Sir Thomas Beecham conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Mozart’s Symphony No. 34, recorded in the Portman Rooms, London, on 24 October 1928.
The movements are:
00:00 1st movement
07:10 2nd movement
16:44 3rd movement
From Wikipedia: Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, CH (29 April 1879 – 8 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras. From the early 20th century until his death, Beecham was a major influence on the musical life of Britain and, according to the BBC, was Britain’s first international conductor.
Born to a rich industrial family, Beecham began his career as a conductor in 1899. He used his access to the family fortune to finance opera from the 1910s until the start of the Second World War, staging seasons at Covent Garden, Drury Lane and His Majesty’s Theatre with international stars, his own orchestra and a wide repertoire. Among the works he introduced to England were Richard Strauss’s Elektra, Salome and Der Rosenkavalier and three operas by Frederick Delius.
Together with his younger colleague Malcolm Sargent, Beecham founded the London Philharmonic, and he conducted its first performance at the Queen’s Hall in 1932. In the 1940s he worked for three years in the United States where he was music director of the Seattle Symphony and conducted at the Metropolitan Opera. After his return to Britain, he founded the Royal Philharmonic in 1946 and conducted it until his death in 1961.
Beecham’s repertoire was eclectic, sometimes favouring lesser-known composers over famous ones. His specialities included composers whose works were neglected in Britain before he became their advocate, such as Delius and Berlioz. Other composers with whose music he was frequently associated were Haydn, Schubert, Sibelius and the composer he revered above all others, Mozart.
I made this transfer from Columbia L 2220/2222.
source
What a gem! I have Beecham's 1930s LPO recording on LP [transferred by Anthony Griffith on World Record Club], but this is a performance that I prefer even to that.
It is very tender with the music without pulling it out of shape for expressive effect.
Thank you for making this much less known Mozart 34 from Beecham audible again.
Thank you and best wishes from George
thank you so much- just great
Most confusingly, there were two unrelated Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, both of which Beecham conducted at different times. This one is simply a name for the players engaged for a short season each year by the Royal Philharmonic Society of London (founded 1811); I believe it was only in this year 1928 that Beecham recorded with this group. Eighteen years later Beecham founded an entirely new permanent orchestra for the third time in his life (the others being the Beecham Symphony Orchestra of 1909 and the London Philharmonic Orchestra of 1932) and gave it the name Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Society of that name having meanwhile taken to using existing orchestras instead of organising its own ensemble. Of course both the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic still exist today. – As I hear this video, there is something of a 'boom' in the tenor register, perhaps (this is only a guess) between about 250 and 500 Hertz; can anything be done about this, or is the fault perhaps in my own (very basic) equipment?