Hamilton HARTY (1879-1941)
An Irish Symphony (1904: revised 1915 & 1924)
With the Wild Geese (1910)
In Ireland (1915)
National Symphony Orchestra
of Ireland/Proinssías O Duinn
rec [National Concert Hall, Ireland April 1996]
NAXOS 8.554732
[57.20]
Crotchet
£4.35
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Sir Hamilton Harty (1879-1941) is best remembered as one of the leading British
conductors in the first half of the 20th century; that he was also a composer
of real substance has been largely forgotten. This characteristically
enterprising Naxos disc presents a strong case for the return to the concert
hall not only of these pieces - especially With the Wild Geese - but
also other and less overtly 'Irish' works such as his violin and piano concertos
(both highly spoken of in the reference books).
Harty belongs to that select band of self-taught composers - Elgar, Walton
and Poulenc are others readily springing to mind - who shared a late-romantic
idiom yet spoke with utterly individual voices. Fertility of invention allied
to vivid and technically demanding orchestration are his hallmarks. In these
works also the folksy and the grandiloquent sit happily side by side. The
most substantial work here is not the symphony (which is really no more than
a suite based on traditional Irish airs), but With the Wild Geese,
a tone-poem of symphonic dimension. The inspiration for this piece came from
two poems by Emily Lawless devoted to the fate of an Irish regiment which
fought with the French at the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745. In its three
inter-related sections, Harty developed his thematic material with great
resourcefulness and brilliantly evokes firmly-contrasted emotions.
In Ireland is a slighter piece, but no less firmly characterised
in a performance notable for the outstanding contribution of an unnamed principal
flute. Ó Duinn handles all four movements of An Irish Symphony
with evident sympathy and attention to detail: the finale's powerful coda
is particularly impressive.
Occasional signs of strain in the upper strings apart, this is a very fine
performance and the disc is to be warmly recommended.
Adrian Smith
Performance
Sound
See also review by John France
