RPO musicians recall working with Beecham
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Excerpts taken from interviews accompanying celebratory SOMM release
SOMM Records will this Friday release an album celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and featuring a world premiere recording of Sir Thomas Beecham conducting Sibelius’s Symphony No 1 made at the Edinburgh Festival in 1952. The album also includes the first ever release of the RPO and Beecham performing extracts from Sibelius’s Scènes historiques, taken from a live concert in 1947. Both performances have been remastered by Lani Spahr, who received praise from Rob Cowan in December for his work on SOMM's Elgar from America, Vol 2.
As a special bonus, it also includes a memoir feature in which former members of the RPO – Sub Principal Second Violin Raymond Ovens and Sub Principal Viola John Underwood – talk to Jon Tolansky about their experiences playing for Beecham. We're delighted to feature three fascinating excerpts from those conversations here. (The first interview includes an extract from the Overture to Haydn’s The Seasons, also available on SOMM, and the last interview is followed by an extract from the Symphony No 1 by Sibelius).
For more information about the album, visit SOMM Records - while below, you can sample the recording via Apple Music.