Issued in the US under the title ‘Witches’ Brew’, Alexander Gibson and the New Symphony Orchestra of London recorded this album in 1959 and the performances remain today as characterful and incisive as they were then. While pieces from this recording have previously appeared on Decca, this is its first complete release on the label. Given that the music is a kind of Halloween concoction, it is now filled out on this reissue for CD with two supernatural pieces by Gounod – his ‘Funeral March of a Marionette’ and the sparkling Ballet Music for ‘Faust’, both recorded in 1964 – and which have come up sizzlingly well on CD.
MALCOM ARNOLD
Tam O’Shanter Overture, Op. 55*
MODEST MUSSORSGKY
Gnomus (from Pictures at an Exhibition)*
A Night on the Bare Mountain (arr. Rimsky-Korsakov)
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS
Danse macabre, Op. 40
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK
Witch’s Ride (from Hänsel und Gretel)
FRANZ LISZT
Mephisto Waltz
CHARLES GOUNOD
Funeral March of a Marionette
Faust: Ballet Music *
New Symphony Orchestra of London [1]-[6]
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden [7]-[14]
Alexander Gibson
* FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD
Recording producers: Erik Smith (Arnold, Mussorgsky, Saint-Saëns, Humperdinck, Liszt); Ray Minshull (Gounod)
Recording engineers: Kenneth Wilkinson, Alan Reeve (Arnold, Mussorgsky, Saint-Saëns, Humperdinck, Liszt), Kenneth Wilkinson (Gounod)
Recording location: Kingsway Hall, London, UK, December 1957 (Arnold, Mussorgsky, Saint-Saëns, Humperdinck, Liszt), February 1959 (Gounod)
‘Most audiophiles want a copy of Witches’ Brew’ Fanfare
‘The recorded sound [is] outstanding and a perfect example of how brilliant the Kingsway Hall acoustics were when the top Decca team was in charge’ 2MBS-FM
‘exceptionally fine performances of devilish pieces, including a riotous and unequalled account of Arnold’s Tam O’Shanter Overture’
International Record Review