Goossens Orchestral Works

Outstanding results from Handley in a handsome survey

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens

Genre:

Orchestral

Label: ABC Classics

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 218

Mastering:

Stereo

Catalogue Number: ABC4767632

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Symphony No 1 (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
(Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
Vernon Handley, Conductor
West Australian Symphony Orchestra
Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
(Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
Joel Marangella, Oboe
Vernon Handley, Conductor
West Australian Symphony Orchestra
Tam O'Shanter (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
(Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
Vernon Handley, Conductor
West Australian Symphony Orchestra
Concert Piece (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
(Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
Jane Geeson, Harp
Joel Marangella, Oboe
Sebastien Lipman, Harp
Vernon Handley, Conductor
West Australian Symphony Orchestra
Symphony No. 2 (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
(Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Vernon Handley, Conductor
Concertino (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
(Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Vernon Handley, Conductor
Fantasy (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
(Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
Christopher Tingay, Clarinet
Clarence Mellor, Horn
Daniel Mendelow, Trumpet
Fiona McNamara, Bassoon
Guy Henderson, Oboe
Janet Webb, Flute
John Cran, Bassoon
Lawrence Dobell, Clarinet
Robert Johnson, Horn
Vernon Handley, Conductor
Divertissement (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
(Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Vernon Handley, Conductor
Variations on a Chinese Theme (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
(Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Vernon Handley, Conductor
(The) Eternal Rhythm (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
(Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Vernon Handley, Conductor
Kaleidoscope (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
(Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Composer
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Vernon Handley, Conductor
Welcoming Vernon Handley’s world premiere recording of the Second Symphony (7/96), I commented on ‘the epic grandeur and turbulent demeanour of Goossens’s admirably ambitious inspiration’; further hearings have only strengthened my admiration for a work whose rugged beauty and fretful, slumbering power seems to have much in common with Bax’s Second Symphony (whose British premiere Goossens gave in May 1930). Handley also sees to it that the invigorating Concertino and delectable Fantasy come off splendidly. The Sydney SO perform the music of their former chief conductor with unstinting commitment.

Handley’s lucid traversal of the imposing First Symphony (1940) has a pleasing sense of growth and integration that gives it the edge over David Measham’s otherwise extremely useful Adelaide SO account for Unicorn-Kanchana (11/80 – nla). Certainly, the West Australian SO respond with infectious gusto both here and in the scampering Tam O’Shanter. Joel Marangella makes a tidy showing in the attractive Oboe Concerto that Goossens wrote in 1928-29 for his brother Leon (a reading somewhat lighter on its feet, albeit less pungently characterised, than Ruth Bolister’s on ASV) and also doubles up on cor anglais in the first commercial recording of the 1958 Concert Piece, another family affair, this time conceived for Leon and his two sisters, Marie and Sidonie (hence the unusual instrumentation of two harps, oboe, cor anglais and orchestra).

The disc’s remaining contents span nearly five decades. Goossens was a 19-year-old student when, in June 1912, he was invited by his teacher, Stanford, to conduct the first performance of the deftly assured Variations on a Chinese Theme (the same tune crops up in the ‘Turandot Scherzo’ of Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphoses). The following year came The Eternal Rhythm, a headily opulent if rather sprawling tone-poem belatedly premiered under Goossens’s baton at a 1920 Queen’s Hall Prom. The eight deliciously sophisticated miniatures that comprise Kaleidoscope (1933) stem from a set of 12 for piano dating from 1917.

Goossens didn’t live to hear the three-movement Divertissement (his last completed opus, written between 1956 and 1960): its central ‘Scherzo and Folk Tune’ is a skilful reworking of two earlier piano studies, and the ‘Ballet Flamenco’ finale nods appreciatively towards Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole as well as ‘Valencia’ from Ibert’s Escales. Again, performance (this time with the Melbourne SO) and engineering bring precious little cause for complaint.

In sum, a hugely enterprising, frequently engrossing survey; collectors with a taste for adventure should most definitely lend an ear.

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