Beecham’s conception sounds very different here, more atmospheric, yet somehow considerably less taut than I had remembered. Intriguingly, the pitch of the new transfer is nearly a whole tone flatter than that of its Naxos rival (which lasts 14'43 as against 13'45). Whatever, my goose-bumps were only intermittently activated, and I stand more firmly than ever by my allegiance to Sir Thomas’s miraculously unforced November 1946 successor with the RPO for HMV, now on Dutton.
In the December 1927 performances of On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring and The Walk to the Paradise Garden, Beecham’s ecstatic phrasing remains a thing of wonder (and listen out for some affectingly realised string portamento s towards the latter’s close). Somm’s advance documentation claims a first release for the present Sea Drift, though John Hunt’s invaluable discography (Musical Knights; Short Run Press: 1995) lists an earlier Beecham Society LP. Well worth hearing as it is, this 1928 account (the first of Sir Thomas’s four recordings) doesn’t quite have the lump-in the-throat emotional clout of the finest readings of what for me remains Delius’s most transcendental masterpiece. Dennis Noble’s no-holds-barred, at times hammy delivery may well induce a cynical chortle or two among younger listeners. More distractingly, one has to contend with a handful of pitch discrepancies (a feature common to many of Columbia’s early electrical efforts) and a balance that takes a while to settle down (Noble’s first entry is almost inaudible).
None of the remaining items (all set down at Abbey Road with the LPO on October 16, 1945) have appeared before. I very much like the bracing, unsentimental zest of both the Dance Rhapsody No 2 and A Song Before Sunrise, although it must be admitted that those cherishable RPO versions from 1946 and 1949 respectively do evince the greater composure and technical sophistication. Similarly, Beecham went on to survey ‘Autumn, the wind soughs in the trees’ and ‘Winter Landscape’ from the glorious North Country Sketches to altogether more luminous, raptly poetic effect within his utterly enthralling RPO account of the complete work for Columbia (due for reissue next month). Fascinating listening, none the less, and decent transfers into the bargain