I am still in the world of conducting. This week, I am posting works conducted by Sir John Barbirolli. Barbirolli (1899–1970) was a British conductor and cellist, best known for his leadership of the Hallé Orchestra, which he rebuilt and conducted from 1943 until his death. He also served as music director of the New York Philharmonic and was especially admired for his interpretations of English and late Romantic composers.
I have posted the Overture, The Hebrides by Mendelssohn. The piece is intended to stand as a complete work. Although program music, it does not tell a specific story and is not “about” anything; instead, the piece depicts a mood and “sets a scene”, making it an early example of such musical tone poems.
I have also posted Barbirolli conducting all of the Sibelius symphonies, works that Barbirolli was known for. I selected Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 to highlight. The posting is long, but well worth listening to.
Sibelius No. 2 begins at 42:02 ends at 1:28:00
Sir John Barbirolli
December 2, 1899 – July 29, 1970
John Barbirolloi was born Giovanni Battista Barbirolli. Both his father and grandfather were Italian violinists of note. As members of the orchestra of La Scala, Milan, they had both played in the first performance of Verdi’s Otello (1887). Barbirolli’s mother was a native of the southwest region of France. He was born in London, but not surprisingly was taught to play music as a very young child. Initially, he learned the violin but at age seven, he switched to the cello. Three years later he entered Trinity College of Music, transferring after two years to the Royal Academy of Music.
Barbirolli played with many different musical groups, from the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Thomas Beecham’s Covent Garden Orchestra to cinema and dance bands. He gave the second performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto in 1921. In 1924 Barbirolli fulfilled his early ambition to conduct by forming his own chamber orchestra. In 1926, Frederic Austin, the director of the British National Opera Company (“BNOC”) invited him to conduct the company on tour, and he made his operatic debut directing Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as well as performances of Aida and Madama Butterfly. He was also to conduct the BNOC and Covent Garden Opera Company frequently over the next six years. Also in 1926, Barbirolli substituted at short notice for Beechem, conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in a highly praised performance of Elgar’s Symphony No. 2. It was this performance that brought him to the attention of Gaisberg of HMV.
In 1927, Barbirolli started to conduct orchestral music for recordings, first with the National Gramophone Society and soon after for the Edison Bell label. In 1928, he commenced his long association with the HMV label, recording a wide range of shorter pieces that were the staple of the 78-rpm record catalog. In 1933, he took up the post of conductor of the Scottish Orchestra in Glasgow, where he had the opportunity to conduct many major orchestral works for the first time. In addition, he conducted the Northern Philharmonic Orchestra, based in Leeds, and appeared as a guest with the newly formed London Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestras as well as with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Mainly because of the recommendations of some soloists with whom he had recorded, he was offered in 1936 the opportunity to conduct ten concerts over six weeks with the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, which had just parted company with Toscanini. So successful were these that Barbirolli was offered the permanent conductorship of the orchestra for a period of three years, starting from the 1937-1938 season. During this time, he earned the affection of the players, and audiences initially grew; in addition, he made numerous recordings with the orchestra. However, Barbirolli’s work in New York was increasingly belittled by critics enamored of Toscanini, who continued to maintain a presence in the city with the NBC Orchestra, an ensemble which has been especially created for the Italian maestro. Barbirolli’s contract was extended for a further two years to 1942, but he was offered only a handful of concerts for the following season, 1942-1943.
In 1942, he had made a hazardous wartime journey to England to conduct the London orchestras, and thus, when the invitation came to him from Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra on 1943, the time was ripe. The orchestra was on the verge of collapse. Barbirolli immediately accepted and in only one month, through intensive auditioning, he completely re-created the orchestra with which he was to be indissolubly associated for the rest of his life. Initially, (between 1943 and 1958), he was the Hallé’s permanent conductor, directing it in an exhausting annual schedule of concerts, both in Manchester and throughout the British Isles, as well as on tours abroad. He was knighted in 1949. In 1958 he reduced his commitment to the orchestra to approximately seventy concerts each year and took the title of conductor-in-chief.
Barbirolli began to establish a significant international career. He became an annual and respected guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he recorded at the orchestra’s request. Barbirolli was appointed chief conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra succeeding Leopold Stowkowski, and he stayed with that orchestra until 1967; in addition, he toured extensively with the Philharmonia and BBC Symphony Orchestras as well as with the Hallé. In 1968, he became conductor laureate of the Hallé, but his unremitting schedule of concerts and recordings was by then taking its toll. Barbirolli’s last public concert was given with the Hallé Orchestra at the King’s Lynn Festival on July 25, 1970. Four days later, he collapsed and died, while rehearsing the Philharmonia Orchestra for a tour of Japan.
Barbirolli received no formal training in conducting. His musical response was instinctive and rooted in his experience as a string player. At the same time, he was always extremely well prepared. His interpretations are notable for their spontaneity and lush orchestral tone. Barbirolli was not an orchestral disciplinarian; his relationship with his players was comradely. With his audiences, he developed a natural bond that remains extraordinarily strong to this day: in the north of England, his memory is recalled with an intense fervor. He was without question one of the finest British (and European) conductors of the twentieth century.
Taken from Conductors A-Z by David Patmore