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Havergal Brian 'Sinfonia Tragica' (Symphony No.6) - 1st Performance

3,510 views · Published 12 July 2013 · 18:12 · Indexed 19 October 2026

Channel: adam28xx · 2013 · Music

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Havergal Brian's principal claim to fame is his authorship of one of the longest and largest symphonies ever written, the "Gothic," requiring mammoth orchestral and choral forces. All his other symphonies are much shorter, such as his 'Sinfonia Tragica' of 1948. Originally intended as the Prelude to an opera based on J. M. Synge's "Deirdre of the Sorrows," a three-act play inspired by Irish Mythology, it became instead the Symphony No. 6 in Brian's immense symphonic output, numbering 32 in all. 

The 'Sinfonia Tragica' has had two commercial recordings but here is its very first performance, given in the Maida Vale Studio 1 in 1966 by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, under its then chief staff conductor and chorus master, Douglas Robinson.

NOTE: This broadcast has now been issued on CD by 'CRQ Editions' coupled with Beethoven's "Eroica" conducted by Robert Simpson, foremost champion of Havergal Brian's music (CRQ CD265).

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