# Brian's GOTHIC Symphony -- FULL BLAST?



## GrosseFugue (Nov 30, 2011)

I've heard great things about the recording of Brian's Gothic Symphony conducted by Martyn Brabbins from last year's Proms. Wondering if maybe the Brits out there could help me out. I'm very intrigued from the samples I've heard, but confess I never heard of this work until I read the review in BBC mag. The CD is quite expensive (at least in the states; even the Mp3 download is 20 bucks). 

I do love romantic super-charged mega-works. Does this symphony out blast Mahler's 8th (Part I)? Is it more innovative or more "classical"? Can I expect some strange atonal sounds or more like Brucknerian harmonies? 

Is this a no-brainer must-have for me?


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

(Do check out the other threads on this work on TC. And there are lots of articles on _The Gothic_ here: www.havergalbrian.org/sym1.htm)



GrosseFugue said:


> I do love romantic super-charged mega-works. Does this symphony out blast Mahler's 8th (Part I)?


It's not strictly a romantic work - it contains elements of earlier styles (reflecting the title) in an almost Schnittke-esque way.

Structurally it's more like Beethoven 9 - three orchestral movements and a choral finale. It's just that the finale is over an hour long.

_The Gothic_ is more like a C20 Berlioz than an updated Mahler. Eg, the four spatially disposed brass bands (each of which has a timpanist). However it contains flashes of many other influences, including music that hadn't yet been written (eg _War Requiem_)



GrosseFugue said:


> Is it more innovative or more "classical"?


Without a doubt it is highly innovative - the flashes of pure lyricism all the more telling for the surroundings they are in.



GrosseFugue said:


> Can I expect some strange atonal sounds or more like Brucknerian harmonies?


You certainly can expect strange (atonal) sounds. There are passages of the _Judex crederis _in the finale which predate Ligeti by half a century (I counted 37 real parts in this passage when I was editing the vocal music for performance). And a wild impossible xylophone solo. Oh, and some Brucknerian references too. And some Varèse in the writing for the vast percussion section. The passage for six fortissimo timpanists (widely distributed around the auditorium) reminds me of group 121 in Stockhausen's _Gruppen _(though he only has three timpanists).



GrosseFugue said:


> Is this a no-brainer must-have for me?


Yes.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I agree, though I only have the Naxos recording. I need to start saving my pennies for this one.


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