Sir Thomas Beecham Conducts Delius (2004)

Certainly, Thomas Beecham loved the music of Delius. Unfortunately, Beecham didn't love Delius' best music. Beecham liked and was best at Delius' tawdriest music. This Dutton disc includes five of Beecham's best early recordings with the London Philharmonic of some of Delius' tawdriest music. Paris -- The Song of a Great City from 1934 is a night of absinthe and decadence. In a Summer Garden from 1936 is an afternoon of love under the sycamore. Summer Night on the River from 1935 is a tryst in the reeds. Eventyr -- Once ... Read More

Certainly, Thomas Beecham loved the music of Delius. Unfortunately, Beecham didn't love Delius' best music. Beecham liked and was best at Delius' tawdriest music. This Dutton disc includes five of Beecham's best early recordings with the London Philharmonic of some of Delius' tawdriest music. Paris -- The Song of a Great City from 1934 is a night of absinthe and decadence. In a Summer Garden from 1936 is an afternoon of love under the sycamore. Summer Night on the River from 1935 is a tryst in the reeds. Eventyr -- Once Upon a Time from 1934 is a frisk and a frolic in the fjords. Over the Hills and Far Away from 1936 is warm and soft and evocative. While Delius' best music is full of unappeasable longing for tawdry pleasures of the flesh, the music of Delius Beecham loved best is full of the tawdry pleasures of the flesh. It is the quality of unappeasable longing that makes Delius' best music his best music. But Beecham denies himself nothing and the result is an orgy of the tawdry pleasures of the... Read Less