Chandos Records have done Hamilton Harty proud in their series of his music played by the Ulster Orchestra under Bryden Thomson. The original digital LP's were splendid—natural and of excellent quality in every way; the cassettes I thought equally good; and now comes this CD which shows by its beautiful sound that the original recordings were of the most faithful kind, for anything other would have undoubtedly shown up on CD. The sound is spacious (the Ulster Hall in Belfast is obviously a 'natural' for recording) and a small point in itself, the booklet of notes by David Greer is printed in type large enough to read easily.
The symphony is delightful in its limited way but is one of my less favourite Harty works. The authorities of the Dublin Festival made a grievous mistake in 1901 when they decided in their patriotism that the prize composition must be based on Irish airs; for nobody, so far as I know, has written a good symphony on folk-tunes. ''The Fair Day'' is the best known movement, successful because a scherzo does not need to be seriously symphonic. But I must not blame Harty, since he said later that he entered the competition—he was then very young—only because h emight have the chance of conducting his music and hear how it sounded. As it is, the Irish airs are admirably handled and I daresay the tunes, may of them well-known, will delight a lot of listeners.
In the Comedy Overture he has two well-contrasted themes and if the work only hints at greater music to follow (The Children of Lir at the summit) it does that with much resource and skill.'