Arthur BUTTERWORTH (1923-2014)
Symphony No. 1 Op. 15 (1957) [38:13] MONO
Symphony No. 2 Op. 25 (1964) [28:09] MONO
Symphony No. 4 Op. 72 (1986) [39:39] STEREO
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Arthur Butterworth (1); Christopher
Adey (2)
BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra/Bryden Thomson (4)
rec. BBC broadcasts: 2 December 1976 (1); 20 January 1975 (2); 8 May
1986 (premiere)(4)
LYRITA REAM1127 [67:49 + 38:13]
This CD set garnered some complaints almost as soon as
it saw the light of day, with Colin Mackie on the message board of this
site lamenting the fact that we were being given further recordings
of the First and Fourth Symphonies while others of
the Butterworth canon languished unrecorded. Well, although the First
and Fourth were included in a previously issued Dutton collection
(and the First had also previously appeared on a Classico CD)
both of those earlier releases appear to have succumbed to the deletions
axe, or at least are not listed as currently available on Arkivmusic.
No doubt second-hand and remaindered copies may be obtained on the internet,
but at the time of writing Amazon yielded only copies of the Dutton
set at £15.62 and the single Classico disc at £16.50. This makes the
newly released set a considerable bargain by comparison.
Unfortunately the recording of the First Symphony held in the
BBC archives was wiped, and Richard Itter’s home taping required
considerable work to obtain any sort of satisfactory results - Adrian
Farmer explained this in an appended remark to the earlier review on
this site by Stephen Greenbank. The sound on Barbirolli’s pioneering
broadcast featured on the Dutton set is similarly of poor quality, which
leaves only the deleted Classico recording conducted by Douglas Bostock
to provide us with a recording in modern sound (and it is coupled most
enterprisingly by the Second Symphony by Ruth Gipps). The quality
of the sound here is doubly unfortunate since this was the work which
established the composer’s reputation (and it remained his favourite
among his output), and to hear it conducted by the composer himself
is especially valuable.
Recordings by composers are a somewhat fraught issue; although, in my
experience, orchestras are both understanding and tolerant of the technical
shortcomings of composers wielding the baton in their own scores, there
is nevertheless some degree of inevitable hesitancy when a potentially
fallible figure is on the podium. Such considerations do not apply in
the case of Butterworth, who was an established conductor in his own
right; and he should therefore be believed when in the First Symphony
he takes each and every movement more slowly than Barbirolli, in the
case of the slow movement extending the duration by more than two minutes.
Similarly, in the Fourth Symphony Butterworth on Dutton
is slower than Bryden Thomson here in all movements except the first;
and he adds more than three minutes to Thomson’s timing
in the finale. The results in every case are sheer gain; this is music
which gains in power and stature from the composer’s own more
deliberate approach, whatever may be the sacrifice in excitement as
the music builds to a climax.
The music of all these symphonies is indeed powerful and exciting. The
atmosphere of the landscapes of northern Britain (Scotland as well as
Butterworth’s native Yorkshire) dominates the music as surely
as that of Finland dominates that of Sibelius. Comparisons with Sibelius
do not end there, as the structure of the symphonies is equally assured
as in the case of the Finnish master. Parallels with Nielsen and Bax
are also apposite. Those who would like to experience something of the
ongoing tradition of classical music in Europe deriving from that prestigious
line will find something gripping and absorbing here. The recordings
of the Fourth and the Second Symphonies are considerably
better than that of the First, and indeed give credit to the
BBC engineers who supervised the broadcasts; one can only regret that
Lyrita did not see fit to include the Third Symphony, similarly
recorded by Bryden Thomson for broadcast, which would have added an
otherwise unrepresented work to the catalogues (but which has been available
at times on the internet). There would indeed have been room for this
on the second CD, and if Richard Itter himself had not recorded the
broadcast presumably permission to license the BBC tapes could have
been sought.
I should add that there was at one time a Dutton issue of Butterworth’s
Fifth Symphony conducted by the composer, but this too appears
no longer on current listings although Amazon offer one solitary copy
at the swingeing price of £14.82. This unfortunately appears to be par
for the course with Dutton. We are of course immeasurably grateful for
the label’s extensive explorations of the neglected repertory,
not only of British but of international music too, many of them in
superb performances and recordings; but the company does seem to be
content to allow these issues to go out of circulation once the initial
pressings have been sold, which robs subsequent potential purchasers
of the chance to explore the music. Some of the recordings do maintain
a presence on Spotify, but by no means all; nor are many of the releases
available as downloads. Is there something that can be done to keep
these valuable recordings in circulation (and hopefully generating income
for both the company and the artists involved, as well)?
But enough of carping. This is a valuable issue which provides the listener
with readily available performances of three major symphonies, and I
find it amazing that at the time of writing I could find no evidence
that (outside this site) it had garnered any critical attention from
reviewers beyond a tangential reference to the release in a Guardian
article devoted to the del Mar recording of Bantock’s Omar
Khayyám. (The Lyrita site itself does feature an anonymous review
which for some reason credits the performance of the Fourth
to Vernon Handley.) This is a real injustice to music which should be
looking to attract substantial interest from the general music-lover.
And then again, if other reviewers eventually prove to be equally enthusiastic,
we might possibly hope for releases of the other symphonies which Butterworth
wrote after the Fifth.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Previous review:
Stephen Greenbank
From Adrian Farmer, Trustee of Lyrita Recorded
Edition Trust
The initial 'flat' transfer of Butterworth's Symphony No.1 was impossible
to listen to and we were on the point of rejecting it. The recording
of the broadcast had at some point been badly processed, probably through
the incorrect use of a dolby noise reduction unit. Richard Itter had
professional dolby equipment for use with his Lyrita studio masters,
perhaps he decided to use it on on this BBC Broadcast, it is quite possible
that the surviving tape in his archive is a copy. Our restoration team
- including Norman White, better known as Nimbus's Prima Voce archivist
- manually rebalanced the frequency content of the recording. Had the
BBC retained a copy in their archive we would have applied for a licence,
but unfortunately in this instance there was no library copy.
