydn went for confident, crowd-pleasing moves, it takes on an interior quality. The music has to have both a festive tone & the personal feel that distinguishes almost all of Beethoven’s music. Davis delivers the right kind of contrast, a bit splashy, yet with conviction in the big fugues & the rather unorthodox layout of the Credo. He is helped by a stellar quartet of soloists, most notably the fabulous Italian alto Sara Mingardo. The pairing with the “Prisoners’ Chorus,” although it wasn’t part of the original concert, is an intelligent stroke: Davis shows the connections between the Mass in C major & Fidelio, both of which kept Beethoven away from his customary sonata forms but which contained deep personal statements nevertheless. A very strong candidate for any buyer wanting a 1st copy of Beethoven’s 1st mass setting.

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