The life-span of Sir Adrian Boult (1889-1983)
took in a staggering range of audio
history. His earliest recordings were
made using the acoustic process. Not
surprisingly Gramophone magazine selected
Boult for their first published discography
in 1978. His final sessions were made
in digital and he died in the year of
the launch of the compact disc. It is
well known that the BBC’s rigid retirement
rules resulted in his being shown the
door long before his worth as a conductor
began to wane. Record companies too
were sometimes unsympathetic and when
approached by Lyrita’s Richard Itter
he was happy to record a very extensive
range of neglected British music even
if, rather like his pupils Vernon Handley
and Douglas Bostock, the result was
that he became increasingly seen as
a British music specialist. The span
of music he recorded for Lyrita was
remarkable. It included short orchestral
pieces by Finzi, Bridge, Butterworth,
Howells as well as major symphonic pieces
such as the Moeran Symphony in G minor
– the latter in a recording and performance
that has not been excelled.
When Boult recorded
Coates it was nevertheless a surprise
in many quarters. He had recorded English
marches before – notably for World Record
Club – but Coates in general was seen
as outside his fach; more for Kilbey
and Groves. Still marches and Coates
are linked and it is Coates’
march The Dambusters that in
this CD links the content of two LPs
issued by Lyrita in the during the period
1976-1981. They are:-
SRCS-71 Sir Adrian Boult Conducts
Marches: Rossini/Britten, Holst/Jacob,
Grainger, Walton, Howells, Stanford,
Parry, Coates, Vaughan Williams LPO,
NPO; and
SRCS-107 Coates The Merrymakers
Overture; Summer Days Suite;
The Three Bears (Phantasy for
Orchestra); From Meadow to Mayfair
Suite - In the Country &
Evening in Town; The Three
Elizabeths Suite - March 'Queen
Elizabeth'/Boult, NPO.
On the present CD we
have everything from SRCS-107 and all
but the Howells, Stanford, and Parry
from SRCS-71; the missing items will
find their place in future single composer
compilations. The Dambusters March
was on SRCS-71 and provides the
nexus between the two collections. Boult’s
eightieth birthday was in 1969 and he
raised a few bristling eyebrows by including
the Coates march in the special concert
given to mark the birthday.
Of the Coates all but
The Dam Busters are with the
New Philharmonia. We start with a notably
vivacious Merrymakers Overture with
some memorable work from the woodwind.
Summer Days is an early three
part suite with a heavily Lehár-indebted
finale and an affecting saunter. In
a Country Lane, the first movement,
is redolent of German followed by On
the Edge of the Lake which
partakes on the one hand of a Graingerian
sentimentality combined with a Grieg-Dvořák
innocence. We get two movements
only from the three movement suite From
Meadow to Mayfair. In the Country
is warm and gently swinging. Evening
in Town has that busy-grand bustle
so typical of Coates in his London suite
finales but shot through with the romance
of the ballroom. I am very partial to
the Elizabeth of Glamis movement
from The Three Elizabeths. For
whatever reason Boult chose to give
us only the finale which includes one
of Coates’ most whoozy Toy Town style
marches – OK there’s a sort of Elgarian
trio but gorgeous trumpet playing aside
this is not one of Coates’ finest moments
– for that I send you back in this collection
to The Merrymakers Overture.
The Dam Busters march is done
faithfully and with no punches pulled.
This is jaunty and crashingly heroic
with brass calling out their hearts.
In the Lyrita catalogue
this collection joins another Coates
disc - this time all-Coates - with the
London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted
by Barry Wordsworth in The Three
Men suite, Dancing Night;
Two Symphonic Rhapsodies; Idyll: Summer
Afternoon; The Enchanted Garden;
Concert Valse: Footlights; the
Rhythm (20th Century)
movement the Suite: Four Centuries
and the March: London Bridge.
With the Coates pieces
covered we turn to the Grainger Children’s
March - chortling outdoor stuff. It
is here heard ‘dished up’ for full orchestra.
Boult turns the piece in with considerable
tautness and alacrity of execution.
The stuttering gong and side drum at
the very end add up to a confidently
enigmatic sign-off. Boult was not known
for his Delius and he turns in a rather
rigid Marche Caprice – more march
and less caprice. It is very early Delius.
The Walton funeral march from the film
music for Hamlet has a steady
gait and frankly this is not the most
angst-ridden version. For that you need
to turn to the composer on EMI Classics.
On the other hand Boult knew his RVW
and had already recorded the suite from
The Wasps for EMI. The march,
with its satirical air and crashing
emphasis, is much more sympathetic to
the Boult temperament. On the other
hand I did not expect much of the Rossini/Britten
march but in fact it positively bubbles
and effervesces. There’s even the occasional
echo of Arnold. With the finale to Holst’s
Suite in E flat we are again
back to Boult heartland. This is the
version for full orchestra made by Gordon
Jacob from the Holst original for military
band. It goes with a proper swing. I
was able to compare this movement with
the Nicholas Braithwaite version of
the whole suite on SRCD 210. In fact
the differences are slight with a shade
more character in the playing for Boult
than the Braithwaite.
This CD might well prompt you to try
other Boult-Lyrita collections:-
SRCD.220
Boult conducts Parry
SRCD.222
Boult conducts Holst
SRCD.231
Boult conducts Bax
Boult’s Coates and
Boult’s marches. Surprises in both and
stacks of character.
Rob Barnett
for
details
New Philharmonia Orchestra/Boult 
