Havergal Brian - Gothic Symphony (Symphony No. 1) (1/10)

قمة في الروعة🥀😊

A horrible piece of music. The deliberate flattening of the chorus parts and the deliberate 'wrong notes' are so blatantly designed to cause 'interest' that I squirmed.
The one or two attractive passages might have been turned into a 20 minute piece of music of some merit, but the inflated grotesquery of the huge torso is like a whale crossed with an elephant with none of the attractive features of either animal.

Wow I just found this hear that some are going to do this so I looked up it’s Deep 😭💘

Décidément, c'ette symphonie est une oeuvre splendide. Je la réécoute avec bonheur...

On comprend mal comment un compositeur aussi imaginatif peut demeurer inconnu du grand public... Son orchestration vaut bien celle des Planètes de Holst...

una delle più lunghe sinfonie ( forse la più lunga, ma densa di mistero, affascinante)
musica aerea di suggestiva attrazione

carlo lamberti ([email protected])

Part 10 has been blocked.

Well Done Bravo!

The most technically difficult, largest, and longest piece of music ever written.

Its me or the timpanis at the end messed up?

pic: karl friedrich schinkel

Unlike a lot of composers William 'Havergal' Brian certainly lived a long and eventful life. To think he may have seen Queen Victoria, been around when Britain was at its zenith during the Edwardian era, heard about Titanic, fought in two world wars, lived through the cold war, and then in his final years witnessed the decline and decay of Britain in the 1970's. Wow, what changes to live through during a life! This symphony is pretty epic I have to say, and befitting of this man.

I agree that the Mahler 3 is the largest in terms of length but largest in terms of orchestral forces, would probably be the 8th. Why quibble over such magnificent music- the Gothic is not so bad either- but like poor Hans Rotts gorgeous symphony, it will fade into the dustbin of music history and obscurity!

excelente de lo mejor

If I were a wealthy man, given to donating money to the arts, a new recording of HB's "Gothic" would be my first priority.

Funny that, with novels, in the form, 'a cross between Mailer and Borges', that kind of view is approving; whereas, for some reason, in music, talking like that usually signifies disapproval, and is usually in the form 'a mash-up' or 'you can hear Sibeliuus, Ravel and a bit of Bach.' Bit strange.

sounds like a mash up of Nielsen, Vaughan Williams, Mahler, Holst, Strauss and Delius

@Caigga900 The painting is "Gothic Cathedral with Imperial Palace" by Karl Friedrich Schinkel.

@musicanth Painting name?

What an astonishing achievement this is!!!!

Fantastic music! BTW does anyone know what the painting's called in the vid?

@musicanth did you make a playlist of them all?

@musicanth Me very grateful too!

@farrtube Hi there! Just to correct your facts: 1st performance of 'The Gothic' under Bryan Fairfax on 24 June 1961; 1st performance of Symphony No. 18 (1961) on 26 February 1962; 1st professional performance of 'The Gothic' under Sir Adrian Boult on 30 October 1966; 1st radio performance of Symphony No. 18 under Bryan Fairfax on 20 October 1974.

@IzzyJiagu Yep me too

@lilplinky It was an awesome moment when all 800 members of the choir stood up to sing, gives me goose bumps just thinking of it!

@wigs666 I was there, amazing it was too!

I was there at the Royal Albert Hall performance on 17.7.2011. Absolutely shattering - one of the greatest concert-going experiences of my life. Amazing musicianship and stamina from all involved. The choirs sounded (quite understandably) a little hesitant at times but Martyn Brabbins held it together amazingly and the ovation at the end was well-earned indeed. Thanks to the BBC for pulling off such an awesome event.

@padredemishijos12 Dear Lord, I hope he DOESN'T! Something like this is completely over his head.

After listening to classical music for 50 yrs and being a ( modest ) musician myself , I must confess to never hearing of Brian or this monumental work until just a few days ago!! Imagine my delight when I heard its first performance was given by my all time favourite conductor Sir Adrian Boult. It takes a great deal of musicianship to master a score as complex as this, just like when Boult gave the first performance of the planets- what a genious!!

@sstuddert And me too :D please :)

@sstuddert And me too :D

I will be singing in it.. hope the stage doesnt collapse

I hope that someday Gustavo Dudamel will conduct this symphony.

please, send me the full score's link, i'm from Chile and here isn't human way to get the score ...

I'm not sure if this orchestra is the biggest one ever used in a symphony. Actually, Berlioz' Symphonie funèbre et triomphale asks 9 flutes, 5 oboes, 33 clarinets, 9 bassoons, 12 horns, 8 trumpets, 4 cornets, 10 trombones, 6 tubas, 8 side drums, tam-tam, timpani, cymbals, Gran cassa, a 200 hundred-people chorus, and 80 strings.

@wigs666 YESS.

@1bateleur it's a PDF, I'll send you the link.

@sstuddert Where? I searched in amazon, and ebay, no way!

@sstuddert Where?

I found a score.

17 July - Royal Albert Hall. Be there.

@sstuddert Now that the performance has been done, I would expect that score notes (as the score is, in some parts, inconsistant) will be sent back to the HB foundation for further amendment. Perhaps they will now wait until after the performance in July.

@sstuddert It seems 'The Gothic' will be performed at the Proms, on 17 July (look at the site of Musicweb International, under Notices).

@kezza140884 yes, I'm going to that concert in Brisbane, what's this about next year?

@sstuddert Contact the Havergal Brian foundation is your only option mate. It's being performed in Brisbane, Aust on December 22 and the scores were produced specifically for that purpose, not sure how you will go, but give it a shot. PS - it's huge, some pages are 60+ ledger lines and it's 2 hours of music, so be prepared for a lot of paper. There are also some scoring errors, which may be corrected after our performance as we're doing 'on the go' editing. Maybe hold out 'til next year?

look, I need to get a score of this, can anyone help?