John Barbirolli’s full-blooded and dramatic performance of Puccini's Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut brings vividly into focus his Italian blood and background, inherited from a Venetian family in which both his father and grandfather were members of the orchestra at Milan’s opera house, La Scala. Others among the operatic overtures on this disc will be well remembered by Barbirolli admirers from his concerts, especially the Rossini pair and Oberon, the latter with its wonderfully delicate feeling in the introduction and strong vein of romantic ardour coursing through the succeeding allegro. Hansel and Gretel and The Merry Wives of Windsor were perhaps more rare, the latter often being reserved for one of his popular programmes of Viennese Music.

Barbirolli really relished these little overtures and preludes and he brought to them his characteristically elegant phrasing and lively rhythms; note his careful grading of the famous Rossini crescendos in Semiramide, the richness of the orchestral texture in Hansel and Gretel and the vigour and élan of the playing in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Of the four pieces included here unrelated to the opera house, two make their debut on CD. The Trumpet Voluntary recalls a much earlier Hallé record, made in Manchester’s old Free Trade Hall in 1927 under Sir Hamilton Harty, the Orchestra’s principal conductor from 1920-33.

The other title new to CD is his spick-and-span account of The Stars and Stripes Forever which gives the percussion players a chance to enjoy themselves. Elsewhere the Hallé strings, led by Laurance Turner (in his last season before retiring), properly reflect their conductor’s eloquent handling of Tchaikovsky’s Andante Cantabile.

Another Hallé stalwart who retired at the end of the same season (1957-8) was first clarinet Pat Ryan, whose many finely sensitive contributions can be heard throughout these performances, notably towards the end of Mendelssohn’s atmospheric portrait of the seas around Fingal’s Cave; all are typical of a quality of playing upon which Barbirolli had been able to rely ever since he re-formed the Orchestra in 1943.

The previous two volumes in this series and available – Volume 1 (SJB 1036) and Volume 2 (SJB 1041).

Contents:
Mendelssohn: The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave)
Recorded 29 May 1957

Nicolai: The Merry Wives of Windsor – Overture
Recorded 9 August 1957

Tchaikovsky: Andante Cantabile
Recorded 10 August 1957

Weber: Oberon – Overture
Recorded April 1959

Rossini: Semiramide – Overture
Recorded 4 September 1958

Rossini: William Tell – Overture
Recorded 29 May 1957 (Cello solo: Oliver Vella)

Clarke (arr. Wood): Trumpet Voluntary
Recorded 9 & 11 August 1957 (Trumpet solo: William Lang)
[FIRST CD RELEASE]

Puccini: Manon Lescaut – Intermezzo Act 3
Recorded 4 September 1958

Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel – Overture
Recorded 3 May 1957

Sousa: The Stars and Stripes Forever
Recorded 9 August 1957
[FIRST CD RELEASE]

Recorded in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester.