Rob Barnett, b. 1953, Birmingham, UK. Solicitor
in UK local government. Brought up in Torquay,
Devon. After eight years in Plymouth (1978-1986)
moved to Western Isles, Scotland (1986-1998).
Now lives with his wife Chris in the North-West
of England. Works for local authority there.
Two grown-up children both away from home
now; one living in Brighton; the other in
Widnes. One dog.
Rob does not come from a musical family, has
no technical musical training and cannot play
an instrument. Such knowledge as he has comes
from a questing attitude and many formative
years of fanatically exchanging cassettes
with friends in the USA, Scandinavia and the
UK, from reading Records and Recordings (long
defunct), Gramophone (now a very different
voice from its glory days in the 1960s and
1970s) and Fanfare (still going strong and
well still well worth reading) and listening
to BBC Radio 3. His disorganised collection
of LPs and CDs continues to be a source of
pleasure, frustration, stimulation and knowledge.
Editing all the classical CD and DVD reviews
for MusicWeb makes substantial inroads into
his own reviewing and listening time. This
also provides further opportunities to learn
from, agree and disagree with the site's reviewers
whose reviews come in to his mailbox every
day. Laments the passing of Robert Simpson's
1970s and 1980s radio series The Innocent
Ear when Simpson would play recordings of
pieces and only identify them after the music
had ended.
Has spent far too little time attending real
concerts - perhaps a feature of living in
the South-West and then in the far North-West
of Scotland. With the profusion of fine unusual
repertoire covered here in the North-West
of England often by highly skilled community
orchestras and by the BBCPO and RLPO he has
probably attended more concerts over the last
eight years than in all the previous two decades.
Memorable among these are the Stockport Symphony
Orchestra's Malcolm Arnold Symphony 5 (extremely
moving); RLPO/Pešek's Asrael in Symphony
Hall, Mark Elder's Bax Spring Fire at the
RAH, Finzi's Clarinet Concerto at Buxton with
the redoubtable Geoffrey Smith, Moeran's Symphony
with the Sheffield Symphony Orchestra and
Bax Symphonies 1 and 6 (Handley/BBCPO, Manchester).
Rob came to classical music not via Beethoven,
Brahms and Bach. Introduced during his technical
college years in 1969-71 via a friend's record
collection of Janácek, Stravinsky,
Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Martinu, Bax and Vaughan
Williams. Key works from that era included:
Janácek Sinfonietta and Glagolytic
Mass; Stravinsky The Rite and Firebird; Sibelius
Tapiola, Symphony No. 5, Martinu Symphony
No. 4; Bax Symphony No. 5; RVW Tallis Fantasia
and Symphonies 5 and 6, Brahms Symphony 3
and Piano Concerto 2, Rachmaninov Symphonic
Dances (Kondrashin, of course), Tchaikovsky
Symphony 4, Manfred and Francesca da Rimini.
Believes that people with the spark of interest
in or curiosity about classical music should
not be afraid of going direct to the more
unusual repertoire rather than feeling they
must start with Bach, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven.
The site should play its part in making recommendations
both of performances and repertoire. Unusual
linkages between works can often lead to welcome
discoveries.
Rob has been a member of British Music Society
(BMS) since 1981 shortly after the Society
was founded. He agreed to become editor of
the quarterly BMS newsletter in 1995 after
a one year stint as editor of the annual BMS
journal. The newsletter has grown since 1995
from 24 to 32 pages and often features challenging
and informative articles alongside reviews,
concert notices and general news about the
Society and British music generally.
He has been an enthusiast for fine neglected
music since the early 1970s. Special interests:
20th century orchestral romantics: USA, Scandinavia
(just listen to the magically poised opening
bars of Madetoja's Symphony No. 3), Europe
and Australasia, British.
Rates the wildly imaginative music of Arnold
Bax very highly on an international stage.
Bax's best works (Piano Quintet, Symphony
No. 6, November Woods, Winter Legends) have
a desperate beauty and crushing emotional
impact paralleled by that of very few composers
of any era.
Granville Bantock is also a special interest
(among many others). Bantock's Omar Khayyam
(soli, chorus, orchestra) is acutely missed
from the pages of the CD catalogues. Bantock's
similarly specified Song of Songs is also
likely to yield great rewards. Both Bantock's
red-blooded fantasy and lyrical style leaves
the staid and somewhat mournful glories of
Gerontius in the gloomiest of shades. There
is a 1979 BBC tape of the complete Omar.
Cannot understand why BBC Radio 3 ignores
(or largely ignores) so much fine orchestral
music (Hovhaness, Braga Santos, Pettersson,
Nystroem, Schuman, Marx, Goossens) but nevertheless
cherishes the service. The BBC Proms programme
remains a history of missed opportunities:
when for example will we get Havergal Brian's
Gothic Symphony, a Roy Harris Symphony other
than No. 3 or Franz Schmidt's Second Symphony
instead of the standard fare?
Other musical pleasures include the operas
and musicals of Stephen Sondheim (outstanding
among these are Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods
and Passion), the film music of Herrmann,
Waxman, Friedhofer and Korngold, the music
of Capercaillie, Granuaile by Shaun Davey,
The Chieftains (do try to hear their Mná
na h Éireann - The Women of Ireland)
and the modern popular Celtic revivals in
the Gaelic periphery. One of these days he
hopes to see issued a recording of Eddie McGuire's
magical arrangements for soprano and orchestra
of five Gaelic folk-songs. Already enthralled
by Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne then
this is a delight in waiting and (thank God!)
not a hint of tartan, kilts or shortcake about
it.
Delights in attempting reviews of CDs ignored
or treated with scant attention by the major
review magazines. Still learning. Still wanting
to learn.
Particularly welcomes reviews written in a
style accessible to the beginner yet with
enough insight and comparative knowledge to
inform and entertain the practised hand.
Rob recommends the following pieces of music
and would be happy to make and receive other
recommendations if you contact him:-
Marx: Castelli Romana (piano and orchestra)
Karol Szymanowski's Harnasie (full version)
- best heard in the version by Rowicki
Joseph Holbrooke's tone poem Ulalume, Violin
Concerto and the other Poe-based tone poems
of the 1930s. Rob has spent years researching
this composer.
Rutland Boughton's Hardy opera The Queen of
Cornwall - forget The Immortal Hour - this
is a blazing masterpiece!
Othmar Schoeck's Violin Concerto and the superbly
moonlit Sommernacht for strings
Josef Suk's Asrael Symphony and War Triptych
(Talich for Asrael and Klima for the Triptych
on Supraphon)
Arthur Benjamin's Symphony (probably best
to wait for the Lyrita version to be issued
next year) and the Romantic Fantasy for violin,
viola and orchestra
Janis Ivanovs Violin Concerto (Campion CD)
Karlowicz Violin Concerto (various versions)
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 (Szigeti/Beecham)
Sibelius Symphony No. 7 (Mravinsky)
Prokofiev Symphony No. 7, Romeo and Juliet
Uuno Klami: Psalmus (Finlandia)
Janácek Sinfonietta (Serebrier - Reference
Recordings)
Joly Braga Santos Symphony No. 4 (Portusom
and Marco Polo CDs); the first three symphonies
are pretty good too.
Edgar Bainton's Third Symphony - a glimmeringly
visionary work once recorded by the Australian
BROLGA label
Allan Pettersson Symphony No. 7 (Dorati) and
No. 9
Leevi Madetoja Symphony No. 3 (Warner Apex
- the best version - conducted by Paavo Rautio)
Valentin Silvestrov Symphony No 5 (BMG Melodiya)
Miaskovsky Symphonies (all of them really
but start with 5 then move on to 24 and 25
and 21), and Violin Concerto
Kurt Atterburg: Three Interludes from Fanal;
Symphony 3, Concertos for cello, violin and
piano
Gosta Nystroem Sinfonia del Mare (Swedish
Society Discofil)
Roy Harris Symphony 7 (Ormandy version on
Albany)
William Schuman Symphony No. 3 (CBS Bernstein)
and Violin Concerto (Zukofsky DG)
Eugene Goossens Symphonies 1 and 2 (ABC Classics)
Louis Glass Symphony No. 5 - you must hear
this! (not the Marco Polo version)
Constant Lambert Music for Orchestra (now
available on Dutton)
Maurice Jacobson's The Hound of Heaven, for
tenor, chorus and orchestra - one of the masterpieces
of the British musical renaissance yet still
unrecorded and very rarely performed
John Foulds World Requiem (by repute - I have
never heard it).
Robert Nathaniel Dett's 1930s oratorio The
Ordering of Moses - this I have heard
Maurice Johnstone's Dover Beach and the superb
orchestral rhapsody Tarn Howes.
And for the next British light orchestra music
collection: Eric Fogg's gorgeous Sea-Sheen.
Rob Barnett
August 2006
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