Among British conductors of the 20th century, the work of Sir Hamilton Harty is sometimes lost in the shuffle, at least on this side of the Atlantic. Hereabouts listeners may be more familiar with him as a composer and arranger, but in his lifetime the Irish-born maestro was considered one of the best conductors in England. His last years, unfortunately, were clouded by professional setbacks and deteriorating health, which forced him to abstain from performing for an extended period before his death at age 61 from brain cancer. At the peak of his career and health, however, he earned critical and public acclaim as music director of Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra; not only for shoring up the ensemble’s standards, but also for his wide and sometimes daring repertoire. (Although his personal tastes could be eclectic. He admitted to disliking Franck and Scriabin, looked upon Brahms skeptically, and rated Wagner below Berlioz.)
“[N]obody has given so many inspired performances and nobody displayed the same inherent taste for diverse works or the same remarkable versatility,” eulogized John F. Russell.
Collectors have been treated to a handful of Harty compilations in the CD era from Dutton, Symposium, and Pearl, but they have all since vanished from the catalog. So it is very welcome to find Pristine devoting a number of releases to his recorded art, including this latest program of British music.
The debut recording of Bax’s Overture to a Picaresque Comedy, which opens this program, remains unsurpassed 85 years after it was recorded. Contrasting with the Sibelian mood of his better known symphonies, this work captures Bax in a playful, rakish mood. Hardy demonstrates a superb sense of comic timing in the chattering orchestral back-and-forth, as well as great suaveness in the overture’s more lyrical moments. The London Philharmonic, at their Beecham era peak, give Harty (the score’s dedicatee) finely etched playing brimming with character, especially the winds.
Following are three selections that show off Harty’s work as composer and arranger, as well as the playing of the Hallé Orchestra, to which he was contracted to until he was unfairly ejected shortly after these recordings were made. Their collective sound is handsome, well burnished, and balanced, with some beautifully string shaded playing.
At the end we arrive at the music of Elgar, this collection’s center of gravity. The two wistful Dream Children miniatures are tenderly caressed, but the Enigma Variations are the real stars here. Save for a hard to find commemorative disc that was briefly available from the BBC 30 years ago, this performance is otherwise new to the digital era. Listen to how Hardy overlaps the wind and string textures in “W. N.,” like a play of light and shadow that follows a breeze in the canopy of a forest. “Nimrod” is sensitively moulded, with careful use of string portamenti at expressive nodal points that balance poignancy with noble bearing; a lesson for conductors today who post-Bernstein are wont to turn the variation into a funeral dirge. There are also reminders that the music was still somewhat fresh when Hardy recorded it in 1931, as well as telltale signs that the Hallé, for all its quality, was still technically below the ensembles in London, never mind those in continental Europe or America. There are moments in the faster variations (try “W. M. B.”) where Hardy’s orchestra is being stretched to its limits, occasionally scrambling to keep up with his pace. Despite all that, the performance overall is excellent; perhaps the best of all the early ones of this piece.
Mark Obert-Thorn’s transfers of this material is, as ever, superb. His use of reverb is tastefully and discretely applied; as is his noise reduction, which never threatens to dilute the fullness of sound often lost in less skilled hands.
For collectors new to Harty’s art, this attractive collection is a great place to start.
Pristine offers an assortment of British works on their latest volume devoted to Sir Hamilton Harty.