# SS 23.07.22 - Tippett Symphony #4



## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:

Michael Tippett (1905 – 1998)

Symphony no. 4



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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

Tippett time. This symphony was recently performed at BBC Proms. I wasn't there, but I am planning to go there still during this year. Symphony #4 was commissioned by Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Mighty Sir Georg Solti was conducting premiere. There are quite a few recordings of this. I picked Solti one.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I'm not sure. Maybe I'll go for Hickox. Or maybe Solti.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Tippett: Byzantium & Symphony No. 4

Faye Robinson (soprano)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Georg Solti


For me this one.


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

I'm a fan of Tippett's music but I haven't listened to this symphony in quite some time. I have the BBC Magazine disc with him conducting his own symphony with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

This symphony, coupled with RVW 4, was featured in a Prom concert at the Royal Albert Hall earlier this week. I have all available recordings and will start with Brabbins on Hyperion........


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## Xenophiliu (Jan 2, 2022)




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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I bought the Hickox set a few weeks ago but I am far from being familiar with these works. I'm interested to hear some opinions about the different performances. I also have the 4 disc Portrait box on Nimbus conducted by the composer and I like that set a lot.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Enthusiast said:


> I'm not sure. Maybe I'll go for Hickox. Or maybe Solti.


In fact, I did both. Hickox is reliable in Tippett (as in so much else) and very comfortable with the idiom. He tends to focus on sonic beauty. Solti has a better orchestra and gives us a very focused and concentrated performance.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Awesome choice this week! I'll be listening to Bournemouth/Hickox as posted by Xenophiliu.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Does anyone know how long we've been doing these Saturday Symphonies? We must be getting on for 10 years now.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Mika said:


> For your listening pleasure this weekend:
> 
> Michael Tippett (1905 – 1998)
> 
> Symphony no. 4


Solti/CSO...a brilliant performance of difficult piece....one of the best English symphonies, imo...


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

*Tippett: Symphony No. 4*

_BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Michael Tippett_
Recorded: 29 March 1993
Recording Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London, United Kingdom

First time listening to this composition.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

The NMC commercial CD and the BBC Magazine freebie are the same recording, I believe?

I like a lot of pieces by Tippett, works such as the Triple Concerto, the Corelli Fantasia, The Rose Lake, A Child of our Time and the whole excellent Midsummer Marriage opera spring to mind. But I have never managed to fathom any of the Symphonies, alas.

Nevertheless, I'll give Hickox a listen, and see how it goes.....


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

HenryPenfold said:


> This symphony, coupled with RVW 4, was featured in a Prom concert at the Royal Albert Hall earlier this week. I have all available recordings and will start with Brabbins on Hyperion........



Thanks. I did pull up the Proms concert on BBC Sounds yesterday and gave it a "spin".











BBC Radio 3
*Prom 6: Vaughan Williams and Tippett - Full Fourths*
BBC Proms 2022

Live at the BBC Proms
Presented by Tom McKinney live from the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.4 in F minor (30')

Interval:
During the interval, Tom McKinney talks to composer William Mival about the significance of the two symphonies in tonight’s Prom.

Michael Tippett: Symphony No.4 (33')

British music: it isn't always what you think. Written as Europe lurched towards the war, Vaughan Williams's volcanic Fourth Symphony is a might cry of protest and rage, expressed in music that burns itself into the soul. A generation later in the Cold War, Michael Tippett began his final symphony with the most primal of sounds - a human breath. This isn't so much a symphony as a whole life, in all its rapture, its chaos and its teeming, tumultuous beauty.

BBC Philharmonic
Andrew Davis (conductor)









BBC Radio 3 - BBC Proms, 2022, Prom 6: Vaughan Williams and Tippett - Full Fourths


Live at the BBC Proms: Andrew Davis conducts the BBC Philharmonic.




www.bbc.co.uk


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

cougarjuno said:


> I'm a fan of Tippett's music but I haven't listened to this symphony in quite some time. I have the BBC Magazine disc with him conducting his own symphony with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
> 
> 
> View attachment 171526


I listened to the BBC magazine disc too. Not a piece that I love but neither do I dislike it.


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