LSO/Schmidt
(Heritage)
A 1980 live recording reveals the Danish conductor’s assured handling of a colossal symphony – a balance of architectural clarity and gothic extravagance
H
avergal Brian has often been looked at askance, his vast gothic symphony approached like climbing Everest – merely because it’s there – rather than taken seriously as a milestone in 20th-century British music. For the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, the Heritage label has brushed off this 1980 BBC live broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall under Danish conductor Ole Schmidt, the fourth recording of the complete work to enter the catalogue.
